Could someone from Barcelona understand someone from Madrid?

Question

I was just wondering how different Catalan and Castillian Spanish where.

Answer 1

Yes...almost all Catalans are at least bingual and speak both Catalan and Castillian.

"In Francoist Spain (1939-1975), the use of Castilian over Catalan was promoted, and public use of Catalan was in fact forbidden, though thousands of books were published in Catalan (or sneaked under censorship). Following the death of Franco in 1975 and the restoration of democracy, the use of Catalan increased".

Mom is not correct Catalan is a separate language closer to Provencal and French than Spanish, Spanish and Catalan are not regional dialects of the same language.

Answer 2

NO, Castilian and Catalan are mutually unintelligible languages, like English and Frisian. They are closely related, yes, but speakers cannot understand one another.

If the Catalan speaker can understand the person from Madrid it is because the Catalan speaker has learned CASTILIAN. If a Catalan speaker has not learned Casitilian he or she cannot understand someone from Madrid.

Answer 3

Yes. But not viceversa (not necessarily, at least).

Let's put it this way; everyone who speaks catalan, understands and speaks spanish too.

Someone who only speaks spanish would find it difficult to understand a catalan speaker.

Answer 4

Yes, undoubtedly. However, I'd be pretty sure that a person from Madrid would have a difficult time when the conversation slipped into Catalan.

Answer 5

from what i know, catalan is really different to spanish. like, another language different.

for example:
spanish for 'mirror' is espejo
catalan for 'mirror' is very similar to 'specchio' which is the italian word.

but you'd probably find that people who speak catalan also speak spanish

Answer 6

Yes, just as someone from New york could understand someone from Nashville.