Ideas for learning Catalan?

Hello,

I'll be studying Castellano for my entire life, but I have recently thought about trying my hand at Catalan. Has any board-member studied it in Spain, and if so could you recommend a school? Likewise, if you are familar with any on-line learning aids please pass those my way.

My goal is to return to Spain for another extended stay in 2006, so I thought I'd begin preparing right now.

BTW, given the great number of dialects is there a city in Catalonia where the purest Catalan is spoken. I know that most people agree that the purest Castellano is spoken in Valladolid, so I imagine Catalan has its counterpart.

¡Aúpa Pucela!
¡Viva España!

Shawn

Just about every language school in Barcelona will teach you Catalan, if you have previously studied French as well as Castellano you'll find it even easier. I have "Teach Yourself Catalan" by Alan Yates published by NTC Publiching Group that I bought off Amazon. I found a number of Catalan sites through Google, can't remember that any were that much help :-)

Hi Shawn!

Catalonian is like castilian regarding dialects, but I'm sure that in Barcelona you will find the most extended variety.

Fernando

LEARN FRENCH!

I studied Catalan at the Escola Oficial d'Idiomes in Barcelona. It's a public school and for foreigners it used to cost 150 Euros for a whole semester; classes five days a week for two or three hours. It may be free now.

The Generalitat also gave free evening classes. You can get lots of free or cheap Catalan language materials from the Generalitat book store (used to be on the Ramblas, can't say for sure now).

As I remember, the dialect of Lleida was supposed to be the most "pure," though my friends in Barcelona made fun of the accent from Lleida...

I should also mention that the EOI teaches other languages other than Catalan (English, French, Spanish for foreigners, etc.). Most of the students are Spanish--it is completely free for them and lots of people get sent their by their company to learn a language. There are EOIs in other Spanish cities, as well.

When I registered for classes, it was easy to get a slot in the Catalan classes, but much harder in the other languages, unless you test out at a very high level. For the Spanish for foreigners class, you had to wait in long lines, take a test and then enter a lottery for a slot.

In our class we used a textbook called "Digui, Digui."

My advice would be to live in rural Catalunya, not in Barcelona. This is in order to be surrounded by the language all the time. Its also cheaper.
It can be very confusing at first trying to compartmentalise the two languages. I found myself using Castellano verbs in a Catalan way until I increased my vocaubulary. Good luck. Catalans are really impressed when foreigners have taken the trouble to learn and speak Catalan.

Shawn,

They say the purest Catalan is spoken east of Barcelona, like in Girona or Vic. I would agree to go to the rural towns to really learn it once you are there. As you progress down the peninsula, by Tarragona, you will find that the catalan accent sounds more castilian. People from Tarragona have trouble sometimes understanding the Catalan spoken from Girona...so take your pick.

I would also agree with Mariposita to take courses at the Generalitat in Barcelona for free, but sign up ahead of time as they fill up quickly.

SORT!!!!

Marcia