Bilingualism in Spain. 5 languages and different language rules per region.
How to manage bilingualism and voice products in HERE Spain Map
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The purpose of this document is to shed some light on the official languages of Spain and how this is reflected on the HERE map and products both in terms of the language code for the names and also in how phonemes are provided to customers.
Five official languages are spoken in Spain and 4 of them are coded in the HERE map of that country. Those languages are:
Spanish (language code SPA): Official country wide
Galician (language code GLG): Official together with Spanish in Galicia
Basque (language code BAQ): Official together with Spanish in Basque Country and some areas of Comunidad Foral de Navarra
Catalan (language code CAT): Official together with Spanish in Catalonia, Balearic Islands and Valencia.
Valencian, spoken in Comunidad Valenciana, is a language close to Catalan. HERE does not use Valencian in that area but Catalan instead.
The default Language is Spanish (SPA). Following image points out administrative areas that are completely or partially bilingual in Spain and the languages spoken for each of them.
Bilingual areas and official languages
Bilingual levels supported by HERE.
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HERE coding rules include 4 different levels of bilingualism.
Level 1: This is an administrative area that has more than one official language (that is modelled by HERE), and more than one of these languages can be defined as a regional primary language (e.g., Brussels in Belgium, where both Dutch and French are the official languages). These areas are usually officially recognized by the government as bilingual.
Level 2: This is an administrative area that has more than one official language (that is modelled by HERE), but only one of them is considered regional primary language (e.g. Wales).
Level 3: This is an administrative area that has more than one official language (that is modelled by HERE), but none of them are recognized as regional primary language (e.g., Luxembourg).
Level 4 This is an administrative area that has only one official language (so is not technically bilingual), and that language is not the same as the default language on that area. Bilingual level 4 is not present in Spain.
Bilingual levels at the Spanish HERE Map. Coding and Map Display.
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Basque Country and Comunidad Foral de Navarra are bilingual level 1. They have 2 different official languages SPA and BAQ and the two of them (so more than one) are regional primary language. HERE database includes:
Mixed areas (BAQ and SPA coded)
Areas where only BAQ is coded and,
Areas where only SPA is present.
That means that when working with the HERE map of Basque Country and Comunidad Foral Navarra, it is possible to find signs, POI, street names, chains and admin names that have only one name in SPA, only one name in BAQ or elements with two names one in SPA and another one in BAQ.
Two cities of Basque Country, Galdakao and Basauri are bilingual level 2. Official Languages are Basque (BAQ) and Spanish (SPA) with BAQ as the regional primary language. On those two cities, only Basque (BAQ) names are found in reality and on sources and this is captured in the HERE database.
When it comes to naming display on a map, and since there is predominance of more than one language, both base names (BAQ and SPA) should be displayed on the map when available. If map language is set to BAQ, only Basque names should be displayed when two base names are available for a feature.
Galicia, Catalonia and Balearic Islands are bilingual level 2. There are 2 different official languages: SPA and GLG (Galicia) or SPA and CAT (Catalonia and Balearic Islands) but the predominant or primary language is GLG for Galicia and CAT for Catalonia and Balearic Islands. HERE database does only have names in the primary language of each of those administrative areas.
The name to be displayed in a map by default is the one and only base name available that is not flagged as exonym i.e. Galician or Catalan. Galician and Catalan names on these regions prevail over Spanish names even when the mapping language is set to Spanish.
Comunidad Valenciana is bilingual level 3. There are 2 official languages SPA and CAT but there´s no predominance of any language. As mentioned before, in reality the official language is Valencian but HERE uses Catalan as it is a very close language to Valencian. HERE database includes:
Mixed areas (CAT and SPA coded)
Areas where only CAT is coded and,
Areas where only SPA is present.
So, across Comunidad Valenciana map it is possible to find signs, POI, street names, chains and admin names with only one name in SPA, only one name in CAT or elements which name is in both languages SPA and CAT.
Comunidad Valenciana naming is up to date with the available naming official sources. The sources not always include the two languages for all the bilingual municipalities.
When it comes to naming display, since there is no predominance of any language, customer can avoid the display of features in CAT language code and show only SPA base names since this is the default language for the whole country.
If map language is set to CAT, only Catalan base names should be displayed when two base names are available for a feature.
NB: Please note that in Comunidad de Aragón there are some Built Up Areas (BUA) that are also known by their Catalan names. Even though Aragón is not a bilingual area (i.e., only Spanish (SPA) is official), customer can find some Catalan (CAT) names coded in the database as Exonyms of some BUA.
Customer can avoid the display features in CAT and show only SPA names for this BUAS in Aragón since this is not defined as bilingual area and no base name is published in CAT. If map language is set to CAT, exonyms in Catalan should also be displayed.
Bilingual levels at Spain HERE Map.
Voice Products (phonemes) for the HERE map of Spain
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Once explained how names are coded in the HERE Map for Spain, we’ll explain how we define the voice products.
Taking a look to Voice product for KE region (Spain) customer can see there are four files
· “BAQ.tar”: This file includes phonetic transcription using Basque phonemes for the names coded with BAQ language code in the database.
· “CAT.tar”: This file includes phonetic transcription using Catalan phonemes for the names coded with CAT language code in the database.
· “GLG.tar”: This file includes phonetic transcription using Galician phonemes for the names coded with GLG language code in the database.
· “SPA.tar”: This file includes phonetic transcription using Spanish phonemes for the names with SPA, BAQ, CAT or GLG language code in the database. This means that “Voice Spanish” covers all naming Spain regardless the language code of the names in the database.
Summarizing: BAQ, CAT and GLG voice products have only Basque, Catalan and Galician language strings. SPA voice product includes everything regardless the language code of the strings in the database but using only Spanish phonemes which could make some words in CAT, BAQ or GLG sound a bit weird.
For further info on this matter please contact whether TCS or DBE of Spain.