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Leisure and Culture

What Are The Catalans Like?

Written by Adriana

If you’ve traveled a bit through Spain, you´ve probably realized that the differences between the regions are remarkable, and make this country a nation full of contrasts.

This is true for its landscapes and geography; with arid areas in the south, particularly lush vegetation within the northern coastal and mountain climate, and a subtropical climate in the Canary Islands; as well as its culture and economy, with “Comunidad Autónoma” (region) under the influence of its own characteristics.

  • rental apartments in Barcelona

 

This is due to its strategic location within the European geography and the fact of being a peninsula surrounded by water, with an old trading history. How does Catalonia really differ from other regions? Keep reading this article to find out!

What you need to know about Catalan people and Catalan culture

The Catalan character

Focusing on the “Comunidad Autónoma” where Barcelona is located, Catalonia’s economy, which is the European entry into Spain, is based on tourism, so we are used to welcoming foreigners visiting the capital for leisure, work or studies.

map with spain and catalonia

Photo via Visualhunt

The Catalans are used to accommodating people of all cultures throughout the year, making them an open and friendly population.

Still, we must not forget that foreigners are, historically, a “source of income” and the Catalans are traders used to deal in favorable trades, so as a tourist if you go into a store their kindness may depend on the money you are willing to spend on.

Anyway, if you are staying long-term in Barcelona, you have to interact with more people than just traders, and it will be very useful to have some knowledge beforehand about the Catalan character and their way of socializing with other people.

Visit Barcelona, rent an apartment

A Catalan friend is forever

First of all, you should know is not easy to “enter” the heart of a Catalan person. We are a bit distrustful and shy at first, but once you have a Catalan friend, this is forever. Despite what is said, you don’t need to speak Catalan to live, work or study in Catalonia. 

All inhabitants speak perfect Spanish and even English, but you must respect the Catalan language and understand that for many Catalans, is how they communicate more comfortably with each other.

street music in Barcelona

Photo via Visualhunt

It is said that the English sense of humor is similar to Catalan sense of humor; ironic, intelligent, and sort of eschatological. It´s true, we like to laugh, but not to “give away” our smiles, we prefer to be discreet and polite in public, and let us go in the privacy of our homes or when we feel safe in our group of close friends.

The Catalan character is closer to the French by geographical proximity than to the Spanish, but we also like to go out, have good food and have some beers after work and enjoy the Spanish quality of life. 

A Catalan person is usually a hard worker, and an honest, fair, timely and respectful person, and expects the same from the people around him or her.

view over the city of barcelona

Photo via VisualHunt

Maybe that’s why they say that we are stingy – by that sense of justice and honesty, we don’t like to pay more if we don’t think we should. Due to the European influence, we have a taste for aesthetics, design, art and culture of all styles.

We love to dress well, go to exhibitions, be well informed, to read, to learn about what happens in the world, to express our opinions about it, to speak languages and absorb knowledge from those who visit us without being invasive.

Related article: The “Castellers”, a Catalan Tradition

Shall we get into politics?

Politically Catalonia has always been a boiling pot due to the independence claim. The media and politicians have enlarged the myth of “Catalans hate Spain” and they are not interested in reaching an agreement.

protests in the streets of barcelona

Photo via Visualhunt

But if you come to Barcelona or Catalonia you will realize that this is a false stereotype. A large majority of Catalans have parents or grandparents who come from all parts of Spain, who would like politicians to devote to solving the problems, not to creating them.

Being Catalan is much more than those things listed in this article, but from ShBarcelona we wanted to sketch some of them. To know all sides of the multifaced Catalan character or Barcelona’s population you would have to live in this wonderful part of Spain that has so much to offer.

Move to Barcelona for a couple of months

What is your opinion on the people in Barcelona or Catalonia?
Tell us what you think!

About the author

Adriana

Adriana is a writer, content & community manager, web designer, media analyst and tireless traveler.

25 Comments

    • I agree with most comments I’ve seen here: Catalans aren’t the easiest to get along with (to put it mildly).

      I moved to Barcelona from Andalucia a couple of years ago because I got really sick of Andalucian laziness and was told that Catalans are entrepreneurial and hard-working, and didn’t share the Southerners’ attitude on work. I’m not sure who has been promoting this crazy idea, but Catalans are just as lazy as Andalucians, except that Catalans have an added level or arrogance and xenophobia that their Southern compatriots do not have. I actually miss Andalucia at this point; the laziness I can handle — the arrogance and xenophobia I can’t.

