SOLARCHECK: CONNECTING BILINGUALISM IN LLEIDA'S URBAN LANDSCAPE
SOLARCHECK: CONNECTING BILINGUALISM IN LLEIDA'S URBAN LANDSCAPE
Professor: Maria Sabaté Dalmau.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. Introduction.
2. Contextualisation.
3. Methodology.
4. Results and Discussion.
5. Concluding Thoughts.
6. References.
1. Introduction:
Our Linguistic Landscape is a banner of a local business in Lleida, localised in a commerce. This landscape has a commercial design, as it is the name of the business. The main language is Catalan as it puts the name “solar”, this word could be a Spanish and English word, but we assume that is a Catalan word because after “SolarCheck”, it puts “protecció solar de Lleida”, the second dominant language is English, as the word “check is present”.
Similarly to the principal language, there is also a secondary sentence in English, as it says “Professional window tint”.
2. Contextualisation:
The investigation area is located in the Mariola district of Lleida at Carrer Indivil i Mandoni 3 25003. The town of Mariola exists close to both Gran Passeig de Ronda and Carrer Lluis Companys. During the 1960s the Franco regime constructed various public housing complexes to establish the neighborhood for Spanish immigrants fleeing from the southern regions. People mostly recognize Mariola because it contains numerous cultures and migrants worldwide. Statistical old data shows Mariola has the least immigrant population in the city since immigrants comprise only 22.26% of its residents (La Paeria, 2022). There has been neighborhood growth since its foundation. Of the 31,924 immigrants in Lleida, 10,164 live in the Mariola district (IDESCAT, 2025).
Despite the fact that the analyses and population studies on the Mariola neighborhood say that it is one of the neighborhoods with less immigration, the truth is that there has been neighborhood growth since its foundation. Of the 31,924 immigrants in Lleida, 10,164 live in the Mariola district (IDESCAT, 2025). One-third of the immigrants have settled thus accounting for a substantial portion of foreign residents in the city according to research.
SolarCheck is located on the border, adjacent to Passeig de Ronda and Cappont, so the flow of visitors in the store is not only watered by the inhabitants of the Mariola neighborhood.
Figure 1: Map of Lleida's neighborhoods.
Source: El Segre Journal (2019, April 30).
The Mariola neighborhood in Lleida has a socio-economic situation characterized mainly by a working lower-class population, with many residents originating from southern Spain and northern Africa. Although it has become more diverse over the years, it remains a neighborhood with a significant presence of low-income families.
Currently, the neighborhood is a mix of long-term residents and some families facing economic challenges. Despite its growth, it continues to be an area with fewer resources compared to other neighborhoods in Lleida. The police presence is limited in that area due to the continuous tension between its residents and the authority, so its residents have to move continuously to other more central neighborhoods such as the Escorxador area for the use of basic necessities such as stores, hairdressers, etc…
Annually most of the incidents occur in the area, hindering local commerce and also hindering tourism in the areas.
Figure 2: Street view picture of its surroundings.
Source: Google Maps, screenshot taken on March 10th, 2025.
3. Methodology:
The initial site visit took place on March 6 at 12:30. Our observation focused on gathering qualitative information about the linguistic elements throughout the entire establishment through its main signs and promotional materials and written place-based materials. Our observation revealed the dual-use of Catalan and English languages on the storefront that matched our investigative focus on Englishization within public areas and commercial premises of Lleida.
We had already passed through the place where our linguistic token was situated, however, with this first visit and our previous knowledge about the place, we could gain sufficient insight into the place and what it offered. During our time there, we heard conversations primarily in Spanish and Catalan, reflecting the region’s bilingual environment.
Figure 3: Linguistic Landscape Token: Solarcheck.
Source: Picture taken by the authors on March 5th, 2025.
As we mentioned before, the area where SolarCheck is located is a very busy area with an immigrant population, and when we visited the store and the surrounding area we noticed that even though Spanish was not present on the storefront, it was the language in which most of the people around the store communicated. This is a fact that is happening all over the country due to immigration in the working class neighborhoods of the cities.
