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Language
I
n Barcelona,
Catalan
(Català) has more or less taken over from Castil-
ian (Castellano)
Spanish
as the language on street signs, maps, official
buildings and notices, and so on. On paper, it looks like a cross between
French and Spanish and is generally easy to read if you know those two.
Spoken Catalan is harder to come to grips with, as the language itself is not
phonetic, and accents vary from region to region. Few visitors realize how
important Catalan is to those who speak it: never commit the error of calling
it a dialect. However, despite the preponderance of the Catalan language,
you’ll get by perfectly well in Spanish, as long as you’re aware of the use of
Catalan in timetables, on menus, and the like.You’ll find some basic pronun-
ciation rules below, for both Spanish and Catalan, and a selection of words
and phrases in both languages. Spanish is certainly easier to pronounce, but
don’t be afraid to try Catalan, especially in the more out-of-the-way places
– you’ll generally get a good reception if you at least try communicating in
the local language.
Numerous
Spanish phrasebooks
are available, not least the
Spanish Rough
Guide Phrasebook
, laid out dictionary-style for instant access. In Barcelona,
Parla
Català
(Pia) is the only readily available English–Catalan phrasebook, though
there are more extensive (and expensive) Catalan–English dictionaries and
teach-yourself Catalan guides available online.The University of Barcelona has
an excellent
online English–Catalan phrasebook
, with an audio option,
W
www.intercat.gencat.es/guia.Pronunciation
Castilian (Spanish)
Unless there’s an accent, words ending in “D”, “L”, “R” or “Z” are
stressed
on the last syllable, all others on the second last. All
vowels
are pure and short;
combinations have predictable results.
LANGUAGE
|
Pronunciation
A
somewhere between the “A” sound of
“back” and that of “father”.
E
as in “get”.
I
as in “police”.
O
as in “hot”.
U
as in “rule”.
C
is lisped before “E” and “I”, hard otherwise:
“cerca” is pronounced “thairka”.
G
works the same way, a guttural “H” sound
(like the “ch” in “loch”) before “E” or “I”, a
hard “G” elsewhere – “gigante” becomes
“higante”.
H
is always silent.
J
the same sound as a guttural “G”: “jamón”
is pronounced “hamon”.
LL
sounds like an English “Y”: “tortilla” is pro-
nounced “torteeya”.
N
is as in English unless it has a tilde (accent)
over it, when it becomes “NY”: “mañana”
sounds like “man-yarna”.
QU
is pronounced like an English “K”.