Xunta de Galicia

The Secretaría Xeral de Política Lingüística (SXPL) is the Department for Linguistic Policy and pertains to the Xunta de Galicia, the autonomous government of Galicia. Since 1983 its main objective has been to support the spread and use of the Galician language within the Galician community. The department’s most relevant tasks are to promote the use of the Galician language in the different social and economic fields of Galicia, and to create legislative proposals in order to foster linguistic normalization. Its policies are stipulated in the agreements that constitute the General Plan for the Normalization of the Galician Language (Plan Xeral de Normalización da Lingua Galega). This plan, approved in 2004, includes a series of proposals that are in favour of promoting the Galician language and allows the opportunity for Galicians to maintain their oral identity under the protection of the laws and institutions.

A new system of testing exams for adults is being created in order to properly assess the various communicative skills and the linguistic competence of the Galician language. Following the scales provided by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, this new testing system can provide answers to the needs that the current society has regarding teaching, learning and the assessment of the Galician language. These exams are known as CELGA (Certificado de Lingua Galega “Certificate of Galician Language”) and are divided into five levels, of increasing difficulty, the first being the least difficult:

CELGA 1
CELGA 2
CELGA 3
CELGA 4
CELGA 5

The implementation of these tests designated for various levels is set to take place in 2007.

Information regarding the exams can also be found on the following web page: www.xunta.es/linguagalega