USC and Galician

The statutes of the USC recognise Galician as the working language of the university; they also stipulate the commitment of the USC to promote and guarantee, within the framework of its competences, the full use of the Galician language. Spanish is also considered an official language.

Galician, native language of Galicia

Many of you exchange students at the University of Santiago have become involved in these programmes as a way to study and live abroad, to know a different culture, meet new friends and learn new languages. Well, it looks like you’ve come to the right place: Galicia!

You’ve come from other autonomous communities, from European, Latin American and other countries. Don’t forget Europe is not at all a uniform continent, and most of her countries hide the richness of their diversity. Territories with their own characteristics that make them special and unique.  Having the opportunity to know and live these differences is a privilege.

Many different cultures, customs and languages live together in Spain and the Spanish constitution recognises various historic nationalities (Cataluña, The Basque Country, and Galicia). The official language of Spain is Spanish (Castilian), but some communities have their own  long standing  official languages: Basque in the Basque Country and Navarre; Catalan in Cataluña, Valencia and the Balearic Islands; and Galician in Galicia, where you have come to study.

Galician is Galicia's native language. Galician was born in the 10th century as a consequence of the evolution of Latin in the Roman province of Gallaecia built over a base of various Celtic tongues. Later it was influenced by the languages of various peoples that settled in the area (Suevians, Visogoths, and to a minor extent Arabs).  After a Golden age in medieval times, the Galician language has suffered a process of being substituted by Castilian over many centuries that reached its highpoint during the times of the dictatorship of General Franco.  In spite of this, it remains the language used by the majority of the population:  spoken regularly by 75% and understood by 94% of the people living here.

Since 1983, when the Normalisation of the Galician Language Law was passed, a process to recuperate the  language has been put into place under the responsibility of the public administration and multiple entities and organisations,  whose goal is to promote and increase the use of Galician in public life, in education, in culture, in business and in the media.

USC and Galician

The statutes of the USC recognise Galician as the working language of the university; they also stipulate the commitment of the USC to promote and guarantee, within the framework of its competences, the full use of the Galician language. Spanish is also considered an official language.

At the USC Galician is the normal language of everyday use, the majority of administrative forms, pamphlets, and other types of documents are written in Galician.  Professors, students and service and administrative personnel also generally speak in Galician. So at USC you are going to hear it in both formal and informal situations.

Both Galician and Spanish are used in the classes. There is hardly any teaching in English. About 20% of teaching is done in Galician,  with great variations between one school and another:  in some,  it’s up to 60% such as Computer Science, whereas in others it’s as low as 5% such as Medicine.  Legislation establishes that students and teachers have the right to use either Spanish or Galician. It’s possible that you’ll have teachers that give class in Galician, a situation that you’ll have to respect. Of course, you have the right to respond in class write papers take tests, etc. in either of the two official languages.

As you can see, it’s a good idea that you get used to communicating in Galician, or at least being able to understand it, not only because there’s a good chance that you could be taught in it and, but also it is used extensively in other institutions and in the media (there are both public radio and tv stations that broadcast only in Galician), and above all it’s a language that many of your friends and classmates speak and will help you to get to know the country  which you have chosen  to visit and study in.

Resouces

Galician is a Romance tongue, like others you’ve probably already heard about, such as Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Portuguese, etc., and has  much in common with all of them. If you speak one of the Romance languages you will quickly begin understanding Galician on a basic level.  If you have problems, don’t be afraid to ask the person talking to you, who will be more than glad to lend a hand, or in this case a word.  Many other exchange students have passed through the halls of this university without having problems.

It can be used as the key to open the door to any of the other Romance languages. Galicia offers you the opportunity to learn both Spanish and Galician at the same time, and Galician can serve as an introduction to Portuguese as they are very similar and come from the same origins: up until the late Middle Ages it was impossible to tell them apart. And, of course, Portuguese is spoken in Brazil, Angola, and the Cape Verde Islands as well as in Portugal. It’s the eighth most spoken language in the world. So, you can see that through Galician you can get in contact with countries and people you never imagined to be possible.

You can start getting used to Galician in your own country before you come:

Once here, USC offers:

If you have any doubts...

If you need more information you can consult our web site at the Linguistic Normalisation Service of the University.