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Non-Castilian speakers in Spain? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| labujía Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4198 days ago 11 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese | Message 1 of 16 14 January 2014 at 2:36pm | IP Logged |
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Hello everyone, a belated Happy New Year.
I was just thinking about some of the regional languages in Spain, namely Galician, Catalan and Basque. Are there many people, if at all, who speak a regional language but are unable to speak Spanish? Does anyone know of such a case? I was told a few years ago that the further you go from the cities, the more likely that it would be that you could find someone who just spoke Catalan (specific to Catalan because Basque and Galician aren't as widely spoken). A couple of months ago, I watched a documentary about a German woman who learned Catalan without previously knowing Spanish and she went travelling around the Catalan- speaking regions of Spain (and France and Andorra I believe), called 'Són bojs aquests catalans?!', which suggested that it would be relatively difficult if you couldn't speak Spanish even if you could understand a lot due to lexical similarity. Has anyone tried to learn a regional Spanish language before Spanish (Castilian) itself? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftx66V3DbIs I'm not referring to foreigners who do not manage to learn any language spoken in Spain at all, but rather to the scenario of living in Spain, while knowing a regional language but not Spanish, irrespective of other languages spoken (which can still apply to foreigners, such as the German lady). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| michaelyus Diglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4569 days ago 53 posts - 87 votes  Speaks: Mandarin, English* Studies: Italian, French, Cantonese, Korean, Catalan, Vietnamese, Lingala, Spanish Studies: Hokkien | Message 2 of 16 14 January 2014 at 3:44pm | IP Logged |
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Last time I was in Catalonia (in the Garrotxa), I noticed a lot of second-generation
immigrants to Spain whose most proficient language was Catalan, followed by their home language, then their Castilian (and then their Mandarin - I was among Chinese-speaking immigrants). 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| anamsc2 Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 4563 days ago 85 posts - 186 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan, German Studies: French | Message 3 of 16 14 January 2014 at 5:04pm | IP Logged |
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Regarding Catalan -- in my experience, pretty much everyone who was raised in Spain speaks fluent Spanish, although people may be more or less comfortable with it depending on how often they actually use it. Far away from cities there may be some older people who don't speak it well at all, although I can't guarantee that as I have never met such people.
As for immigrants, it is certainly possible to learn Catalan and not Spanish, depending on where you live. In Barcelona, it would be inconvenient, since people there tend to be very comfortable with both languages and many people prefer to speak in Spanish, particularly to foreigners. This is slightly unrelated, but I knew a good amount of immigrants in Andorra (mostly French or English speakers) who spoke Catalan and not (or very little) Spanish. However, when they went to Catalonia, they had trouble because people there often hear a foreign accent and immediately switch to Spanish (because they assume all foreigners speak Spanish better, and because they are not required to stick to Catalan like they are in Andorra). 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| oziohume Bilingual Hexaglot Newbie Belgium Joined 4742 days ago 30 posts - 43 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, Catalan, Italian, French, German Studies: Dutch | Message 4 of 16 15 January 2014 at 1:40am | IP Logged |
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I have actually met in Galicia several people in their late seventies and eighties who
did not speak Spanish at all, among them members of my family. Regarding Catalan, I haven't met such people, only some who didn't speak great Spanish but could communicate almost without problems. However, nowadays my experience is that this phenomenon exists almost exclusively in the countryside among older generations. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| nicozerpa Triglot Senior Member Argentina Joined 4330 days ago 182 posts - 315 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Portuguese, English Studies: Italian, German | Message 5 of 16 15 January 2014 at 4:06am | IP Logged |
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My great-grandfather was Galician, and my dad told me once that it was difficult to
understand him at times, because he used "lots of strange words". 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4294 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 6 of 16 15 January 2014 at 4:27am | IP Logged |
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I have a feeling that Barcelona is slightly similar to Montréal, in terms of
bilingualism. They would continue in Catalan unless the interlocutor has difficulties, and then they might switch to Spanish, especially if a foreign accent is heard, similar to how they switch to English from French in Montréal if a foreign accent or (perceived) difficulty is heard in the French of the interlocutor. I think that in some regions, perhaps they only know the regional language, but most are bilingual. Spain have local television that probably help to foster learning their regional languages, like this programme: Valencians pel Món: Lisboa 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Mad Max Tetraglot Groupie Spain Joined 5055 days ago 79 posts - 146 votes Speaks: Spanish*, French, English, Russian Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 7 of 16 15 January 2014 at 11:16am | IP Logged |
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Well, I was in Galicia, Basque Country, Navarre, Catalonia, Aragon, Majorca and
Valencia. I am Spaniard. Everybody speaks Spanish as first or second language. Perhaps some old people in the countryside don't speak Spanish, but Spanish is the mother tongue of the 90% of the population. In Catalonia, for example, Spanish is the mother tongue of the majority of the population. Catalan is the second language. Besides, a lot of times, the father speaks in Spanish and the mother in Catalan, or the opposite. So, a lot of people is bilingual. So, if you go to Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza or Majorca you only need Spanish to visit these cities. If you live a lot of time in Barcelona, for instance, I recommend at least, a basic Catalan to understand people, labels, signs, etc. http://elpais.com/diario/2009/06/30/catalunya/1246324046_850 215.html 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| labujía Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4198 days ago 11 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese | Message 8 of 16 15 January 2014 at 3:59pm | IP Logged |
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@anamsc2 - OK, that's quite interesting; I assume that they would have still been able to
read and listen to Spanish though? If you knew only one of Catalan or Galician but not Spanish, which do you think would facilitate learning Spanish more? I'm not too sure myself given that Galician is more similar to Portuguese (which is still relatively similar to Spanish). @Mad Max - I am aware of this; it's just that someone I know is applying for a job in Barcelona and he's convinced that everyone who grew up in Spain speaks Spanish and that therefore, nobody relies solely on a regional language. I think that I'll try learning some basic Catalan before the next time that I go to Barcelona though, as native speakers seem to appreciate the effort. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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