HIMALAYA: THE EMERGENCE OF COMMERCIAL MULTILINGUALISM IN LLEIDA BY Sanae, Hafsa & Elisabet

HIMALAYA: THE EMERGENCE OF COMMERCIAL MULTILINGUALISM IN LLEIDA

By: Hafsa Bazi, Sanae Bougadima and Elisabet Manso

INTRODUCTION 

The linguistic token we analyzed is a commercial sign located in Plaça de la Sal, 1, in the centre històric of Lleida. The sign is a banner  hanging outside a restaurant called “Himalaya” in Spanish (We know that it is in Spanish and not in Catalan, since the correct spelling in Catalan would be Himàlaia).  

It is an Asian food restaurant, called “Himalaya” (in Spanish) and you can read the title of the business in different languages, due that fact the local is multilingual and it has more than one language ( Korean, Chinese and Korean) apart from Spanish, one of the official languages of the city and Catalan, the main language in the token.

The alphabets in this linguistic landscape are more than one, it is polyglossic, by the way it reaches the activity domain of commerce and hospitality, since it is designed and constructed to make economic incomes and services for people to enjoy their time in the local area. Regarding the values, “Himalaya” has an economic, aesthetic and social value, as we will analyze in the results section. (See figure 1). 

Figure 1: Map of Lleida neighbourhoods. Source: El Segre Newspaper (2019)

The linguistic token is a banner and it  reflects the diverse communities living in the Centre històric of Lleida, where immigrants make up a significant proportion of the population. The fact that the sign is written in multiple languages shows the importance of local and global language and communication in this community. The sign serves as a medium for advertising the restaurant to a diverse range of potential local and international customers, who may speak different languages. The production of the linguistic token appears to be bottom-up (See figure 2). 

Figure 2. Image of the street where the token is located. Source: the authors, 21 February 2023

Last but not least, the production is bottom-up, as we mentioned,  since it is made by the people to the society in order to have services regarding the gastronomic side of Lleida, mixed with other cultures and ethnic groups.

CONTEXTUALIZATION

The token is located in Plaça de la Sal, 1. This urban road is part of the Carrer Major, a street that is part of the main road of the city of Lleida (See figure 3). 

Figure 3. Map of the neighborhood extracted from Google Maps. Source: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Carrer+Major,+25007+Lleida/@41.6147013,0.6247694,17.8z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x12a6e06c02cb07f1:0xbad558d121b6e010!8m2!3d41.6137741!4d0.6252886!16s%2Fg%2F125_f77g1 

The main activity domain of this neighborhood is commerce but also tourism due to the fact that there are several buildings of historical importance, which attract many international visitors, such as the church of San Joan (See figure 3) which is located next door and is protected as a cultural asset of local interest.

Figure 4. Image of the San Joan church located next to the “Himalaya” business. Source: Wikipedia, 21 February 2023 https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_de_San_Juan_%28L%C3%A9rida%29 

Despite the fact that, according to Foro - Ciudad (2022), the majority of the buildings were constructed before the 1990s (See Figure 5) and some of them are very old, it is still possible to live there. Due to the state of the dwellings, it was included in the Generality de Catalunya's Neighbourhood Plan in 2006, this strategy is aimed at promoting urban regeneration initiatives in some of Catalonia's most deprived neighborhoods, thereby giving a much-needed impetus to the area's overall development. 

Figure 5: Building map by decade of construction in Lleida https://www.foro-ciudad.com/lleida/lleida/habitantes.html#EvolucionGrafico 

Due to these conditions, part of the population (which is growing year after year) is made up of immigrants who, unable to find better housing, have to move into these houses. Immigrants made up 40% of the residents of the “Centre historic” in 2006 according to El Periodico (2006). This influx of immigrants into the area has had a profound impact on the region's demographics and social dynamics.

METHODOLOGY 

Our token was located in a very busy street, as it is located in the Main Street or the Commercial Axis of Lleida, which is basically where you can find many people and stores, it is also one of the most bustling and lively areas of the whole city.  In order to carry out the interpretation and analysis of the linguistic landscape, it was necessary to take into account several relevant aspects.  The three members of the group had to make two group visits to the linguistic token (presented in figure 6). The first visit took place on February 21, 2023 at 13:28 hours. During the visit, we were fascinated by the languages involved in the linguistic token and spent many minutes examining it closely, then we took numerous pictures.