The language regulations in Catalonia alongside Lleida emerged through central governmental directions.
State-level laws which control how people use languages in their public and private interactions are classified as top-down language policies. The Catalan language benefitted from these policies both through protection and through enhancement of its position in the society. Public administration services along with education systems and
commercial activities became obligated to function exclusively in Catalan through the Linguistic Policy Law of 1998 which coherently advanced language usage in everyday activities.
The Statute of Autonomy from 2006 provided additional support for Catalan which declared it as the "own language of Catalonia." Through this legal provision Catalan gained equal official status as Spanish thus strengthening its dominance in different domains.
The policies are far-reaching. The Law 22/2010 requires Catalan-based information display at all businesses through signs and consumer rights materials. Through this requirement Catalan language becomes a visible presence throughout the various commercial areas and service centers in the region.
The local government in Lleida pursues these language initiatives through their policies because the region stands as a part of Catalonia. The SolarCheck sign demonstrates how top-down policies transmit Catalan content because it communicates through the Catalan language.
Bottom-up policies refer to individual and business decisions regarding language use. The Solarcheck business strategy unites Catalan and English language platforms to achieve market success both locally and internationally. The storefront sign combines Catalan with English as "Catalan + English" to reach a wide range of customers. The
professional statement “Professional window tint” addresses a particular market segment including workers and companies from the tinting sector.
The company representatives omitted Spanish from the signage, standing in semantic and law-tight attentiveness to Catalonia's local language norms rather than Spanish-speaking policies. The store adopted this decision to demonstrate its understanding of local linguistic standards that make Catalan the dominant language for public use yet respects regional legal and cultural norms.
The English language content on the website indicates the business aims for international expansion while showcasing their specific strategy to reach worldwide audiences through English. The website content demonstrates a two-part language policy by following Catalan rules for the local market while reaching international clients through English.
The city of Lleida maintains a bilingual status because the Catalan language still prevails in the official realm and commercial sectors over Spanish language usage. However, due to the constant immigration in the neighborhood surrounding the SolarCheck business, the use of the Catalan language is declining while the number of individuals who use it in business establishments and on public streets in the city continues to decrease.
Figure 4: Linguistic Landscape surrounding area.
Source: Google Maps, screenshot taken on March 14th, 2025.
The language forum (LL) of the area is comprised of:
Public administration signage and school boards and street labels appear mostly in Catalan as well as Spanish language. Commercial signage, frequently in Catalan and Spanish, with occasional inclusion of English, particularly for international branding purposes. Spanish functions as the primary spoken language in relaxed situations while Catalan continues to be employed by many people even in everyday speech.
The Solarcheck sign functions well within the multi-language environment of the area. The public and commercial environment strongly reflects Catalan dominance but indicates both business English expansion and Spanish social adoption. The linguistic reality of Lleida demonstrates continuous changes because Catalan functions as a sign of local identity but Spanish and English language use strengthens in day-to-day activities and commercial domains.
This SolarCheck sign is right at home in this bilingual urban landscape, an expression of the dominance of Catalan — but also of the increasing importance of English in business and Spanish in society.
4. Results and Discussion:
The token has multiple values; standing out 2. The first is the identity value, putting the name of the business half in English, gives it a plus of professionalism, as this language is seen by the Spanish society as something cultured and professional. It can be perceived more and more that using English exposes a knowledge of the most used language in the professional and business environment. For this reason, mixing the local language with English can attract more customers who unconsciously perceive a superior seriousness in the name of the shop. The other principal value of the token is the aesthetic trait, as it mixes blue with white. White offers calm and seriousness, without standing out. The contrast comes with blue, a powerful colour that makes the client perceive the strength that this colour transmits. The choice of colour was not made by chance, it is a decision that every business owner must meditate on so that the first input of information about the business is the one that the designer wants.
