Languages in Barcelona
Catalunya has a language of its
own, spoken throughout Catalunya, Andorra and in the city of Alghuer
in Sardinia. Banned during the dark days of Franco, the language is
enjoying a renaissance and is widely spoken in the region. Catalan shares
the status of official language of the region with Castilian Spanish
and almost all official signs will be displayed in the two languages.
Below are a number of everyday phrases shown in English, Catalan and
Castilian.
| English | Catalan | Castilian |
| Hello | Hola | Hola |
| Goodbye | Adéu | Adiós |
| Yes | Sí | Sí |
| No | No | No |
| Thanks | Gràcies | Gracias |
| Many thanks | Moltes gràcies | Muchas Gracias |
| You're welcome | De res | De nada |
| Please | Sisplau | Por favor |
| Good morning | Bon dia | Buenos días |
| Good afternoon | Bona tarda | Buenas tardes |
| Good evening | Bon vespre | Buenas noches |
| Goodnight | Bona nit | Buenas noches |
| How are you? | Com estàs? | ¿Como estás? |
| Very well | Molt bé | Muy bien |
The only way to learn a language is though hard work. But you'll find
that the more time you devote to it, the better your understanding will
become and more progressive language tuition has moved away from the
verb charts you may remember from learning a language at school.
Spanish language resources
Puerta del Sol audiomagazine
Produced entirely in Spanish-speaking countries by professional broadcasters and journalists, each bimonthly audiomagazine (6 issues a year) consists of an hour-long programme in Spanish on audio cassette or CD packed with news, features, and interviews reflecting what's going on in Spain.A booklet containing a word-for-word transcript
and an extensive glossary accompanies the audio component. In addition
to translations into English of difficult words and phrases, the glossaries
contain extensive biographical, historical, political, and cultural
notes prepared by experienced editors-many of whom also write for some
of the world's most prestigious newspapers and magazines. An optional
study supplement with listening exercises and grammar drills is also
available in each issue.
Order
from the Puerta del Sol website
Lonely Planet Spanish Phrasebook
The
Lonely Planet Spanish Phrasebook features a comprehensive list of phrases
in Castilian useful for everyday encounters and also includes short
sections on Catalan, Basque and Galician. Some simply phrases are shown
below in English, Catalan and Castilian.
Order
Linguaphone
Linguaphone is the world leader in self study language learning, with over 500 courses in every format (CD, cassette, CD ROM, book and online) including the world's first online French and Spanish courses.
Linguaphone claim to have helped over 7 million people
speak a new language using the method of Listen, Understand, Speak.
Go to
the Linguaphone website
Simply Learn Spanish
A
website dedicated to helping you to learn
Spanish.
español
