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Linguaholic

Is Catalan a Spanish dialect?


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I've been reading some articles about Catalonia seeking to secede from Spain because

they feel Catalan and not Spanish

The residents of Catalonia speak Catalan but since it's part of Spain I'd like to know if it's a Spanish dialect or an entirely different language.

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It's a language as it is derived from Latin. It's not a dialect of Spanish at all.

http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Catalan/Catalan.html is a link to a pretty good read about the language of Catalan. Personally, I can see why they view themselves as Catalan rather than Spanish.

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It's a completely different language (that shares some words) that is the reason for an ongoing dispute and separatist claims in Spain. If you follow Spanish football, the rivalry between the teams Real Madrid and Barcelona are based on their differences in language - the region of Madrid is a Castilian stronghold while Barcelona is home to the Catalans. Castilian is what we mean when we say "Spanish".

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This is such an interesting concept. They are "completely different languages" but they share the same words? I took a trip to Spain in 2010. I did not notice a difference in the spoken language, but we did visit the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, where signs and brochures seemed to be in a strange version of Spanish, which I guess now is Catalan. I always thought it was just a dialect but I went to their official website and their homepage menu gives you the option of reading in catalá or español, so they are clearly separate yet still so similar.

Some examples:

"Mecenatgne" in Catalan is "Mecenazgo" in Spanish.

"Programació" in Catalan is "Programación" in Spanish.

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  • 2 weeks later...

From what I understand, there are a bunch of different accents and dialects in Spain. I've been doing some research about Spain, as I plan to teach there in September. While I was researching, I found a website which mentioned how difficult or how easy the Spanish spoken in each of the regions of Spain was to understand. I found it funny and informative that a language could vary so much in one country!

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  • 2 months later...

It's a completely different language (that shares some words) that is the reason for an ongoing dispute and separatist claims in Spain. If you follow Spanish football, the rivalry between the teams Real Madrid and Barcelona are based on their differences in language - the region of Madrid is a Castilian stronghold while Barcelona is home to the Catalans. Castilian is what we mean when we say "Spanish".

That's interesting, so this is not more than a petty feud between neighbors? I mean, what could they possibly gain in seceding? I am not up to date with current events, but it really seems like something insignificant. A rivalry between football clubs is understandable, and it's origin is quite interesting. We live for tomorrow, why should something like this be of a big deal? Surely, there are other important issues that are worth expelling energy on.

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  • 2 months later...

They are different, but similar languages. That's why any "Spanish"-speaking person you meet will tell you they speak "Castellano". There are many languages originating in Spain. Castillian just happened to be the one that caught on.

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  • 1 month later...

Ehh, of course isn't a dialect!  It's a totally different language!  I mean, would you think that french is a dialect of Spanish because they have words that are written in a similar way or that sound similar?  Of course not!  They are two different languages!  Just like french and Spanish, but those 3 have a lot in common because they are romance languages. Hence the similarities.

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  • 2 weeks later...

As RealSugar says, Catalans refer to Spanish as Castellano. That's because at the Middle Age in Spain were two big kingdoms: The Kingdom of Castilla and The Crown of Aragón (not Aragorn). Catalan is spoken at the northern part of the old Crown of Aragón but the southern part (Valencia) and the Balearic Islands have different languages like Valenciano and Balear (obvious). There are people who consider them dialects from Catalan and other ones think they aren't. The thing is that they are different languages.

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