Serving Language: Multilingualism and Identity at Rita Burger by Carla Castell, Ona Font and Mireia Salido
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, our world is highly influenced by globalization, and the city landscape has transformed into dynamic places where local businesses and global influences constantly interact. This transformation can be highly noticeable in the linguistic landscape, where local languages are reshaped and influenced by Englishization, a strategic use of the English language to convey modernity, internationality and more prestige.
According to Gorter (2012), the investigation of the written language used on signs in public space, including non-commercial and official signage, goes under the name of “Linguistic Landscape studies. A linguistic landscape is an entirely human-made phenomenon that pertains to social reality, unlike a natural landscape, as Ben-Rafael et al. (2010) claim.
For commercial business, the choice of languages is no longer just a matter of communication but a social and strategic tool, used to blend local and global languages and to create “glocal” identities that target a wide range of customers. Therefore, analyzing these commercial tokens allows us to understand the dynamics between languages in constant contact and the power they have in the modern marketplace.
In the core of the city, hidden behind one of the most emblematic squares in Lleida, Ricard Vinyes, we can find a little corner restaurant specializing in burgers called Rita Burger. It is located in C/ Torres de Sanui, which serves as a connection between Ricard Vinyes, Avinguda Balmes, and C/Bisbe Ruano, all of them being key streets in Lleida’s map. This establishment serves as a perfect linguistic landscape token, as we can observe a combination of languages and intentions in its promotional poster, located on the exterior of the establishment.
This poster functions as an instructional and commercial sign. It explains the dynamic of this quite particular restaurant. Due to its lack of space, it adopts a takeaway format, although it has a really small terrace with just a couple of tables. Consequently, its poster is designed to explain the steps to follow to order your burger through your phone, promoting it as a quick process of ordering, becoming highly functional. They also take the opportunity to promote their social media. This integration of technology and text highlights a modern shift in how urban spaces facilitate commercial transactions.
From a linguistic perspective, the main foregrounded language used in the signage is Catalan (al teu telèfon…, escaneja, tria el teu ritual...). This choice reflects the reality of the area, where the vast majority of residents and passers-by are Catalan speakers. However, the poster also incorporates other languages such as English (burger, smashburger…) and Spanish (quiero rita). The presence of multiple languages allows us to interpret the multilingual dynamics of the region. While Catalan remains the language of local identity and primary communication, English is also used because of globalisation, especially in the culinary sector, and Spanish provides a broader regional reach. Despite the variety of languages in the poster, there is a certain cohesion through the use of a single alphabet: the Roman script.
Our project aims to explore and understand the sociolinguistic choices and the different linguistic hierarchies present in this local small business of the multilingual city of Lleida. By analysing this token, we can better comprehend how small businesses in Lleida, such as Rita Burger, navigate the complexities of local identity, globalisation, Englishization, and the digital transformation and global trends, which reshape the way language is used and their choice of public text.
CONTEXTUALIZATION
As previously mentioned, this establishment is located in C/Torres de Sanui, within the Universitat district, identified as the third district of the city by the Institut d’Estadística de Catalunya (2025). This neighbourhood is characterized by a high degree of gentrification, as it serves as a connecting point of some of the most important streets and avenues. Therefore, hundreds of people pass by these streets every day. However, because the restaurant is located on a street behind the square, it becomes less affluent than its surroundings.
Figure 1: Lleida’s neighbourhoods.
Figure 2: Street View Map
Source: Google Maps (12th of March, 2026)
Data from 2025 indicate that the Universitat district, where Rita Burguer is located, has a demographic profile that is mainly Catalan inhabitants. The average income per person is 15,331 €, suggesting that Universitat is a middle-class district. The total population of the district is 9,276 inhabitants, of which 62.3% are employed. Nevertheless, 12.5% of these are considered employers in low-quality positions, 23.8% are young people without higher education, and 17.5% are migrants who come from low- to average-income countries. Overall, the majority of the inhabitants of the Universitat district are local, and 2,874 out of the 9,276 inhabitants are of foreign origin. Rita Burger’s surroundings are a transit space populated by students, tourists, locals, and migrants, making it diverse.
Figure 3: Socioeconomic context of Universitat district.
Figure 4: Local and foreign population by districts.
Source: IDESCAT. https://www.idescat.cat/poblacioestrangera/?b=10&geo=mun:251207
METHODOLOGY
We conducted three different fieldwork visits to collect the different data. During these visits, we took photos both of the commerce and its surroundings, and we walked around the area to observe the population and dynamics of those streets.
The first visit was on February 26th, around seven o’clock in the evening. This first visit was to confirm if the commerce was viable for the project, and we took the first photo of the token. We already knew this restaurant, as some of us live in the area, but we needed to confirm it as our LL token.
The second visit was on March 12th, at eleven o’clock in the morning. This visit aimed to take some photos of the surroundings. Our business is located near a busy area; therefore, the adjacent businesses are mostly restaurants, cafés, and local shops. However, at that time, the business was closed, so we could not see it in operation.
The third visit was on March 17th at eight o’clock in the evening, when the establishment was already open. This third and final visit was to observe their engagement in the street and to apply the knowledge we had learned in class to understand why they had used English.
Figures 5 and 6: Fieldwork visits
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Source: Picture taken by the authors of the blog.
In general, the linguistic landscape of Lleida, especially in the commerce domain, is governed by a hierarchy of "top-down" policies designed to ensure the visibility and prestige of the Catalan language. Within these policies, there are two different levels: the regional (Catalonia) and the municipal (Lleida).
