Galician (Galego)

Galician is a Romance language spoken by about 3 million people in Galicia, in the north-west corner of Spain. Galician is more or less mutually intelligible with Portuguese but uses Spanish spelling conventions. In fact, whether Galician and Portuguese are separate languages or dialects of the same language, is a question that has been hotly debated for decades, and is loaded with political and cultural implications.

Galician emerged as a standardised literary language during the 19th century when there was a revival (rexurdimento) in the language and culture of Galicia. One person who was particularly active in the revival movement was Frei Martín Sarmiento. The publication in 1863 of Rosalía de Castro's poem Cantares Gallegos, which was written entirely in Galician, marked the beginning of the revival in the fortunes of Galician.

During early 20th century, an organisation known as the Irmandades da Fala (Brotherhoods of the Language) was set up to defend, promote and dignify the Galician language and a number of Galician language journals began to appear. In 1936 Galicia was granted autonomy and the Galician language given offical status in the region.

Today more than 1,000 books are published in Galician every year and there is a Galician TV channel, a Galician radio station (both set up in 1996), and a daily Galician language newspaper O Correo Galego. Galician language and literature is taught at all levels of education and there is a growing sense of pride in the Galician language and culture.

Galician alphabet
A a	B b	C c	D d	E e	F f	G g	H h	I i	L l	M m	N n
a	be	ce	de	e	efe	gue	hache	i	ele	eme	ene
Ñ ñ	O o	P p	Q q	R r	S s	T t	U u	V v	X x	Z z
eñe	o	pe	cu	erre	esse	te	u	uve	xe	zeta

The letters J (iota), K (ca), W (uve dobre) and Y (i grego) are also used but only in loan words. There are also six digraphs: CH, GU, LL, NH, QU and RR. QU and GU are used only before the vowels E and I.

Galician pronunciation

Pronunciation of Galician

Sample text in Galician

Tódolos seres humanos nacen libres e iguais en dignidade e dereitos e, dotados como están de razón e conciencia, díbense comportar fraternalmente uns cos outros.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Longer sample text (Tower of Babel)

Useful phrases in Galician

Links

Information about the Galician Language
http://galego.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galician_language
http://usuarios.lycos.es/Celtic_Galiza/galegoh.html

Online Galician lessons
http://www.usc.es/~ilgas/galician.html
http://www.edu.xunta.es/galingua/
http://gl.wikibooks.org/wiki/Curso_de_lingua_galega

Online Galician dictionaries
http://webs.uvigo.es/sli/lexico/
http://www.diccionarios.com

Galician morphology and syntax
http://www.usc.es/~ilgas/morfosi.html

Compañía de Radio- Televisión de Galicia (includes live streams)
http://www.crtvg.es

Online Galician news
http://www.anosaterra.com

Related languages

Aragonese, Aranese, Aromanian, Asturian, Catalan, Corsican, French, Friulian, Galician, Genoese, Italian, Jèrriais, Latin, Lombard, Mirandese, Moldovan, Occitan, Piedmontese, Portuguese, Romanian, Romansh, Sardinian, Sicilian, Spanish, Venetian, Walloon,

Other languages written with the Latin alphabet

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