Drew Launay - The Xenophobes Guide to the Spanish

It is said that Spain is not so much a country, more an idea, the reality being a collection of powerful regional territories and identities. This is made even more complex by the issue of languages.

As time passed, various areas decided they wanted to show independence and started talking in different tongues.

In the 15th century when Isabel (the Castilian) and Fernando (the Arrogant) got married and united the regions of Castile and Aragon, there was a semblance of order, and castellano, the language spoken by Isabel, became the accepted form of communication. But as time passed, various areas decided they wanted to show independence and started talking in different tongues. When Franco emerged the victor of the uncivil war in 1939, he tried to unify the country by forbidding such nonsense. It only succeeded in driving these aspirations to autonomy underground. The moment he died, they all popped up, waving their own flags and screaming freedom.

In the Basque region, which they call Euskadia, the traffic indications are in Basque, they have their own Basque police force, raise and collect their own Basque taxes, run their own Basque schools, have their own Basque television channel, and maintain their very own terrorist group ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna = Euskadia and Freedom).

In Catalua, with its capital Barcelona, they insist on speaking catalan and can be rude to Spaniards who make the mistake of addressing them in castellano . In Valencia they chatter away in a distinct variant of catalan and in Galicia they speak gallego.

There are 17 such regions in Spain, each with its own capital, flag and legislature, many toying with the idea of speaking a different language. But as you travel south, the sun thankfully gets hotter, the siesta gets longer, and enthusiasm for bringing out new dictionaries decreases.

As you travel south, the sun gets hotter and the enthusiasm for bringing out new dictionaries decreases.

Andalusians, Aragonese, Basques, Castilians, Galicians and Valencians, though feeling distinct from each other, feel a good deal more different from foreigners. That is as far as their nationalism goes. They will prefer to wave their separatist flags rather than the national flag because they like the different colours, but those people who demonstrate or discuss such feelings are politically oriented students or politically minded intellectuals, not the majority, who are indifferent.

There is, however, one exception to this rule. Ask a Catalan if he is a nationalist or in any way patriotic and he will answer passionately in the affirmative. He will not, however, be referring to Spain as his country, but Catalua.