Val d'Aran wants to make Aranese equal to Catalan language

On the northern side of the Pyrenees, the Val d'Aran is now raising concern as the social use of the Aranese language dropped by 18%.

All political parties running for the Conselh Generau regional government are asking for financial aid to find ways to even Aranese language to Catalan and take more actions to improve the social use of Aranese outside of school.

The Catalan parliament approved a new law on June 9, 2022 regarding the use and learning opportunities of official languages at the non-university level, making Aranese an official language in Catalonia.

Instead of calling it "vehicular language," lawmakers changed the term to "working and common use language."

However, the decision did not sit well with local authorities, which urged the Catalan parliament to rectify the situation.

Val d'Aran politicians aside, the Lengua Viua group has been protesting for 28 years to defend and protect their language and call for new generations to speak in Aranese.

Val d'Aran – the Pyrenean valley with a distinct history

On the northern side of the Pyrenees, surrounded by high mountain peaks, lies the beautiful Val d'Aran, the Aran valley. Its geographic isolation has helped foster and protect its distinct culture, including the Aranese language, a dialect of Occitan.

Listen to our Filling the Sink podcast episode published in August 2021 to learn more about the territory.