      Of course there are exceptions, but I have found Catalans to be lazy, intolerant, infantile, incorrigible (lacking accountability), indignant when confronted with their ineptitude, miserly, classist, racist and hostile. Some exceptions are public servants (for example, hospital workers and police), who are so nice and professional that sometimes I get all emotional about levels of kindness I have rarely experienced outside of Spain.

      On the plus side, Catalonia is a truly magical place, and exploring it completely would take several lifetimes — I have been travelling around here non-stop for years, and can still find breathtaking sites (and people away from the big cities are much gentler and welcoming than those in Barcelona).

      At the end of the day, there are hundreds of thousands of expats with whom we can explore this wonderful province, and even with Catalans, a smile goes a long way, it’s not all hopeless. But you have to be a hard-ass when they are being lazy.

  • I am not sure where my mothers father came from? I am sorry I did not pay attention. I remember hearing Barcelona and speaking Catalan.His name was Juan Pedrero.
    Would love to visit and research my family history.

  • hmmmmm. Beg to differ on many of the writer’s observations, hard for a Catalan to see themselves clearly. I’m an American and lived in BCN 9 years. Generally, find Catalans close minded and disinterested in foreigners. Have twice as many friends from other parts of Spain. And the Catalan independentistas need to accept that they’ve killed the good convivencia of the city. It’s sad and diminishing what was an amazing quality of life.

    • Very agreed with you, it is much easier to socialize with the rest of Spaniards than with native Catalans.
      Nationalist politics have engulfed them so much in the Catalan language that they are half abstracted or with a negative attitude towards Hispanophobia.

      They are not all like that, but if you find an unfriendly person very likely is a Catalan Nationalist.

    • You know that what you’ve said is totally false. Stop spreading fake news. If you had problems dealing with Catalans, you cannot say THEY are narrow-minded.

  • I do not agree very much The Catalan character is not French. Catalan culture is a Spanish and Mediterranean culture. I am French and Spanish and I can assure you that what some Catalans say is not real. More than 80% of Catalans have parents or grandparents from other regions, is not consistent with that idea. Catalonia has contributed much to the Spanish character as other Spanish cultures. What I can assure you is that the Catalan character is more closed than open, jealous of his own. Of course, Catalan culture has as many good things as other regions in Spain. A very rich Mediterranean culture but different from the rest as some politicians would have us believe

  • U can’t generalize, but..

    Here for over 15 years. Catalans are nice and respectful people (expect for when they are your neighbors and run the washing machine, or sing out loud at 7am, or the occasional party until the AM on weekdays).

    I personally don’t see much difference when comparing them to a “Spanish” person, other than the communication style (more shy and unfriendly than in other parts of the country), and on how much they care about money. They all share the laziness, and the politicians the corruption that is typical in Spain: don’t get me wrong, I love Catalunya and Spain, partly because of the relaxed lifestyle, but it’s really a different country in that sense.. therefore the economy is how it is since so many years.

    Catalan culture is interesting, love the sardanes music, castellers, cagatio etc, and allioli can’t be beat, so delicious. They also make some good embutido!

    Do not expect decent service in here, it very rare despite tourism being a huge income, they treat the customer soo poorly, but this I would say extends to some parts of Spain also; it’s better in the South

    Friendship: I do know lovely Catalans. In all these years I had just one Catalan real friend, inexplicably, most of my friends and people who have tried to be my friend have been foreigners or from outside of Catalunya. I have studied and worked with Catalans, and speak catalá, and spanish, so no language barriers.

    My friend dropped me as a hot potato because of a work related/saving very little money? real silly situation.. so I don’t know what to say now.. maybe in 15 more years I’ll have a real Catalan friend again?

    They do care a lot about money, which is a good thing, but real friendship has a lot more value.. Just my experience

    Separation? difficult, and unfortunately there are many Catalan politic corruption scandals, would things change much and for the better? I doubt it.. BUT more economic autonomy would be nice for Catalunya IMO

    Catalunya cosmopolita t’estimo. Visca Catalunya i el allioli!

  • Lol sorry but I do not find people polite here for the most part! I have lived here for 4 years. People have no self-awareness, walk in front of you, ignore you in restaurants etc. Everything is so slow, the companies I have worked for try to cut corners, don’t do things properly or listen. The only Catalan friends I’ve had are those who are well-travelled and open-minded. I have, funnily enough, found myself a Catalan man! His family have accepted me but I do find them difficult and they can’t grasp that cultural differences exist and it doesn’t necessarily mean that your way is the right way, nor is mine. We are just different! Brought up differently! Don’t get me started on the Catalan mum 😉 Also, I just got back from a trip to Tokyo and it is literally the opposite to here where people are super friendly, polite and respectful in public.

