While planning a holiday or move to Barcelona, you\u2019ll need to decide if you want to learn Catalan or Castellano to use during your stay. Both languages will seem indistinguishable to the uninitiated, however Catalan developed apart from modern Castellano and shares a lot of characteristics of French and Andorran, and it is these characteristics that will help differentiate the two. Thankfully, people in Catalonia speak Castellano as well as Catalan and most of the signs and menus are in both languages as well, so either language will put you in good stead. With Barcelona being such a popular tourist location most of the bars and restaurants are English friendly as well, but having a smattering of Spanish or Catalan will definitely assist in day to day life when you\u2019re out of the tourism-driven areas.<\/p>\n
Learning another language from scratch is never easy, however both Catalan and Spanish are both fairly approachable from an English-speaking background. Many of the words that we use in English come from the same roots in common Latin, and you\u2019ll recognise this the more you read and to a lesser extent read. Words that end in \u2018tion\u2019 will be the same except for \u2018cion\u2019 in Spanish and \u2018cio\u2019 in Catalan, and words that end in either \u2018ible\u2019 or \u2018able\u2019 are essentially identical in both languages apart from pronunciation. There are lots of other similarities that you\u2019ll notice the more you learn that will assist you in picking up either language quite rapidly<\/a>, but don\u2019t let that mislead you to thinking that the language is simple. If you do decide to commit to learning, you\u2019ll find it\u2019s easy to lose motivation when you realise just how little you can express yourself and how little you understand at the start. Once you\u2019ve learned enough to be able to express basic needs and wants, you\u2019ll get frustrated with the limited scope of expression you have.<\/p>\n There are literally hundreds of learning aids, the best advice is to find something that works for your time frame and learning style \u2013 if you\u2019re only in town for the weekend learn how to ask where the bathroom is and if you can pay with a Visa and you\u2019ll be fine. If you\u2019re staying for a few months, try signing up for a MeetUp<\/a> group for conversations with native speakers and study daily and you\u2019ll find yourself holding entire conversations in no time at all.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Catalan-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a>The biggest hurdle that you\u2019ll quickly discover if you try and persevere with Spanish or Catalan, is the speed at which both languages are spoken, and the relaxed structure and usage that the locals use. Most people don\u2019t realise until they start learning a language just how quickly and lazily we use language in our day-to-day lives. Slang and half finished sentences litter our conversations in English, which are pit-falls to anyone trying to model their learning off our speech. Listening to the radio and watching film and television helps substantially in learning the patterns of speech and correct structure and pronunciation as they tend to be scripted, although nothing will assist you quite as much as actually speaking as much as possible. The textbooks all say that immersion is the best way to learn, and it is indispensible aide for learning. Of course there are always the free online sources such as Duolingo<\/a> and Rosetta Stone (unfortunately not available for Catalan and both focus on Hispo-American Spanish), although they are best used to gain an understanding of grammar and bits of vocabulary as users aren\u2019t required to speak. Learning how to say the basic greetings and farewells, requests and shopping phrases will help you a great deal as most people will adapt their speech to accommodate a learner, and used in concert with another source such as either website you\u2019ll pick up enough to communicate within a few weeks.<\/p>\n