# Barcelona or Barçelona



## London

Which is the correct spelling, Barcelona or Barçelona? I know that in Castillian the city is spelt Barcelona but could someone tell me what the spelling is in Catalan?


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## PACOALADROQUE

Barcelona. Mira la Wiki en catalán:

http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona

Saludos


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## jeni_la_gringa

A note to London: I think Catalan is like French, in that the *Ç* is only used before the vowels *a*, *o*, and *u* if the word has an */s/* sound.  On that wikipedia page, I found "Plaça d'Espanya", and I am assuming it is pronounced like "plaza/plasa", not "plaka".


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## London

There is no doubt that when Barcelona is shortened it is spelt Barça with the cedilla but is there a Catalan out there who could confirm if you ever spell the city Barçelona with the cedilla en Català


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## London

La wiki en catalán la respuesta no hay.


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## PACOALADROQUE

London said:


> La wiki en catalán la respuesta no hay.


 
Pincha en el enlace que he puesto, toda la página está en catalán.

Saludos


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## Juan Jacob Vilalta

As said:

Bar*c*elona.
Bar*ç*a.


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## Juan Jacob Vilalta

_I don't know Catalan, but I think it's easy to make a logical guess as to why the shortened version ("Barça") is written with a cedilla. In "Barcelona" there is an "e" after a "c". This changes to an "a" in "Barça". The sound of an "a" after a "c" must be different to that of an "e" after a "c" (which happens in Spanish also), so in order to maintain the original "c" sound in "Barcelona", the cedilla is required. I'm sure a Catalan will tell us if this is correct or not, but I'm pretty sure that must be the reason why. _

Correct.

Bar*c*a would be pronounced Bar*k*a.


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## Pinairun

jeni_la_gringa said:


> A note to London: I think Catalan is like French, in that the *Ç* is only used before the vowels *a*, *o*, and *u* if the word has an */s/* sound. On that wikipedia page, I found "Plaça d'Espanya", and I am assuming it is pronounced like "plaza/plasa", not "plaka".


 


Juan Jacob Vilalta said:


> _I don't know Catalan, but I think it's easy to make a logical guess as to why the shortened version ("Barça") is written with a cedilla. In "Barcelona" there is an "e" after a "c". This changes to an "a" in "Barça". The sound of an "a" after a "c" must be different to that of an "e" after a "c" (which happens in Spanish also), so in order to maintain the original "c" sound in "Barcelona", the cedilla is required. I'm sure a Catalan will tell us if this is correct or not, but I'm pretty sure that must be the reason why. _


 
You're both right.

Singular = Plaça (plasa)
Plural = Places (plases)


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## zoolon

Yes, we say "BarSalona" with the sound:"S" like "sell" after the "S" we say "A" like "fArm" not "E" like "BarSalona", but we write Barcelona, like in spanish, but In spanish it say the sound "c" of that word , Barthelona like your "th" like "THink" and they say "E" not "A", Visca el Barça! (we write the Ç onli befoure the "A" when we pronuncied "C" like "th" like "thing") so the word barcelona it's writes with "C" because the word is "Celona" not "Çalona", I know the latin lenguiches are soooooooo complicates, not dificult, cooooomplicates, but, Visca el Barça!!!!!


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## Pep Serra

London said:


> There is no doubt that when Barcelona is shortened it is spelt Barça with the cedilla but is there a Catalan out there who could confirm if you ever spell the city Barçelona with the cedilla en Català


Hi, I am catalan. Let me explain how Barcelona is spelled and shortened.
Barcelona (Bæ-r-sæl-lóh-næ is how is spelled in Catalan (notice the longer L and Bah-r-theh-lóh-nah in Spanish; both official languages in Catalonia)
When written, Barcelona is normally shortened as BCN and when spelled it is shortened as Barna (Báh-r-næ in Catalan and Báh-r-nah in Spanish).
æ is the neutral vowel we use in Catalan most of the time in the Easter side of the country and it is made like putting your mouth like saying E but you say A at the same time; it is closer to A but more neutral or lazy or closing more your mouth.
Barça is the football team nickname for Football Club Barcelona (Futbol Club Barcelona) and it is never used to name the city itself. This is the most common mistake.
So to sum up,
Catalonia is the country
Catalan is the language
Catalans the inhabitants
Barcelona the capital city
BCN is how the city is shortened when writing it
Barna is how is spelled when talking in an informal way
And Barça is the football club


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## Agró

DCVB
    Fon.: bəɾsəlónə (pir-or., or., bal.); baɾselónɛ (Ll.); baɾselóna (val.); balsaɾóna (alg.).

In short, *Barçelona* does not exist.


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## Penyafort

Well, and then there's that local _xava _way of saying it by many young speakers (which obviously cannot be featured in that good old dictionary), which would be /bɐrsɐ'lonɐ/ or even /barsa'lona/.


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