# working in Catalonia



## Encolpius

So far I didn't spent much time in Catalonia and still don't understand the language policy over there. But I am very fascinated by that country and language policy. What do you think if a foreigner intends to work in Catalonia does he have to learn Spanish or Catalan or both languages??? 
I saw some statistics on the net about Catalan speakers, but I can't imagine some things, e.g. do young people at school like learning Catalan or do find it as load??? Thank you.


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## babep

Hi,
to answer some of your questions about the language policy: the "funny" thing for me was to learn Castillian when I went to school!. Catalan is spoken in our houses, with our family members and what we learn at school is proper gramatic rules, writing, etc.  
This can be radically different when we are talking about an immigrant family (from the rest of Spain, from other country) where surely another language is spoken and then the children have to learn Catalan from zero level in the school.
In my days (I am 43), I learned Castillian interacting with other non-catalan speaking kids in school and also from the courses, which were taught in Castillian. Nowadays, the kids from catalan-speaking families have access to TV, computers, etc before they go to kindergarten or First Grade. They are really bilingual.
So, what to learn? You will have to learn Castillian (what you call Spanish) but I recommend learning some (a lot of) Catalan if you are interested at all in integration. 
Good luck!


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## Cecilio

Hello, Encolpius, and welcome to the WR forums. I think the questions you ask are a bit difficult to answer in a few words, because they involve many socio-cultural issues and some controversies. In this thread you will find some discussion about the use of Catalan in the classrooms.


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## chicoinglés

Bones a tots:

I'd just like to add my two cents to this very interesting and informative thread.  I believe that if a Spanish-speaking pupil (let's say in a primary school), cannot yet understand Catalan after having lived there for a few months then they should take intensive courses in order to make sure they are going to be able understand it, and preferably, speak in reasonably well within a few months (having Spanish as a native language would certainly help them in their adquisition of Catalan as a second language).  That's to say, in the situation which has been pondered upon, I believe the teacher has every right to carry on the lesson in Catalan, since every school subject is taught in the language (apart from Spanish, of course).

This topic does actually affect me personally, since my girlfriend is Catalan (from l'Hospitalet de Llobregat) and it's very likely that we will be living there as a couple sooner or later.  My Catalan is currently very basic; so looking for work in Catalonia could well cause me some difficulties.  On the other hand, I am eager to learn it and my Spanish is certainly on the way to fluency, since I'm here in Cádiz for my year abroad as part of the Erasmus scheme.  I have to admit that using the language every day, both in the university and in social situations is helping me tremendously regarding my aim to be fluent as soon as possible.

Saluts,

Jordan


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## Encolpius

Thank you for the very interesting answers. 
So does it all mean teenagers speak Catalan outside school as weel, I mean at discos, etc.????


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## babep

Absolutely , and in stores, streets, bars, cafeterias, the movies.  We are talking about a living language not something just taught at school.  This is not latin...


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## chicoinglés

Yes, most certainly - it is spoken outside educational settings. As babep said, it is spoken in all social situations, alongside Spanish. It is a living language...not like Latin !!


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## Cecilio

In fact, it is spoken by more than 10,000,000 people in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands.


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## claudine2006

It's easier to find a job in Catalonia if you're foreign than if you're Spanish and you don't speak catalan. 
If you're foreign probably you'll get the job because of the foreign language you speak, but if you want a pubblic job you need you study catalan. 
I started studying Spanish in Barcelona and I had to give up because people used to speak catalan to me (even if I tried to speak my first Spanish words) and that didn't help me to improve!
So I found a 100% Spanish region to learn Spanish.


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## Cecilio

claudine2006 said:


> It's easier to find a job in Catalonia if you're foreign than if you're Spanish and you don't speak catalan.



This is a surprising remark. There have many people from the rest of Spain who have found a job in Catalonia in the last decades, not to mention the massive amount of immigrants in the 2nd half of the 20th century. The only real restrictions, as Claudi correctly mentions, are found in the public sector, where a good command of Catalan (and Spanish) is required.


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## babep

Yes, it is a surprising remark. Few people would go to Quebec to learn english even though English AND French are official languages in Quebec. 
It has ceased to be a thorn in my side the fact that in the 16 years that I have been living outside of Mallorca (almost 10 in the US, more than 6 in Germany) I still have to find a person who said that they knew Catalan was another romance language (like French, Italian, Romanian, etc) and not simply a dialect or a "mispronunciation" of Castillian, to them Spanish.
To that effect, I still carry in my wallet a paper label from a bean can from a well known food chain in Spain (E*****) which, being basque, prints them in the four official languages of Spain.

Salut a tots i a reveure per aquí.
Barbara


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## ampurdan

I'm sorry but since the topic of this thread does not belong in this forum, I must close the thread.

This forum admits discussions about language, but not about social attitudes nor the policies of any government towards language.

There are several threads in the Culture Discussions forum on this topic and similar ones for anyone who'd like more information. Unfortunately some of them were closed because they desintegrated into political arguments.

Parlar a Barcelona
Spanish in Catalonia: almost illegal
Catalan worldwide
Language diversity in Spain
Valenciano

Enjoy!


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