The language is the basis of any nation. It is like a code which keeps in memory of people all the features of national character. Today the Valencian language is spoken together with Spanish in the three provinces of the community.
The Valencian language is very similar to Catalonian which is spoken in the province of Catalonia. Many people consider Valencian to be a dialect of Catalonian. But the native population of Valencia doesn’t agree with such a statement. In spite of the fact that there are not many principle differences in pronunciation of Catalonian and Valencian, still in Catalonia people speak Catalonian and in Valencia they speak Valencian and they are really proud of it.
The language problems were discussed even in Parliament. In 2004 the project of the country budget was sent to the Spanish Parliament in 4 autonomic languages including Catalonian and Valencian. The differences between these two were only in the design of the documents.
The Catalonians were furious and showed their protest claiming that the Valencian language does not exist but it is only a dialect of the Catalonian language. It is difficult to say where the truth is. It is better to ask specialists. But the government solved the dispute in their own way, approved the Catalonian language and excluded the Valencian language from the official documents.
The Valencian people don’t agree with this decision. 60% of the whole population of Valencia are sure that they speak the Valencian language. The most vehement supporters would like to keep Valencian from the assimilation of Catalonian. In any case, hot discussions about the language between Barcelona and Valencia have been a sort of manifestation of rivalry since earliest times.
The tourists are indifferent to these discussions. They understand the meaning of the most popular word “paella” which can be translated as “a very delicious thing”. And that is enough for them.
