'Catalanizing' technology: campaign promotes Catalan language on digital devices

On Monday afternoon, Catalan language advocates gathered to announce the launch of configura.cat, a website that provides video tutorials and step-by-step instructions for configuring connected devices in Catalan. 

The site includes instructions for how to "Catalanize" Google and the four most common operating systems: Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. 

"Today the number of devices configured in Catalan, in our opinion, is unsatisfactory and does not do justice to the power of our cultural reality," said Genís Roca, president of organization Accent Obert. 

The campaign is spearheaded by the Alliance for the Digital Presence of Catalan and its member organizations, including Accent Obert, Òmnium Cultural, Plataforma per la Llengua, and Softcatalà. Their goal is to double the number of devices configured in Catalan. 

As Òmnium Cultural president Xavier Antich explained, many websites simply don't offer Catalan versions. But even when websites do offer a Catalan version, it's often not shown when a device isn't configured in the language. 

"Every configuration counts," said Òmnium Cultural president Xavier Antich. "Each one makes visible a very important truth: for many years now, there has been an active and engaged digital community interested in Catalan." 

According to data from the Catalan government's Ministry of Culture, Catalan has the world's eighth-highest Internet penetration rate, which divides the number of Internet users by population. It also ranks 19th in the number of websites per speaker. But an EU report in 2022 found that despite Catalan web users' high level of activity online, multinational corporations and the national Spanish government are less likely to have their websites translated into Catalan. 

The newly-launched initiative seeks to assert digital linguistic rights and challenge technology companies that don't offer their services in Catalan.   

"The more input they receive that we are navigating in Catalan, it will be more difficult for those companies to ignore that they have a market in Catalan," said Òscar Escuder, president of  Plataforma per la Llengua. 

At the press conference, the organization leaders emphasized that users who communicate in Catalan in their daily lives are entitled to a digital environment that reflects their primary linguistic identity. 

"We have the right as citizens to have a digital experience consistent with our language," said Antich.