    • Hi Sarah,
      Thank you for sharing your view on the subject!
      I agree with you 100%, that if you find it hard to let go of your own culture and do not welcome differences, you can have a hard time in a new country.
      It’s all about managing expectations I guess 😉
      Regards,
      Daniella

  • The Catalans have travelled the world over for generations. In South East Asia they have stolen land and been key players in the heroin trade. In fact they are the main players in the heroin trade worldwide, in Europe, Russia, America< South America, Asia and Africa have all been supplied heroin by the Catalan network of criminals listed as Satanists in Asia for their sexual abuse of children.

  • Lived in Catalunya for 2 years. I speak català and come from a catalan family that migrated to South America later. I don’t have a single Catalan friend. Most I’ve met are rude and conceited. I’ve been told I can only make friends once I “win them over” but they are 100% uninterested in different people and experiences and in being polite and friendly to you. Why would I want to “win over” people that rude?
    I’m sure thta if you’re born in Catalunya it must be a wonderful place to live, most Catalans I’ve met are very close with their families and lifelong friends … but it’s not a friendly culture, sorry. It’s hard for Catalans to really judge themselves.

  • “A Catalan person is usually a hard worker, and an honest, fair, timely and respectful person”

    Haha seriously?

    Lazy and rude is what I’ve experienced… Well my Catalan friends are nice, but neighbours, restaurants, banks and “customer service” people… it’s like they try to be as unhelpful and inconsiderate as possible.

    Customer service doesn’t matter… coming up with solutions doesn’t matter… all that matters is being as arrogant as possible.

    Absolute kafkaesque society.

    I hope new generations will try and improve things after seeing the shambles of a response to the pandemic.

  • I’m interested in catalan and start to learn it because of the 9-year-old tv series ‘el cor de la ciutat’. I’ve always thought catalan people would be friendly and warm like in the show XD but here in the comments it seems that people’s ideas differ a lot wow

  • I’ve lived in Barcelona since 2013 and have only a couple of Catalan friends. I hate to say it but Catalan people are generally rude, mean-spirited both in terms of money and general attitude, closed-minded, moany and xenophobic. Coming from London this has been a shock as us Londoners are very open-minded and keen to embrace other cultures. I think their toxic nationalism is to blame. I recently visited Sevilla and was really taken aback at how warm and friendly the people are, you really feel welcome and appreciated there. I felt the same when I went to Madrid a few years ago, such lovely people, as are people I’ve met from Galicia and most other parts of Spain. I clearly need to move to another part of Spain and am seriously considering it!

    • Hi, been living in cataluña for exactly one year. Here i had the time to first emphatize with the Catalan autonomy cause, than to better understand what’s behind it. I believe that even if the roots of the independence cause are generally understandable and i would support them, this era is not the most recommended to pursue this form of independentism. I have to say that i didn’t live in Barcelona, rather in many little villages and in the BCN hinterland. The people of these areas are tendentially more closed minded, sometimes culturally limited, and tend to have conservative attitudes accompained by an underlying xenophobia. Catalans seem to be very preoccupied of losing their culture, and so this can be understandable. But the problem is that is exactly their closure that will lead to the loss. They crave for independence and republic without considering that current representative republics in Europe are stripping their democratic masks as we speak. We have also to consider that Cataluña is the cash maker of Spain. Its territory and culture has been raped and violated by industry, and the rest of Spain basically lives by the surplus value that Cataluña creates. So I understand also why catalans are so stressed, since they are basically workhorses, which may translate to not being very willing to work at their best. Overall i don’t see my future here neither, in one year i could not make friend with anyone, as everyone is too preoccupied with issues like owning an expensive coche, or showing off something about themselves, while being overall unhelpful, xenophbic and a bit naive, I started feeling very bored of the situation and i will move away, probably to Ireland.

