History documentary (in Spanish) about the region of El Bierzo

[MarkyD]

This official documentary, see link below, may be of interest to pilgrims who have walked through this wonderful part of Spain. Those of you walking on the Camino Francés would have first entered El Bierzo at El Acebo, on the way down to Molinaseca with the beautiful stone Roman bridge over the river Río Muruelo. Some of you may have had a rest day in Ponferrada to explore the Castle Templario. Others may have enjoyed a stay in the beautiful town of Villafranca-del-Bierzo or Cacabelos and sampled the Mencia wine in all its glory or bathed in their beautiful, sparkling clean rivers.
Enjoy the video.

 

[Pelegrin]

On the documentary; Villafranca del Bierso is presented as " Capital de la provincia".
in reality never was.
Today el Bierzo is included in the León province according to the provincial division issued in 1833, but there was a previous provincial division in 1822 during the so called "trienio liberal" in Fernando VII kingdom where appeared "La provincia del Vierzo" with capital in Villafranca. That province included the whole Bierzo and some territories of Galicia (Barco de Valdeorras). But the absolutism was reestablished again after that short liberal period and that division never was implanted.

 

[Isca-camigo]

My Spanish partner comes from the Leon side of the Los Ancares, which they consider to be in the El Beirzo,, her mother was fluent in Gallego and was a panderatera. When we were in Santiago we got chatting to some locals and when the El Beirzo came up they said " the 5th province" meaning the unofficial 5th area of Galicia.

Oops I put 6 must have had more beers than I remembered that night.

 

[Pelegrin]

My Spanish partner comes from the Leon side of the Los Ancares, which they consider to be in the El Beirzo,, her mother was fluent in Gallego and was a panderatera. When we were in Santiago we got chatting to some locals and when the El Beirzo came up they said " the 5th province" meaning the unofficial 5th area of Galicia.

You meant "pandereteira"
Yes, in Galicia there are some people who consider El Bierzo as part of Galicia, but this is not true for the whole Bierzo.
Only the western third could be considered "Galego" (Ponferrada not included) because it has been a Galician spoken area, the rest has more to do with León or even Asturias.
In the 'Galician' part of El Bierzo the language only remains from Villafranca (not included) to Galicia. So, in Vega de Valcarce is still spoken and of course in Los Ancares.

 

[Isca-camigo]

pandereteira

I knew it was something similar to that. My partners birth certificate is from Villfranca, she does not think of herself as Gallego but when she joined me in Sarria she felt like she had a connection to the places and people we met on the way. We were talking about the concept of "Volver' the other day and that is I would like to understand/ feel more.

 

[MarkyD]

You meant "pandereteira"
Yes, in Galicia there are some people who consider El Bierzo as part of Galicia, but this is not true for the whole Bierzo.
Only the western third could be considered "Galego" (Ponferrada not included) because it has been a Galician spoken area, the rest has more to do with León or even Asturias.
In the 'Galician' part of El Bierzo the language only remains from Villafranca (not included) to Galicia. So, in Vega de Valcarce is still spoken and of course in Los Ancares.

My mother is from a small mountain village about 12km up the mountains from Vilĺafranca del Bierzo. Some of my cousins, aunties and uncles now live mainly in Ponferrada and Villafranca del Bierzo. They understand Galego as spoken on Galician TV, but this is not quite the same as some of the stronger accents you'll find in rural and coastal villages of Galicia.
My mother's side of the family speak a mixture of Castellano, Gallego and Asturiano (Bable) - it's known locally as Berciano, although my older relatives sometimes refer to it as "chappuriao", and discourage me from trying to speak it. The verb "chapurrear" means to speak poorly.
My cousins, uncle and aunts speak it and understand it, but I struggle to understand it. I'm not a native Spanish speaker anyway, as I was born and grew up in London. It definitely sounds very similar to Galego and Galego has some language in common with the north of Portugal.
One of my cousins moved to Pontevedra and he says the Galego spoken there is difficult for him to understand. But "official Galego", such as used in public organisations they can understand about 90% of it, the rest they work out from the context. However, he does not speak this "official Galego" - he sometimes uses Castellano (Spanish), but speaks Berciano dialect in social and family situations depending on what the other people understand better

 

[Pelegrin]

I know the " Chapurriao" Is Galego with many Castellano words.That is more or less the same case as the other Galician speaking areas in Zamora and Asturias.
Yes, in some parts of the Galician coast ( especially Costa da Morte) they have a quite different accent that can be difficult to understand for your family.
The Galego on the TVGa is normative snd I am sure that your family can understand quite well the news but there are some series that could be more difficult because the vocabulary.

 

[MarkyD]

I know the " Chapurriao" Is Galego with many Castellano words.That is more or less the same case as the other Galician speaking areas in Zamora and Asturias.
Yes, in some parts of the Galician coast ( especially Costa da Morte) they have a quite different accent that can be difficult to understand for your family.
The Galego on the TVGa is normative snd I am sure that your family can understand quite well the news but there are some series that could be more difficult because the vocabulary.

Luckily, we can all understand and speak Castellano, with the odd chappureo, Galego, Leones, Asturiano thrown in. But in parts of Andalucia, it's a whole different kettle of fish. My sister lives near a small fishing village called La Rábita, it belongs to the region of Granada. But unlike the Granadiño, they speak Rábiteño and they struggle to understand eachother if they both use their own specific accent. Luckily, they both speak Castellano with the Andaluz accent of course, so they can then understand eachother much better. But then I struggle to understand them, as I'm not used to the Andaluz accent. It takes me a couple of weeks to get acclimatised to the Andaluz swing. But, luckily we all speak Castellano (Spanish), so we can then communicate very well.
Mind you, having been born and raised in London, I've often found it difficult to understand some broad regional accents in the UK e.g. Geordie, Brum, Scouse, Glaswegian, Belfast, Manc, etc.

 

[Pelegrin]

Yes, inside the Andaluz accents the one from Granada must be the most difficult for a foreigner.