Sage-Tips

Do you need to speak Spanish to visit Barcelona?

Most of the people who live in Barcelona are bilingual and speak Catalan and Spanish, which is also an official language. Many people from Barcelona understand English and French. Here are some of the most frequent Catalan expressions translated into Spanish, English and French, which will help you get around the city.

Do you need to speak Catalan in Barcelona?

Absolutely. To remind you of the facts, 98\% of Barcelona’s population speaks Spanish, even if they also speak Catalan as a first or second language. Road signs, media and public information are always supplied in both Spanish and Catalan.

Can Catalan speakers understand Spanish?

Many people ask me, for example, if I speak Spanish, do I also speak Catalan? The answer is no. Catalan is mutually unintelligible with Spanish. Most Catalan speakers know Spanish because they studied it at school, but Spanish speakers, who haven’t learned Catalan, are unable to comprehend any Catalan.

Is it hard to speak Catalan?

Catalan is not difficult to learn – especially if you already speak another Romance language. Many people think Catalan is a dialect of Spanish and that’s not true at all. It’s as different from Spanish as is Portuguese or Italian. Like these languages, it did come originally from Latin.

What do they speak in Barcelona Spain?

Catalan
There are two official languages in the city: Catalan and Spanish. The overwhelming majority of Barcelona’s residents consider themselves fully bilingual. That means they can switch from Catalan to Spanish with ease.

Is Catalan useful?

Catalan is an Important Language in the Mediterranean That said, it’s spoken from Perpignan to Murcia and even in the city of Alghero in Sardinia. If you go on holiday to any of these places in the Mediterranean, don’t be surprised to hear Catalan accents and Catalan being spoken in the streets.

Is Spanish harder than French?

Spanish is arguably somewhat easier for the first year or so of learning, in large part because beginners may struggle less with pronunciation than their French-studying colleagues. However, beginners in Spanish have to deal with dropped subject pronouns and four words for “you,” while French only has two.