  • To curious people reading the comments: catalans are normal people: not magical, not super rude. Why do the commenters insist on comparing catalans to other Spanish people I will never understand. I guess they really wanted to be elsewhere but got stuck here for some reason? Well, if you come here but you prefer Madrid or Sevilla the most, as one commenter said, you’ll surely have a hard time and find Catalonia a very terrible place. It’s the same if you come to live here expecting people not to speak catalan with normality. You’ll suffer as if you were in Scotland and expected to hear British English. Barcelona is a very international city now (20% registered new foreigners), thus it’s normal that people aren’t surprised about foreign origins. It’s just a normal status. If you go to Barcelona with a spirit to open yourself to the place and language (as in any part of the world, literally) you will make as many friends as in any other city of the world. Also, making friends as an adult is difficult everywhere, honestly. And if you are an expat you have to be the one to out of your safe space to enter the local cultures everywhere

    • Disagree with you entirely, you yourself must be a catalunyan to speak so highly of them – and are blinded by what everyone else clearly point out as their errors. The comparison to people from other areas of Spain, in my opinion, are that we are flabbergasted at the extreme contrast – and I am delighted someone did compare then, so now we all know that the incredibly arrogant rude Spanish speaking people are purely from one part of Spain and thankfully don’t tarnish the reputation of those from the other better parts of Spain!

  • Catalans are friendly and polite? Is this some sort of April Fool’s joke or what? I have supported Barca for almost 15 years and I lived in Barcelona for two years. I found it more and more regretful to support Barca and to choose to live here. I have also been to other regions of Spain and the people are simply so much nicer. It is just so obvious. Even all my catalan friends admit that they don’t like tourists and foreigners in general.

  • Very interesting comments. A bit rude, perhaps? I am Catalan and have recently returned to Barcelona after many years living abroad in the UK and Brazil, first studying and then working, and I can say that everywhere outsiders will gravitate towards outsiders and will relish the pastime of criticising the locals. We all do it! And it is naive to expect to make many solid local friends, if you are very lucky you’ll make a few real ones; it comes from locals not sharing the expat frame of mind and outsiders being, well, ‘outside looking in’ the extended-family close interactions and long-term friendships experience. Unless one lives in a place where this is not that important. As to criticising Catalan’s preoccupation with our language and culture, yes, it can be tiresome, even for us, but expats could try to empathise imagining having theirs (if valued) under clear and present danger. So, it’s perhaps unfair to indulge in criticism in the comments here, rather than just enjoying bias against locals over beers with one’s expat buddies.

    • 25 years and not a single CATALAN friend.

      Italian, French, German, American.

      Those were my friends, not CATALAN.

      I’ve lived in the most impoverished places in the world

      But I’ve never seen anyone complain like Catalans

      Pretending that the ghost of Franco prevents them from being multi-million land owners (that they inherit)

      “My grandma died, now I’m a millionaire because her house is valuable”

      No catalan actually made money. they inherit money; and tourism is the reason.

  • First of all, I learned that this is an inclusive, friendly, and open place. The local people are very friendly to tourists all over the world. Secondly, there are many scenic spots with profound history and culture and many attractive characteristics. As a foreign language learner, I am full of interest in this magical place and hope to have the opportunity to explore it and experience the difference between it and oriental culture.

  • Stereotypes… blah, blah… prejudices… blah, blah… subjective, judgmental opinions… blah, blah… Please STOP IT, this thread is completely pointless. Referring to people living in the heterogeneous Catalan society as “Catalans”, it means what? Geography doesn’t define people’s identity. In Catalonia there live such diversity of people, from different origin, different culture, different thinking and behavior, that it wouldn’t be fair to label us all as Catalans as if it was an ethnicity or some nonsense, neither to stigmatize us with the poor information gathered from your individual experiences. I have studied and lived abroad in several occasions, in very different countries, and I wouldn’t feel with the right to make such statements (like the ones in the comments I’ve just read here) about the population living in any of them. It’d be unfair and just impossible to generalize.

  • Ugh… so after a trip down to La Manga it dawned on me upon my return: I dislike Barcelona, I dislike the people. Since moving here 2.5 years ago I truly gave it a chance, I work in a Catalan company and live in a normal, non-touristy nor hip neighbourhood. Mostly people are rude, ignorant, have no manners or self awareness, they’re loud, sloppy, entitled, arrogant. Whatever culture or refinement they have is lost, the cooking is terrible, they are reactionary, miserly, churlish, touchy. The nationalism on both sides is short sighted, idiotic and dumb. I understand that the Catalans were oppressed and persecuted, but they are devolving into some bitter nationalism where they’d rather fight petty little fights instead of tackling bigger issues like political corruption or the fact that they are paying to keep a parasitic royal family fed, clothed and housed. At work communication is largely in Catalan, even though officially it coexists with Castellano and the company has aspirations to be an international player with many expat employees there. Non Catalan speakers get lectured or coerced into speaking Catalan, social events or chitchat is in Catalan. The focus is not on work or getting things done, it about this giant chip on their shoulders, this victim mentality and irrationality. They compare their situation with that of Ukrainians or even the Jews during the holocaust. Don’t even get me started on the rude, careless, dumb service you get in shops and restaurants. I’m done with venturing a friendly Hola or Bon dia, they miserably get it over with and I ignore them. It’s better if the staff are Latin American, who are warmer, more open and friendly. People from other parts of Spain are nicer too, but mostly it’s just a big, noisy, unfriendly bunch of egoists and ignorant, entitled people. Younger people strike me as uneducated, loud mouthed, rude, whiny even though they know nothing, no self reflection, as if they were dragged up and not raised by sensible, decent, intelligent or at least kind people. I’m staying a couple of years more to get my CV solid, but then I’m out of here.

