The news that interpreters are being employed in the Spanish parliament to translate proceedings in Spain’s minority languages into Castilian Spanish prompts me to ask: What is going on?

There are five official languages in Spain: castellano, catalan, euskara (Basque), gallego and valenciano.  Senators in the upper house of parliament can choose to debate in any of these languages which are routinely interpreted into castellano at a cost of €12,000 (£10,000) for each day of debating, according to Spanish media.

But isn’t this a colossal waste of public money? After all, every senator understands and speaks castellano perfectly well. Surely a case of regionalism gone mad in these hard economic times!

© Paul Whitelock

For the full story, by Giles Tremlett of the Guardian, click here.

See also:

A1 SpanishLife: Spanish language

Tags: Castilian, castellano, catalan, euskara, gallego, valenciano, translate, interpret, regionalism, Giles Tremlett, Guardian, paul whitelock, www.a1-solutions-spain.com