Does anyone here speak Catalan?

Question

Anyone knows Catalan? Do you know where it is spoken?

Answer 1

I don't speak it, but as for where it is spoken... it is spoken in Catalonia, which is a region of Spain (it is in the North East, the largest city is Barcelona). Though it is part of Spain, it is an autonomous community, like the Basque country. Lots of people there speak Catalan, even in the centre of Barcelona, it is very common to hear it spoken, plus some tv channels are broadcast in Catalan. According to a recent survey, up to 95% of local residents can understand Catalan, but how many speak it on a day to day basis I don't know.

Answer 2

Esmerellda gives a good summary. Depending on who you ask, there may or may not be other varieties/dialects of Catalan: Valencian, which is spoken in the Community of Valencia on the Mediterranean Coast; and several varieties of Balearic, which is spoken on Ibiza, Majorca, Menorca, etc. Catalan is spoken in other places as well; see the Wikipedia articles on Catalan language and Valencian.

The reason I say that it depends on who you ask is because Valencians claim that Valencian is a separate language, while speakers of Catalan claim Valencian as a dialect of Catalan. The people who live on the Balearic Islands tend to refer to their language as Catalan.

Valencian is not widely spoken in the city of Valenica, but it is spoken in rural communities. While some figures in the Wikipedia article suggest that a majority of Valencians do know how to speak Valencian, I only heard the language once in the city (excepting TV news, soccer coverage, and the occasional official festive pronunciation).

Answer 3

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