There are some other languages in Spain like Basque (pretty well known), Galician and Aragonese https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aragonese_language
The rejection of considering Valencian as Catalan has some links to Blaverism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaverism a “weird” Spanish nationalist movement from Valencia with marked Anti-Catalan character.
Oficial languages in Spain are Basque, Catalan, Galician and Spanish (obviously). They survive others such as Aragonese, Bable or Extremeñu. Plus the Spanish dialects such as the Southern ones.
There are beach-front plaques in at least 2 towns near Valencia that, ahem, vigorously dispute your position :)
Also, s/Spanish/Castillian/ surely?
Did you notice that English is called English (from England) and not British? Quite logical IMHO, as in the UK several other languages are spoken (Welsh, Irish, Cornish, etc)
The case of English is different as the language was mainly used una part of the country, while Spanish rapidly extended to all regions.
Article 3
1. Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. All Spaniards have the duty to know it and the right to use it.
2. The other Spanish languages shall also be official in the respective Autonomous Communities in accordance with their Statutes.
3. The wealth of the different linguistic modalities of Spain is a cultural heritage that shall be the object of special respect and protection.
Because Italy is still in its nationalist infancy, being united as big, single, 19th century cool nation for a little more than 150 years. But many of the "dialects" spoken in Italy are actually different languages with different vocabulary, grammar rules etc.
The status of languages like Castillan is much more controversial, because they are only the national dialect by conquest. (French is in a similar position, though it cleverly shares the name with the country it is the national language of.) It doesn't help that the French and Spanish governments have historically suppressed "dialects" in favour of the national language in an immoral and shameful way.
>The case of English is different as the language was mainly used una part of the country
English is the most used language throughout the UK. There are almost no non-English-speaking communities left in Wales or Scotland, and language (much like everything else to do with the English) is a contentious political issue in Northern Ireland.
However, it would be grossly inappropriate to start calling this language "British", even when just referring to how it is spoken in the UK - because of many of the same historical features as Castillan and French.
The problem is that both Catalan and Spanish nationalists like the idea to identify Castilian with Spanish. The Catalan separatists like that because it is the proof they are not Spaniards, since Catalan is not from Spain, and the Spanish nationalists like it because it puts the other Spanish language in a second level, something they love.
https://rpstranslations.wordpress.com/2013/06/18/is-it-spani...
In my experience almost no one in the Basque Country refers to the Basque language as 'Basque', it is generally referred to as Euskara, even by non-native speakers.
If anything, Catalan is a dialect of Valencian since Valencian precedes Catalan. Source: look it up.
Catalans are taught a different story in school, which makes most of them believe your statement. Source: I am from Catalonia and I was taught Valencian to be one of Catalan's dialects, until I met some friends from Valencia who educated me on the subject.
Those are the best, especially on controversial subjects. You basically say, that first you learned in catalan, that valencian is just a catalan dialect - and then you was influenced by people from Valencia who told you otherwise and for some reasons you rather believed them.
The question is, why should anyone here also believe those friends of yours? It just sounds to me, you have been influenced by different ideologies - as this is a politically loaded subject, where people usually do not apply scientific standards to a discussion, but rather emotions.
I had a quick look around, and most sources seem to disagree with you, with the first records of Valencian coming from circa 1350 [0] and Catalan starting around 300 years before [1].
If you have any authoritative sources to back that claim up, I'd be interested in seeing them.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valencian_language#Authors_and... [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language#Middle_Ages
> [...] when the European Union wanted to approve the European Constitution, the Valencian Government did not recognise the official translation wrote in Catalan from Barcelona and forced to have one in Valencian. To preserve the language unity, the Catalan Government accepted the Valencian translation has the official Catalan translation.
Total big brother move.
Some sentences in both "languages" and English. Catalan/Valencian/English
Bon dia/Bon dia/Good morning
Avui fa bon temps/Hui fa bon temps/The weather is good today
Volem acabar amb la COVID19/Volem acabar amb la COVID19/We want to end COVID19
Sembla que plourà/Pareix que plourà/Looks like it's going to rain.
There are two difrent words in 4 sentences. I can't really see how that makes them separate languages.