Should I learn Spanish or Catalan?

[Xrysa_Grigoriadou]

Hello everyone.. me, my husband, my little daughter and my two dogs want to move to Barcelona. But we dont speak any spanish or catalan. What would u suggest to learn first?
And is Barcelona a dogs friendly city? Would we find an apartment to rent with 2 dogs?

[sergi_marcet]

Hi,
It would be better for you to learn Spanish in my opinion... (also with spanish you can then got throug all Spain and most of Latin America...)

Barcelona is a very dog friendly city, but every builduing has its policy on pets allowed... I don't think there will be a problem as long as it doesn't bothers the neighbours... but you should ask , of couse, on your first approach on owners...

[Bilja_Drn]

Hi Xrysa,

My advice would be to start with Spanish and then if you see you'll be staying in Barcelona for a while, you can learn Catalan as well so as to integrate with the locals more. Everyone in Barcelona speaks Spanish, so it is absolutely enough to be able to communicate. True, some official things may only be written in Catalan, but it has never been an issue for me (I'm a foreigner who speaks only Spanish, although by now I understand most written Catalan as well).

I advise this because you will most likely travel around Spain and Catalan will be of no use then. Learning Catalan has its nice added benefits, such as being able to get closer to the true locals, who do prefer to speak in their language (altough it's not really true what some will tell you, that Catalans won't speak to you in Spanish, it has never happened to me in the 7+ years that I've lived here). But if you're starting from zero, I'd say Spanish is definitely more useful.

As for the dogs, I can't really help much, as I've never had one. I'd say Barcelona is definitely a dog-friendly city, as I see a lot of dog parks, there's the beach, the mountain, etc. Finding a flat might be tricky, cause some landlords don't allow any pets, but again, I'm not sure how extended this is, cause I've never had a dog myself.

Hope this helps!

Good luck with the move, hope you enjoy Barcelona, it's a wonderful city in many ways!

[cjgm]

Hello Xrysa,

I've been living in Barcelona all my life.
As Sergi told you, learn Spanish. If you would get public job you would need catalan. Barcelona is a multicutural city and spanish is the main language despite you will listen a looot of people that speak catalan. Don't worry, once you have learned spanish, you'll understand a lot of catalan. It's an easy language. And your little daughter will grow knowing catalan because the school

About the dogs, again as Sergi told you, is really a dog friendly and one of the cities with more dogs in the country. About the flat, it's true that there are landlords that they don't want pets, but it's a question to make a deal. I don't think you can have any problem

Best!
Carlos

[adriansalceanu]

Spanish 100%

1/ Every Catalan speaks Spanish - and so does the rest of the country.
2/ Obviously, there are far more resources for learning (and be taught) Spanish
3/ Although some Catalan politicians push for a separatist agenda, everybody will speak Spanish if you use it
4/ Frankly, many people were grown using the 2 languages interchangeably so many times they just switch from one to another without realizing it - and sometimes have problems telling you a word in a certain language.
5/ People are nice, chatty and in general will use opportunities to communicate - even more so if you want to buy something from them - in more than 3 years living here, I've never had a problem or felt even the slightest form of discrimination for not speaking Catalan

Other important things to keep in mind:
a/ public education is in Catalan - be ready to sign up your daughter for that or put her in a private British or American school. I understand there are also Spanish schools but I haven't heard of any around me.
b/ in Catalonia, the Spanish language is called Castillano (because there's no "Spanish" - Spain is just a federation of Iberian principalities and the Catalans don't accept the identity between Spain and Madrid / Castilla)
c/ nobody speaks English! Really!

[Molly_T1]

I'm English and have lived in Catalonia (Tarragona and Barcelona) and Mallorca for nearly three years. Yes, Spanish is more widely spoken, but in my opinion you're able to integrate much more easily if you know some Catalan - even a few words. Catalans love it when people try to speak their language and will be much more welcoming and helpful towards you if you make the effort. I've had some of the best experiences of my time here because I know Catalan or at least showed interest in learning some.

