A little over a year ago, I published a post called "Languages of Spain" to explain that Spanish is not the only language spoken in Spain.
The Spanish Congress has recently allowed the use of Basque, Catalan, and Galician, and one of the headlines I've seen the most is something like "Spain now allows regional languages to be spoken in Congress."
Reading that didn't feel right, and it made me wonder:
Are Basque, Catalan, and Galician regional languages?
Let's take a closer look at them!
Basque is spoken in two autonomous communities in Spain (Euskadi and Nafarroa) and a department in France (Pirinio Atlantiarrak).
Catalan is spoken in four countries — Andorra, France, Italy, and Spain:
It's the sole official language of Andorra, and that's why it can be used in the UN.
Additionally, it's used in the neighboring French department known as Pirineus Orientals and in the Italian city of L'Alguer located in Sardenya.
Of course, Catalan is spoken in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalunya, Illes Balears, and País Valencià; and it also has speakers in areas of Aragó (La Franja de Ponent) and Múrcia (El Carxe).
Finally, the Galician question is the most controversial one:
Politically, Galician is considered a separate language from Portuguese, which would confine it to the northwestern corner of Spain (Galiza and areas of Astúrias and Castela e Leão).
Interestingly, some of us realize that the arguments used to highlight the differences between Galician and Portuguese are the same used to describe the richness of certain global languages.
If Galician is considered the same language as Portuguese, it can be used to communicate with up to 300 million speakers (i.e., the Lusofonia), and that works best when the language is free of Spanish loanwords and calques.
Having realized this, I came to the conclusion that there is nothing regional about languages crossing borders like Basque, Catalan, and Galician.
Therefore, I don't think using terms like regional languages to refer to Spain's co-official languages is a good idea.
Aside from the condescending tone, calling them regional is inaccurate — none of them are strictly confined to nor do they solely belong to certain regions in Spain.