Catalan Online – Level 3

Catalan is a Romance language named after Catalonia, in northeastern Spain and adjoining parts of France. It’s spoken in three regions of Spain: Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. Outside Spain, it is the official language of Andorra. It is also spoken in some parts of France and Italy. This beautiful language is not, as some believe, a dialect of Spanish, but developed independently out of the vulgar Latin spoken by the colonizing Romans in the 9th century. Since the 1980’s, Catalan has been recognized as a co-official language along with Spanish in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. All of which have helped it emerge as a language of education and of mass media, putting it firmly back on the map. As the wave of support for local cultural values continues to envelop Catalonia, centuries old traditions are surging back, such as the Castell (perilous, 10 story-high human skyscrapers)!