So, you want to do the Erasmus programme in Barcelona, huh?

Congratulations. You have chosen a great city with good climate, next to the Mediterranean sea, washed of sunlight, with the healthy Mediterranean diet and with nice people :-)

So, are you sure you know everything about coming to study in Barcelona? I repeat: do you know EVERYTHING? I ask this because many Erasmus students are not well informed by their universities about the linguistic reality of Catalonia. Indeed, one of the main things that shocks a foreign student is the unexpected and unknown language they should get on with in order to move around the city with not too much problems: the Catalan language.

Although Barcelona (and in extension, Catalonia) belongs to Spain in an administrative sense, it does not belong to Spain in a cultural sense. Catalonia's language is not Spanish, but Catalan. Of course Catalans know Spanish, but if you come to Barcelona, you'll find that everything is in Catalan language: traffic signs, information panels (unless they are for tourists) or shop signs. However, don't panic: you will always find someone to ask in case you don't understand something. Regarding to University, you will find no problems with burocratic issues like enrollment, scholarship requests, etc... However Catalan universities give their classes mainly in Catalan language (unless Master or PhD courses that may be done in other languages). Only a small part of the classes are repeated in Spanish version for students from abroad, specially from Spain, and here it is when the conflict arises: what happens if you come to study in Barcelona thinking that knowing Spanish is enough and you apply to a group that gets their classes in Catalan language? That was the case of a good friend of mine. In the first class day he was shocked of what kind of language the teacher was speaking in. Well, he knew it was Catalan but he couldn't understand a word from the lesson. After some minutes, my friend asked the teacher for giving the class in Spanish. Hundreds of eyes looked at him while the teacher said that there were other groups that got classes in Spanish language. My friend said that he made a mistake during the application and accidentally applied to the Catalan version class, so the teacher asked people if there was any problem in giving the class in Spanish. Although there was a clear disappointment in the air, people said there was no problem, and then the teacher went on giving the lesson in Spanish. I must say though that I've seen other cases in which the language was not changed despite the request of the foreign student.

What I want to say is that the information an Erasmus student receives from his/her local university is often incomplete. My friend quickly got on with Catalan language and soon he was able to fully understand classes in Catalan; he later said to me that he understood people's disappointment during the first class day. He said it is natural for a country to have its own language and if he had been informed before coming to Barcelona that Catalan was so important, he would had learned it.

A 40% of Catalans use Catalan as their primary language, whereas a 57% use Spanish (the remaining 3% use other languages).The reason of this unbalanced percentages is that during last 300 years Spain has attempted to anhilate Catalan language, which was legalized again 30 years ago. During Franco's fascist dictatorship (1939-1975) speaking Catalan in public was severely punished an today Spanish courts still ban any possibility of Catalan language to gain its fair acknowledgement status. Where Catalan language is clearly used by most of the Catalans is in higher relationship levels: for dealing with Catalan administration, banks, cultural institutions, universities, etc... Spanish has somehow settled as the language of the street, where people from many places mingle, specially in neighbourhoods with high Spanish immigration rates.

So, if you plan to come to do the Erasmus programme in Barcelona (or whatever city or town in Catalonia) consider learning Catalan. Otherwise you may find yourself in difficult or uncomfortable situations. You don't have to worry about being understood in Spanish, since all Catalans do speak it, but you'll see that if you make an effort in learning Catalan you will feel more "accepted". What would you think about an immigrant that comes to your country and makes an effort in speaking your language? Well, Catalans will think the same about you!

Some Catalan language related resources:

• parla.cat:  a virtual learning space for learning Catalan.
• F.C. Barcelona soccer team anthem is written in Catalan language (the link points to the team's official site and contains an English translation).
• The world record lipdub for the independence of Catalonia is sung in Catalan.