User:Blaster Bates/Josep Ruaix i Vinyet

Josep Ruaix Vinyet (Moià, Moianès, 4th August 1940) is a Catalan priest, grammarian, and writer.

Biography
Josep Ruaix studied in the Escola Pia in Moià. He started an ecclesiastical degree in 1954, which included education, and finished it in 1965 in the Seminary of Vic, where he started teaching Catalan and wrote his own teaching material. In 1966 he was ordained as a priest. He graduated in humanities from the Pontifical Superior Institute of Latinità (Rome), he continued his theological studies at the Facultat de Teologia de Catalunya between 1971 and 1973, and he graduated in classical philology at the University of Barcelona in 1979.

He was a priest in Rome from 1966 until 1971, when he returned to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vic, where he has occupied several parish positions.

He has been a Catalan-language teacher in many institutions, and he has written numerous learning and language manuals. Examples of these manuals are El català en fitxes (Catalan worksheets) and Estudis de llengua (Language studies). Most of his manuals include practical activities adapted to different levels. He has also been involved in drawing up dictionaries. He was a member of the Catalan Permanent CommitteeCatalan Permanent Committee from 1984 until 1988, and he belonged to the consulting council for the creation of the new grammar rules in the Institute of Catalan Studies from 1996 until 1998. He has published numerous articles on linguistics in several places, especially in the magazine Llengua Nacional (National Language) from 1996 to the present day. He has corrected numerous books, journals and other texts, he revised most of the Grammar of the Catalan Language in 2016, one of his major works according to the ‘Introduction’, and he has given conferences and taken part of round tables, among many other things. He can be said to have made a considerable contribution to language norms.

He has written poetry (he is the author of the lyrics of Cants per a la litúrgia [Chants for liturgy], composed by Valentí Miserachs and published in 1998), essays on local history and journalistic articles in different media, such as Oriflama, Full Diocesà, and the local magazine La Tosca. He has carried out numerous translations from different languages. He has taken care of editing the work done by other authors. He wrote the booklet for the oratorio Diàleg patriarcal (Patriarchal dialogue), composed by Valentí Miserachs and interpreted in Catalonia in 2018 and in Rome in 2019. He has recently published his memories in a reduced version in the weekly Catalunya Cristiana (Christian Catalonia).

In 1989, he received the Ramon Fuster prize from the College of Doctors and Graduates in Catalonia. In 1990, he was awarded the local silver medal by the Moià city council. In 1998, he obtained the Bages prize in culture. In the year 2000, he was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi (St George’s cross) and in 2001, the Civic Act prize. On his 65th birthday, he was dedicated a miscellanea, which includes his bio-bibliography until that moment, by the Modilianum Cultural Association. In 2008, the Noguera Regional Council awarded him the Count Jaume d’Urgell prize. In 2010, the Catalan Nationalist Youth gave him the Compromise prize. And in 2018, the bishop in Vic gave him the Bishop Oliba medal and named him Honorary Canon of the local cathedral.

Currently, he is the parish rector of Sant Vicenç de Calder and Sant Pere de Viladecavalls de Calders, both in the Calders region, as well as rector in solidum in Sant Feliu de Monistrol de Calders. All three belong to the Moianès region.

Works
His most popular title is Català fàcil (Easy Catalan), of which 16 editions have been published. Over 2,200,000 copies of his work have been sold.


 * El català en fitxes (1968-1986)
 * Català fàcil (1983-2012)
 * El català (1984-1994)
 * Punts conflictius de català. Deu estudis sobre normativa lingüística (1989)
 * La conjugació dels verbs (1990)
 * Observacions crítiques i pràctiques sobre el català d'avui (1994-1995)
 * Diccionari auxiliar (1996)
 * Català progressiu (1997-2012)
 * Català complet (1998-2012)
 * Cants per a la litúrgia (1998) with Valentí Miserachs Grau
 * Nou diccionari auxiliar (2011)
 * Diccionari de barbarismes (2011)
 * Estudis de llengua (2016)

Awards and distinctions

 * Ramon Fuster prize, by the College of Doctors and Graduates in Catalonia (1989).
 * Silver medal of Moià (1990).
 * Bages prize for culture (1998).
 * St George’s Cross (2000).
 * Jaume I Civic Act prize (2001).
 * "Miscellanea in honour of Josep Ruaix", Modilianum magazine, 33 (2005).
 * Count Jaume d’Urgell prize, by the Noguera Regional Council (2008).
 * Commitment prize, by the Bages Catalan Nationalist Youth (2010).
 * La galàxia Ruaix (2017), miscellanea by David Paloma i Mònica Montserrat.
 * II Special Prize of the Martí Gasull i Roig Award Board, for his contribution to the teaching of the Catalan language during the Franco dictatorship (2018).
 * Bishop Oliba medal (2018)
 * Honorary Canon of the Vic cathedral (2018)