Catalan language

Catalan, also known as català, valencià or balearic, belongs to the romance branch of the Indo-European language family. It is spoken by 6.9 million people in Spain with a total world population of 7.2 million. In addition, there are 5 million speakers of Catalan as a second language.

In Spain, Catalan is spoken in the area of Barcelona, Catalonia, the provinces of Valencia, the Balearic Islands, the region of Carche and the province of Murcia. It is also spoken in Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Catalan first appeared as a distinct language in the 10th-12th centuries. It evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern coast of the Pyrenees in the 13th century, and was exported to several regions in southern Spain, such as Barcelona and Valencia, and to the Balearic Islands and Alghero in the region of Sardinia, Italy.

Dialects of Catalan

Catalan is usually divided into two major dialects that are divided into other regional sub-dialects. All these dialects are mainly defined by differences in pronunciation and, to some extent, in vocabulary. All speakers of Catalan dialects can understand each other. The two main dialects are Eastern Catalan (Catalonia and the Balearic Islands) and Western Catalan (Valencia). They differ phonetically in their vowels.

Standard Catalan is based on the central Catalan spoken in Barcelona.

Who speaks Catalan?

Catalan is a regional language with an official status in Spain and Andorra. It is a co-official language in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Valencian Community and the Sardinian city of Alghero.

Catalan suffered several periods of prohibition and repression in the 18th century, but in the 19th century, during a period of economic, cultural and national revival, Catalan was reborn as the language of literary culture. The language was standardized by the publication of the rules of spelling in 1913, and a grammar code in 1918. During the first 30 years of the 20th century, Catalonia regained some political power. During the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939), Catalan regained its status as an official language, lost in the 18th century.

However, the Spanish Civil War put an end to the resurgence of Catalan and public use was again forbidden. After Franco's death in 1975 and the restoration of democracy, the ban was lifted, and Catalan is now an official regional language used in politics, education and the media.

Translation agency for Spanish-English-Catalan

Now that you know a little more about the Catalan language, you might be interested to know that we offer professional translation services from both English to Catalan and from Catalan into English. We specialise in translation from and into Spanish.

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