Comments on: Introduction to Catalan

By: Randy (@Yearlyglot)

Randy (@Yearlyglot) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 03:56:40 +0000

I have a problem with any web site that makes my passport number, date of birth, and address required fields. I can't imagine why that information would be necessary, and I don't feel safe giving it out.

Still… I put in fake information in all those fields and registered without problem. I'm going to try out the site. Thanks for the tip!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:54:04 +0000

There's an excellent interactive FREE website for learning Catalan, which is funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya. It's definitely worth checking out for anyone who wants to learn Catalan. You just have to create a user name and password, and it's completely free. The URL is: http://www.parla.cat

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:33:09 +0000

Ahhh, I've been meaning to watch that documentary for so long now! You've made me really want to see it now, I'll have to watch the whole thing later tonight after I get back from the gym.

I'll give it to you, as strange as that is, I suppose it is a viable use for Esperanto :D

Cheers,
Andrew

By: Jim Morrison

Jim Morrison — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:46:26 +0000

I have another reason why esperanto could be useful!

I actually know the bloke (Ronny) in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmy_fnFqjfM
He used to have a small used car lot just outside Coventry (this is true) and my mate worked for him valeting and driving cars. Anyway, my mate told the stories about him. Ronny had just come back from Thailand with yet another thai bride and apparently she could not speak a word (not a word) of English and obviosly Ronny couldn't speak a word of thai.
Of course it would have been doomed even if she had spoken English, but the fact is that she didn't. So they basically just smiled at eachother and she usually sat in the office just crying (can't blame her).
Anyway, she started learning English but it would take her at least six months to be conversational and she would have died of boredom in the mean time.
So my idea is that they should both have started learning Esperanto when they first met. Then after say a month they would be able to talk to eachother. I know it is hypothical because there may not be any esperanto lessons in thai but in theory it would have been good for them.
After a while she would have learned English anyway but in the mean time...
If you watch the video, you will see why it was doomed anyway, but it is just a thought.
Happy ending! She went back home after a month.

By: Jim Morrison

Jim Morrison — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:33:45 +0000

>> Personally, I prefer to speak to locals in the local language.
Totally, I live in Paris and I speak French. Next year, I am planning to live in Barcelona and I will speak Catalan. My girlfriend is from a town near there and it is all Catalan (you don't need Spanish at all). In Barcelona, I think the reality is that you would need both if you wanted to live there, so I will have to learn Spanish.
But for a holiday, I know the Catalans will love you if you speak to them in their own language! Have a good one.

By: Randy (@Yearlyglot)

Randy (@Yearlyglot) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:00:44 +0000

Cool, I'll check those out today!

By: Randy (@Yearlyglot)

Randy (@Yearlyglot) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:58:52 +0000

Thanks, I'm glad you liked my post!

Yeah, it seems like Spanish is present enough in Barcelona that a person could skip learning Catalan. But then again, I'm tempted to think you could get by in almost any big city just on English if you really had to! :)

Personally, I prefer to speak to locals in the local language. I don't know how much Catalan I can pick up in 2 weeks. We'll see!

By: Randy (@Yearlyglot)

Randy (@Yearlyglot) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:55:45 +0000

I don't think Lan'dorien was implying that Catalan had been constructed as a melding of those other languages, just that to a person who is interested in those languages, Catalan would be an interesting blend of details from all of them.

But I do see your point, and agree that it's worth making. In fact, that's why I've so carefully chosen my words throughout this post (and my replies), to say things like “shared features” or “similarities”, so as not to ignore the fact that Catalan is a full language, developed naturally along with those others which we tend to know better. :)

By: Jim Morrison

Jim Morrison — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:16:05 +0000

And one more thing,
If you going to Barcelona, here are some basic FREE Catalan lessons with audio:

http://www.mylanguagenotebook.com/learn_catalan...

Que vagi be!

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:12:41 +0000

>> Catalan and Esperanto are similar in that they are a sort of meld of several Romance languages.
I don't think that Catalan is a meld of other languages any more than say Spanish.
You could say:
Catalan is a mix of Spanish, French and Italian.
But you could also say:
Spanish is a mix of Catlan, Italian and French.
The only reason we don't say the second sentence is that Catalan is smaller, but it is just another language that is closely related to the others.