  • I lived an hour outside of Barcelona for a year with 2 host families. I taught English in the schools and lived with families from the schools. My experience in Catalonia was amazing right until the very end. I had a terrible experience with my host dad my last night there. Since I have had time to reflect on all sides of this situation here are my take aways.

    I used to watch the news every night with my first host family. There was always talk about the Catalan independence and I didn’t understand. I has seen different flags and graffiti about independence, but it never made sense. I asked the first host family one night and they explained the desire for independence and how her family didn’t have much of an opinion. The parents both had a long family history of living in Catalunya but they had no hard opinion either way. This family was wonderful, they were welcoming and warm, well-traveled, and gave me a perfect idea of the Catalan culture. The second host family I went to were very big Catalan Nationalist. There were so many things that they said that were bigoted but they saw nothing wrong with it. They often talked horribly about the Muslim people coming from Africa. I understood their desire to protect their culture and language but they so easily and naturally made these comments. They also used to make a lot of xenophobic comments about Brazilian people since they lived there for 6 months. They also mocked Mexican people and Mexican culture even after I told them I was Mexican. This host family is where I noticed the colder and more stingy character traits people had mentioned.

    One day we were walking around in Barcelona and the host dad randomly bought everyone a water bottle since it was hot. He bought one for all 8 people that were with us including me. I never asked him for it but I was very verbal in my gratitude. In the US I feel that people can be very generous in that regard, of giving people things without expecting anything in return. About 2 month after this water bottle event happened, on my last night, the host dad went off on me saying how I take advantage of his family and used the water bottle as an example of how I have taken advantage of them. When I think about all of his complaints I think that what it boils down to was the culture differences of the Catalan and PNW people. Another thing they yelled at me for was for asking the grandmother to take me home when she brought the kids home. Toward the end of my stay as it got hotter and hotter I had once asked the grandmother to take me home when she took the kids. Everyday the whole school let out for 2 hours and everyone would go home for lunch and then come back. My duties at the school had finished early and they let me go home at lunch. I usually took the bus but it was hot this day. The busses had no A/C and after we got to my town I then had a mile walk to get to the house. I had done it every other time but this one occasion I asked the grandmother if she could take me home when she took the kids to her house. The families lived 3 minutes apart so while she did have to drive in the opposite direction from her house for 3 minutes, I didn’t think it’d be too big of an ask. Oh boy was I wrong. The grandma was kind and had no problem with it, but once the host dad was yelling at me on my last day he brought this incident up as well. in the US it is so so so so so unbelievably common to give someone a ride or drop them off along the way. I think because America is so heavily reliant on cars it’s much more normalized then in Spain.

    A funny interaction I had one day was at a coffee shop. I held the door open for a lady as she walked out of the cafe and she gave me a dirty look. I thought it was weird that she didn’t say thank you but I just kept moving. On the way to the car I crossed paths with this man. In the PNW it’s almost awkwardly expected that when you pass someone head on you give a smile, a nod, maybe even a good morning or a hello. This morning I was feeling extra cheery so I passed the man and smiled and said good morning in Catalan. The man stopped dead in his tracks and replied “ umm good morning but, I don’t know you”. It made me laugh so hard just to think about how different Catalan people are.

    My overall feeling with the Catalan people was some people are cold and stingy and mean-spirited. However, I made some amazing friends and relationships. Almost everyone at the school was welcoming and some even invited me to have lunch with their family. They loved to share a meal and glass of wine together. They loved to laugh and enjoy each others company. It seems like when a Catalan person doesn’t know you they don’t care about you, you are an annoyance to them, but when they do know you, they are so friendly.

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