Figure 6. Image of the token. Source: the authors, 21 February 2023

On the second visit, which took place on February 25 at 12:53, we focused mainly on examining the landscapes surrounding our token and the linguistic diversity in the area. For this, we took a walk around to see the different businesses and establishments in the area. The establishments surrounding our LL are a pharmacy called Arcaya and also the clothing store Nuna Lie, which is of Italian origin. In the process, we were able to discover the diversity of cultures and languages that coexist in the centre històric and what kind of people lived in the area and how they communicated with each other. In addition, we were able to observe that it is an area where a large part of the immigrant population is located. According to the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (2022) 29.129 people out of 140.797 immigrants in Lleida. At the same time, we captured different pictures of the token from different angles (See figure 7). 

Figure 7. Foreign population in Lleida. Source: Idescat (2022)

Figure 8. Nuna Lie Source: The authors, 25 March 2023

In the third and last visit, which took place on February 29th at 18:42 pm, we focused mainly on analysing the intricate details of the banner and the symbols inscribed on it. We took notes of the different languages represented on the card, looking for ways to translate the words represented. 

The restaurant is located in a country where the official language is Spanish, although in the region where the establishment is located Catalan is the predominant language. This is reflected in the way the workers serve customers, using mainly Catalan.

In the banner you can see that the most predominant language is Catalan, according to the Generality of Catalonia “The statutes of Catalonia (1979) recognized Catalan as the language of these territories and declared it an official language along with Spanish”. Catalan is currently one of the official languages of Catalonia. All in all, in this bilingual society, both local languages (Spanish and Catalan) need to be offered to clients, while bottom-up commercial signs can also include other languages).    

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

To begin with, we have followed the values of the European Linguistic Landscape observatory, and we have been analysing the results using both glossary and definitions of the official Cat Paisatge website (2023).

We have spotted three different values in this linguistic token, the economic value, the aesthetic value, and the social value.

In terms of economic value, there is a phenomenon known as commercial multilingualism which involves the use of many languages for commercial purposes (Edelman, L., & D. Gorter, 2010). We have seen Asian advertisements in Lleida that are part of the Catalan/Spanish sociolinguistic dynamics of Catalonia. Despite this, Asian language advertising is linked to favourable stereotypes such as internationalism and cosmopolitanism, which can attract more customers.

However, as we agreed, the local has not only an economic value, but also an aesthetic value, since the typology and the overall design is made to be an essential catcher for the human eyes.

The presence of aesthetic value in the token is fairly noticeable. Due to the fact that it is a store, the design has been carefully thought out and maintained. The black background contrasts with the red drawing of the Himalayan mountain (the name of the shop). The image of the mountain accompanied by the different typefaces for each language makes the aesthetic value very present, in addition to the clear innovation in the combination of languages.

The aesthetic value of the linguistic landscape is contrasted also with a productive value, yet is more aesthetic than productive. It is productive given that it serves as a means of providing financial benefits.

All in all, the social value is also predominant, due to the fact that the token is made for the interest of the community, that group which prefers to have a nice day in a coffee shop to enjoy some sunlight and eat all types of fuelling food.

The use of Asian languages in advertising in Catalonia can be seen as a form of fetish or façade, as it serves as an attention-grabber rather than a means of communication. This is because in these contexts it is transparent to the speakers and non-speakers. Despite this, the use of this type of language in advertising is often associated with positive stereotypes such as internationality and cosmopolitanism (Gorter and Cenoz, 2009).

Generally, it can be said that the use of various languages in business contexts, including the use of loanwords and borrowings incorporated into the sociolinguistic  Catalan and Spanish dynamics of Catalonia as a fetish or façana, an attention gatherer and the English used is transparent both by English and non-English users, a reflection of the local language economy and linguistic landscape economics.

As a result, positive stereotypes may be strengthened in English as an advertising tool; it would lead probably to the rise of cosmopolitanism in Lleida and the international aspect  (Gorter, D., & J. Cenoz, 2009). 