Another trait of the colour blue can be the sign of the quality of the product, as it is not a garish colour or very prominent, it is serious and smooth.
The social meanings we attribute to it are as we have said before in the economic field. The name conveys professionalism and this can lead to attracting more customers.
Another area in which it stands out is the social area, with the globalisation of English, it is increasingly easy to find this language mixed with the local one. We do not believe that it is to make people understand the name, since according to IDESCAT, the most common countries of immigrant people in the city of Lleida are Morocco, Romania and Colombia, none of which have English as an official language. It is true that it is surprising that a business in Lleida specialising in window tinting has half of its name in English, as we sense that an almost absolute percentage of its clientele is not English-speaking. This shows how English has been gradually taking over society and it is a little worrying that languages such as Catalan are being lost due to globalisation.
We understand that to give it a touch of professionalism they use English as a decoy, but we believe that in a city like Lleida, one of the capitals of Catalonia, they should try to preserve more the local language, which apart from being a minority language, is in danger of disappearing.
In any case, and as stated above, all the reasons for mixing it with English are obvious and justifiable.
5. Concluding Thoughts:
The pedagogical approach of linguistic landscaping parallels SolarCheck project activities since they demonstrate learning through practical uses that link classroom theory to real-world experiences. Through linguistic landscaping one studies how language acts in public spaces to affect identities as well as power relations and communication patterns. Through this teaching approach students transform from information consumers into learning actors who analyze the language uses between academic settings and everyday environments. The process of leaving the standard classroom enables students to study their language interactions with their environment while building analytical skills and sociolinguistic understanding about multi-lingual systems. (Shohamy & Gorter, 2009).
Relative Layout methods such as TKA/TEP guide learners to examine language policy frameworks and cultural expressions which determine their social communities and empower them to become actuators of sociolinguistic modifications.
Linguistic landscaping lets students connect with languages in their environment. This activity exhibits how student engagement delivers transformative power in their learning experience. Under these methodologies students extend theoretical knowledge into transformative practices which lead them to become community-based change agents. SolarCheck joins with linguistic landscaping to enable students to develop two complementary viewpoints about language relationships to social systems and sustainable technological development.
Through these methodologies students receive practical skills to both examine and actively interact with their environment which unites abstract knowledge with practical application. The combination of these approaches builds socially active citizens who achieve the capability to create beneficial transformations within their communities.
6. References:
Ajuntament de Lleida. (2021). Ordenança municipal de civisme i convivència de la ciutat de Lleida.
http://www.lleidaparticipa.cat/public/197/docs/6c2e2ab8cee8ef11cc82f1e8621d78b5.pdf
BOE. (n.d.-a). Ley 1/1998, de 7 de enero, de Política Lingüística. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado.
https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-1998-2989
BOE. (n.d.-b). Ley 22/2010, de 20 de julio, del Código de consumo de Cataluña. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado.
https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2010-13115
D, S. C. (2019, April 30). Los resultados de las elecciones generales, por barrios de Lleida. Segre.
Google. (2024). Búsqueda de Google Maps de Solarcheck, Lleida [Google Maps].
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Solarcheck+Lleida/
Institut d’Estadística de Catalunya. (n.d.). Idescat. Població estrangera a 1 de gener. Per municipis. Segrià.
https://www.idescat.cat/poblacioestrangera/?b=8&geo=com:33
Institut d’Estadística de Catalunya. (n.d.). Institut d’Estadística de Catalunya.
La Paeria. (2022). Barris.
https://www.paeria.cat/ca/ciutat/coneixer-lleida/barris
Observatori del Paisatge. (n.d.). Glossari de paisatge.
https://www.catpaisatge.net/en/landscape-resources/landscape-glossary
Sabaté-Dalmau, M. (2022). ‘Localizing English in town’: A linguistic landscape project for a critical linguistics education on multilingualism. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2022.2067978
Shohamy, E., & Gorter, D. (2009). Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery. Routledge.
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