Spain: From the Eyes of an American

"What is Catalan?" Many of my USA friends (and friends from other countries) have asked me this question many times. When I moved here (Barcelona) I thought everything was in French and that the people where speaking French. But no, I was wrong. It's the language here in Catalonia, Spain. Something many people don't expect since this is Spain. And when you hear the word Spain, you think "in Spain the people speak Spanish." So you see them learning a lot of Spanish and when they come here (only in Catalonia and other communities) they see everything is in something called Catalan.

Catalan is a is a Roman language, the national and the only official language of Andorra, and a co-official in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community , where it is known as Valencian. This language sounds kind of like French, but it has words in Italian, Portuguese and even English.

So my advice for anyone coming to visit Barcelona (in Catalonia), the Balearic Islands or Valencia, is the following : Learn a little bit of Catalan! And this is very important especially here in Barcelona, I will explain the reasons in my next post. But trust me, it's the best thing to do while you are planning your trip to here.