Catalan:
The Official Government Language of Barcelona
Catalan is the official
government language of Barcelona (and all of Catalonia). A
mixture of French, Spanish, and the other Romance languages, Catalan
is spoken
by roughly
seven million people, most of them being from Catalonia.
While visiting Barcelona, one will inevitably encounter this colorful
language. Many street signs, landmarks, and public facilities are marked
in both the national language of Castilian as well as the Catalonians’
own regional language. In some neighborhoods of the city it may even
seem impossible to get a menu in Spanish. However, nearly all Catalonians
speaks both languages fluently, and most probably speak a third or fourth
as well.
The language of Catalan
came on to the scene as early as the 10th and 11th centuries, appearing
in official documents as early as
the second half of the
12th century. However, the real introduction of the language came in the
late 13th through the mid 14th centuries, when Catalan began to appear
in such literary
works as the Book of Deeds (also known as the Chronicle of James I) and the
Chronicle of Peter the Ceremonious. This was also a period of great expansion
for the language. Catalan not only spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula,
but around the Mediterranean as well. In fact, Catalan is recorded as having
been one of the most widespread languages of the 14th century.
The Catalan
language continued to prosper into the 15th century with what is
considered the Gold Age of Catalan literature. It was during this century
that
a Valencian poet, Ausias March, founded Catalan poetry, and Janot Matorell
completed the first modern novel in European literature, Tirant lo Blanc.
However, with the War of the Spanish Succession at the beginning of the
18th
century,
Catalan’s prosperity came to a grinding halt. The language went through
various periods of prohibition and repression.
Soon after, with
the onset of the Renaissance in the early 19th century, Catalan, like
everything
else economic, cultural, and artistic, once again
began to
flourish. It was at this time that the Institute of Catalan Studies was
founded, and the language experienced a period of important technical
growth. Long
overdue rules on unified spelling were established and the first Catalan
dictionary
and grammar books were published.
During the early
20th century, however, war would once again take its toll on the progress
of Catalan. Following
the civil war and the coming
to power
of Franco, any threats to the new state were immediately and severely
suppressed, including the autonomous region of Catalonia. Through the
fifties, the
use of Catalan language was prohibited and punishable by law. By the
beginning of the sixties, however, small protest movements began to
gradually loosen
such harsh restrictions. People began to fill out official forms in
Catalan, hum Catalan tunes, and even ask policemen for directions in
Catalan.
Then in 1975, with the death of Franco and the crowning of King Juan
Carlos,
Spain
was lead back into democracy. The region of Catalonia once again gained
autonomy statute, and the official language was declared to be Catalan.
Click
here to learn some Catalan phrases useful when travelling to Barcelona
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