Introduction

During November and December 1995 a survey on linguistic usage was conducted among the whole Universitat Pompeu Fabra administrative and services staff-as well as among the administrative and services staff at the University School of Public Management and Administration of Manresa and the University School of Business Studies of the Maresme as centres attached to the UPF. Such questionnaire was intended to mirror the present situation of this collective regarding several linguistic and linguistic praxis related matters.

This survey, financed by the Catalan Government's Universities Office with the object of gathering updated and comparable data for the five youngest universities in Catalonia, consists of forty questions distributed in three blocks: personal and professional data, linguistic data and attitudes, and counselling and training. The questionnaire was distributed to the whole PAS through service directors in the case of UPF and through the corresponding directors in the case of the attached centres. It was highlighted that responding the questionnaire was voluntary and anonymous, but also that obtaining a massive response was of strong importance.

The overall response rate goes up to 84.75% (389 out of 459 distributed questionnaires). By centres, the highest response rate belongs to Universitat Pompeu Fabra at 85.13% (378 out of 444 questionnaires); the next one is the University School of Public Management and Administration of Manresa at 75.00%, and finally the University School of Business Studies of the Maresme at 72.72%.

In addition to the general data regarding the UPF and the two attached UPF-dependent centres, this collection of data includes a crossing of the general UPF data by groups and levels, as well as several graphics illustrating some of the most interesting answers, both for Universitat Pompeu Fabra and the aforesaid attached centres.

 

Most relevant data

Here we show a brief report of the most relevant data of the survey, only referred to Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Obviously, the resulting percentages are calculated on the basis of the overall obtained data, not on the whole collective.

 

Personal and professional data

 

 

Gender: 30.03% of the interviewed PAS members are men, whereas 69.97% are women.

Age: 89.56% of the PAS are 40 or younger; only 10.44% of them are older than that. Years of residence in Catalonia: 91.12% of the PAS have always lived in Catalonia, 8.00% have lived there for longer than 11 years; and only 0.78% have lived in Catalonia for 10 years or less.

Linguistic data and attitudes

 

Mother tongue: Catalan is the mother tongue of 55.88% of the PAS; Spanish is the mother tongue of 30.02%, and both Catalan and Spanish are mother tongues of 13.06% of the PAS. Just 1.04% speak another language as a mother tongue.

Oral comprehension: 99.74% of the PAS understand spoken Catalan very well or quite well.

Written comprehension: 100% of the PAS understand written Catalan very well or quite well.

Oral expression: 98.43% of the PAS can speak Catalan very well or quite well.

Written expression: 90.86% of the PAS can write in Catalan very well or quite well.

Telephoning: 99.48% of the PAS answer telephone calls in Catalan.

Service: 98.43% of the PAS serve people in Catalan.

Written documents: 100% of the PAS write their texts in Catalan.

PAS level of usage of Catalan: 6.01% of the PAS think that the usage of Catalan this collective makes is inadequate; 91.38% think it is appropriate; and 2.09% think it is excessive.

 

Counselling and training

Services requested from the Language Office: Of the whole of services requested to the Language Office 28.46% were corrections, 7.05% were translation management, and 25.04%, counselling matters. 43.86% of the PAS have never requested any service from the Language Office. (In relation to this answer, it is important to emphasise that the percentages obtained are calculated on the basis of the whole of the services requested from the Language Office and not on the basis of the whole of the PAS members, insofar as each person could mark as many answers as it was the case.)

Reference material: 96.87% of the PAS report that in their service area there are dictionaries and other reference material. Of these 68.15% report that the dictionaries and other reference material in their service area are adequate to guarantee a minimum of linguistic correctness; 12.27% report that they are adequate but they are placed too far; and 13.06% report they are inadequate.

Documents administratius de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra: 57.70% of the PAS think it is very useful; 15.14% do not think it is much use, and 3.92% do not think it is useful at all. 20.89% of the PAS members did not know such an account of administration documentation was published.

Linguistic Support Network: 54.04% of the PAS members think that the Linguistic Support Network is very useful and that it should be promoted, whereas 13.57% think it is no use, and 29.50% did not know it existed.

Certificates of Catalan: 9.14% of the PAS members own an elementary level certificate of Catalan; 37.34% have an intermediate level certificate; 5.48% have an advanced level certificate; and 11.75% have another kind of certificate. 36.29% of the PAS members do not own any certificate attesting their knowledge of Catalan.

Knowledge of English: 37.08% of the PAS members have a basic knowledge of English, and 48.30% have an intermediate or advanced knowledge. 14.62%, though, do not own any knowledge of the English language at all.