Reus's business associations, including Unió de Botiguers, El Tomb de Reus, Mercats de Reus, El Passeig Comercial El Pallol, and Comerç Solidari, have joined Correllengua, whose central event will be the 'Marxa per la Llengua' on Saturday, October 24th. Under the slogan "La llengua ens uneix, fem-la viva" (The language unites us, let's make it live), the initiative aims to promote the active use of Catalan in all areas.
At a press conference held on Friday, October 16th, these entities presented a campaign to involve businesses in the preferential use of Catalan. Adhering establishments will be identified with a badge expressing their commitment to the language. Mònica Bellido, from Unió de Botiguers, highlighted that "Reus's commerce has always been one of the city's driving forces. And now we also want it to be one of the forces that help keep our language alive."
Víctor Perales, president of El Tomb de Reus, added, "We want Reus's businesses to also be linguistic refuges for Catalan. Places where it is natural to speak it, where those learning it have the opportunity to practice it, and where no one has to feel ashamed or uncomfortable expressing themselves in our language."
Currently, nearly 160 establishments in Reus already collaborate with the 'Voluntariat per la llengua' (Volunteer for Language) program, managed by the Centre de Normalització Lingüística (CNL) of the Miquel Ventura Area of Reus. These businesses commit to serving customers in Catalan who address them in the language and to hosting language practice sessions for basic level students.
The intention is for businesses joining Correllengua to subsequently formalize their participation in the 'Voluntariat per la llengua' to continue promoting the social use of Catalan. They will also be offered information on the CNL's free Linguistic Advisory Service and the 'Comerços aprenents' (Learning Shops) project, which provides Catalan training to customer-facing staff.