I speak better Catalan than Spanish and I don't feel like I have too much of a problem communicating. The only issue is that there are a lot of foreigners in BCN who don't speak Catalan, so they speak to you in Spanish, but most of them understand Catalan reasonably well since it's pretty similar to Spanish (and you'll be able to understand whichever language you're not actively learning eventually too, just from being here). Also most of the time you will be able to make yourself understood in English as a last resort (though learning the language is always best).

To learn Catalan, try parla.cat, it's an amazing website with courses that you can do in your own time

Good luck!

[cjgm]

Hi Adrian,

I'm agree with your points 1,2,3.
About 4: many not, everyvody here we grow with a bilingual education in catalan and spanish. Now, they are adding a real trilingual education with english.
5: thank you

a: I agree
b: Not really agree but this could be a looooong discussion Is called "castellano" in all Spain, not only in Catalonia.
c: I'm not really agree... Do you really live in Barcelona? Hey I'm from Barcelona and I live here, and for sure, a lot of catalan people speak english. For sure Barcelona is not like (i.e.) Amsterdam, Stockholm or other cities from the north of Europe where almost everybody speak english. But, please, don't say this kind of things that ARE NOT TRUE, and you know it very well

Best,
Carlos

[sergi_marcet]

Please, let me put an objection , and clarify two of the points that Adrian wrote so kindly...
Here is my objection:

4/ I'm a local , born and raised here in Barcelona, and I never ever had a problem looking for a word in Catalan or Spanish (Castellano) ... and any of my friends and relatives have one... And if so, I think it would be due to small mind slips...
I think that the assumption that Spanish/catalan speakers have problems telling you certain words...because of speaking the two languages is a false one. (or as true as attribution of displaced words on a German/English speaker , BECAUSE of knowing the two languages... )

and a clarification:

The shcool system, in Catalonia , is officially in catalan, but in fact is 50%catalan 50% castellano. So kids learn both languages at the same time from day one.
Many studies and national tests certify that the level of Spanish of kids in Catalonia, is on national average.

Oversimplified; your kids will learn Spanish as decently as average places in Spain and, also, Catalan.

Bonus:

c/ Yep, Spain has an historical lack of good English, but the school system and grown ups ourselves are catching up fast thanks to the wonderful internet! (Also , Barcelona is a very multicultural and modern city, there is literally lots of local and foreign English Speakers...)
(I'm self thaugt myself...)

[Xrysa_Grigoriadou]

First of all thank u very much for your help. I would like also to ask if you can recommend an internet site as far as renting or selling houses privat and not from real estate agencies.
We hope we find great help in Barcelona because we don't know people there and it will be a big and risky step for us.

[sergi_marcet]

you can start on https://www.idealista.com one of the most used sites...

[adriansalceanu]

That was my experience - I guess experiences can vary widely, although mine does not seem to have been very different from other expats'.

b/ That was according to my Spanish teacher (a non-Catalan Spanish native) (and sorry for the typo).

c/ I live in Sitges and spend a good part of my time in the city of Barcelona, yes.

Of course this is a generalization and of course there are people that speak English - but they are not relevant in the context of this question, at least not per my experience. For me, moving here was immensely complicated by my lack of Spanish knowledge at that time: renting a house, getting a mobile number, getting my internet connection at home, talking to my landlord, opening a bank account, etc.

Indeed, I moved here coming from Amsterdam where literally everybody speaks perfect English, so the shock was even bigger. But the fact remains that the initial 2-3 months of settling here will be extremely difficult and/or considerably more expensive without at least a survival level of Spanish or Catalan. You'd have to work with real estate agents or relocation companies that speak English and cater for expats and that will carry a heavy price tag.

[adriansalceanu]

Websites: https://www.idealista.com (already mentioned), http://www.pisos.com, http://www.fotocasa.es/es/

But don't get your hopes high, some 99% of the ads come from agencies. When renting, expect a one month fee to go to the realtor.

When buying, on top of the price you see on the websites you'll have to add 10% in local tax and some 5-10% in realtor fees. Plus some hundreds, maybe thousands for notary. I did the math and unless one lives for at least 5 years in the house, it's cheaper to rent than buy. Since it's your first time here, my suggestion is to rent at least for a year - if you like it, you can buy later.

Good luck!