At a regional level, the “Llei de Política Lingüística (Law 1/1998)” stands out. It establishes Catalan as the "proper language" of Catalonia. Article 32 states that “signage and information posters, and service offer documents for users and consumers in establishments open to the public, must be drafted, at least, in Catalan.” Customers have the right to be served in Catalan, and companies must have menus and consumer information available in Catalan.
At a municipal level, Lleida’s municipal government (La Paeria) also enforces similar regional laws in “Reglament per a l'ús de la llengua catalana a l'Ajuntament de Lleida.” Article 14, for example, states that all public labelling “must be drafted in Catalan." Additionally, Article 17 also defends Catalan as the vehicular language for public signage and commercial displays.
These institutional pressures are contrasted against the bottom-up choices made by Rita Burger.
Bottom-up language policies emerge directly from businesses and local organisations. Their linguistic choices are typically influenced by marketing strategies, the linguistic profile of customers, and other symbolic elements associated with different languages. For example, the use of English may convey modernisation and globalisation, and the use of Catalan may convey local identity.
The case of the local Rita Burger’s poster represents a “bottom-up” linguistic landscape, where language choices are strategically selected by the business to balance local identity (Catalan), accessibility (Spanish), and globalisation/modernity (English). But at the same time, obeying the “top-down” laws.
Rita Burger is not an isolated establishment; it is surrounded by a wide multilingual linguistic landscape. This area acts as a "magnifying window" into the city's socioeconomic transformations.
The surrounding signs, such as "Two Mom's Tattoo Studio," "Porco Dio Vermut & Pizza," and "Jezabel Estilista," are bottom-up tokens that emerge from private business owners rather than official government legislation.
In this commercial zone, English functions as a semiotic index to represent values like modernity and internationalization. For example, the use of "Tattoo Studio" or "Burger" targets a specific demographic by projecting a trendy, globalized identity.
Based on empirical evidence from our visits to the establishment, the most heard language among the neighbours is Catalan, although Spanish can often be heard. Other languages, such as English or Arabic, are slightly less heard. However, English is very present in commercial posters.
As observed during the visits to our token, there is a clear hierarchisation of languages in the area. While Catalan often serves as the "instructional" language for local inhabitants (e.g., "Al teu telèfon sense cues"), English is used as the language of commerce and branding. This presence of English reflects the process of Englishisation. The language is treated as a commodity or "linguistic currency" that adds market value to the establishments.
Figure 7: Surroundings
Source: Picture taken by the authors of the blog.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figure 8: Token Rita Burger
Source: Picture taken by the authors of the blog.
Through the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia’s framework, we can identify different values.
The primary value is the Productive value, as it is a commercial poster designed to generate financial benefits by minimising wait times. It also represents a strong Social value by guiding the community and providing instructions for a modern and tech-driven form of ordering. The Aesthetic value is also very present and strategic. Through its graphic design with the high-contrast polka-dot pattern background, appetising imagery of the burgers, and hierarchical text structure, the design helps capture the attention of the public and establishes a modern and playful brand identity. While it may lack historical or spiritual values, this linguistic landscape contributes to a broader sense of identity. This sign portrays that the business is keeping up with global food trends, such as the “smashburger”. It bridged a gap between local businesses and modern global habits. It makes the space feel like a part of today’s fast-paced city life, reducing the time simple daily acts such as ordering food.
As for the process of Englishisation in Lleida, it started as usual: by the arrival of multinationals from abroad, who used English as the vehicular language. Our token belongs to the food industry, which has been extremely influenced by the American food market. America is known for its capitalist economy, encouraging consumerism, which in the food industry evolved into fast food enterprises, like McDonald’s or Burger King. This type of globalisation brought these new words together with their products to make them more appealing abroad, such as “burger” and “nuggets”. The employment of this new vocabulary was started by these international businesses, and as time went by, local enterprises started using it as well. This is the case of our restaurant, which has adopted the concept of “burgers” and “smash burgers”.
Although we find it comprehensive that when a new concept arrives, to address it by its original name, when this product becomes popular and present everywhere, it also makes sense to adapt its name into our own language. Even though changing people’s habits of a word can be extremely difficult, we have to prioritise using local and minority languages to preserve them.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Through this project, we have gained deeper insight into the linguistic landscapes of Lleida, as well as the broader effects of globalisation and Englishisation in our contemporary world. We have observed how English appears in public spaces, both in an obvious and subtle way, for instance, in shops, advertisements, and brand names. Consequently, we have realised the strong presence of English in the city and the importance of linking languages to commerce.
At the same time, we have gained awareness of the importance of language in the economy, not only for communication. Before working on this project, we were not conscious of how globalised our language is or of the real consequences it has for our native languages. It made us think about how local languages could lose speakers or importance over time.
REFERENCES
Ben-Rafael, E., Shohamy, E., & Barni, M. (2010). Introduction: An approach to an 'ordered disorder'. In E. Shohamy, E. Ben-Rafael, & M. Barni (Eds.), Linguistic landscape in the city (pp. 11–28). Multilingual Matters.
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Diputació de Lleida. (2014). Edicte 9251. Butlletí Oficial de la Província de Lleida. http://bop.diputaciolleida.cat/faces/consultaF/servlets/donarEdicte/?id=2014_212_9251
Generalitat de Catalunya. (1998). Llei 1/1998, de 7 de gener, de política lingüística. Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya. https://portaljuridic.gencat.cat/ca/document-del-pjur/?documentId=171269
Gorter, D. (2012). Foreword: Signposts in the linguistic landscape. In C. Hélot, M. Barni, R. Janssens, & C. Bagna (Eds.), Linguistic landscapes, multilingualism and social change (pp. 9–12). Peter Lang.
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