Commercial multilingualism describes the employment of several languages in professional contexts, especially in regions with a diverse linguistic population. The use of English in advertising has become widespread in Catalonia, where Catalan and Spanish are the official languages. The English that is heard in Catalonia's linguistic landscapes, according to Edelman and Gorter (2010), is predominantly made up of loanwords and borrowings that have been absorbed into the sociolinguistic dynamics of the area.

There are more and more new intercultural and multilingual places in Lleida, which are transmitting the diversity of cultures and alphabets in our streets.

As a matter of fact, multilingual and intercultural places are being increased gradually, contributing to the call of tourists from different countries and the visibility of “uncommon” languages in Lleida, for instance Japanese or Korean, both of them considered Asian languages.

Also, we concluded that Carrer Major is a major street where there is a diversity of locals, destined for a lot of purposes. An instance of this variety of language landscapes or tokens, is the local named Kawaii, in which there is a variety of Asian food, in depth, Japanese food.

Figure 9. Image of a business called Kawaii. Source: the authors, 21 February 2023

Catalan and Spanish are the official languages of Catalonia, so as a matter of fact, they are there to guide people that have a competence in those languages, even though it could be the possibility that they are written by an Asian person, as the owner of the local language.

Apart from this, this increase in the number of Asian, whether they sell food or furniture, is lately very common in Lleida, since this city is being transformed like Madrid, to a multilingual place in which there is a variety of immigrant languages that are beginning to be a crucial role in the social life.

This advertising of the English language is useful to understand the new relations in the society between the official languages of the country and apart from that, languages of multilingualism are used more and more for commercial purposes and overall as a commercial tool.

The presence of Catalan in the token is relevant, due to the fact that this language is official in the city in which we have done the photo, even though is present with other languages that are emerging in a multilingual environment, a good example of what we saw is the Korean and Japanese, as we are pretty used to Chinese, in Chinese bazaars or commercial shops such as HiperAsia.

As a result, we could observe a variety of positive stereotypes like the cosmopolitan and internationality features of Lleida which has already started to become a cosmopolitan city, where different cultures coexist and different traditions and religions live.

The innovative design of the linguistic landscape also enhances the attraction of different ethnic groups that do not share the same mother language, foreigners, and people who do not communicate with Catalan and Spanish as their mother tongue languages.

Additionally, we talk about the internationalism movement that is occurring, in which Lleida is passing through a transformation in many social and political aspects and there is an international influence inside the nation. Indeed, it is an extremely positive and integrative change.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS 

To sum up, the methodology of our project helped us to enhance our perspectives of this phenomenon in which Asian cultures are being introduced in the economic field of Lleida, and by the way, Lleida is currently involving those practices of multilingualism and interculturalism regarding Asian languages, inside the social life. So, crucially, along with English, these other global international codes are taking ground and gaining visibility in the commercial sphere in Lleida. 

The methods that we used in class, were TKA (Technology Assisted Language) and TEP (Technology of Empowerment and Participation) really enhanced and oriented our project, since it was very useful, given that technology is a tool that is increasingly common nowadays and helps us to feel empowered and engages us from a different perspective and performance as a whole group.

Also, there is this inner relationship between the official languages of Catalonia, Catalan and Spanish, with Asian languages in this case Korean, Chinese, and Japanese.

The role of the languages in which there is this exposure of Japanese, Korean, Chinese in the economic and social field of the city is led by this increase of curiosity of foreign people towards Asian dishes and culture, in addition to the music taste and traditions.

As a result of this intrigue mainly by young people and teenagers, we are able to observe in depth this direct relationship between social facts (demography and economy) and language choices (Korean, Japanese, Chinese…) from different perspectives.

Furthermore, this practice of consuming original Asian recipes like Sushi or Bubble Tea, is leading to the popularity of languages that serve as a tool of propaganda, branding, selling, sponsoring, publicizing… for those dishes, in a lot of places and streets of Lleida, in this case Asian and Romanic languages, both of them mentioned above.

The group members would want to underline how much working on this project has aided and delighted us, because we had to use our own methods to apply the theory into reality, we were able to do a more effective project with our own ideas and control, reject or accept options based on our own standards while applying the theory. At the beginning of the work we were not fully aware of the number of languages that surround us, especially on street signs that we had never stopped to look at before. 

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