My husband and I are going to visit Spain for the first time next fall with a home base in Barcelona. We'd like to do some train trips to different areas, I'd like to make it down to Valencia for sure.

My question is....they speak Catalan in Barcelona, but do they also speak Spanish? I hope this isn't a terribly ignorant question!

I'd like to learn spanish before we go, we have 9 months. Spanish would be more usefull for me at home, so I was hoping it would work out there in Barcelona.

Any opinions from those that have BTDT?

Thanks a bunch!

Nearly everyone in Barcelona understands Spanish as well as Catalan. You should have no trouble using Spanish, but you will win points by knowing a few phrases of Catalan too.

agree with the PP
we have a friend who speaks Catalan with her family, but, as she told us, in her work place ( she is a pharmacist) she uses Spanish all the time.
I speak some Spanish but maid a point of learning a few greetings in Catalan.

Barcelona is officially bilingual and signs will be posted in both Spanish and Catalan. You will do fine there if you speak even a little Spanish. (Although even that's not truly necessary b/c English is widely spoken also.)

Although *most* people do speak Spanish, we did meet some people, particularly in smaller out of the way shops and cafes, who spoke only Catalan. But usually we could find someone nearby to translate for us.

Everybody between the locals in barcelona speaks and understands spanish, I have been going there for years and never found someone that could not speak or understand spanish. In some remote parts of Catalonia, you may find people that have trouble and mix spanish and Catalan. But not in barcelona.
A good percentage of people will speak good Catalan , maybe 40 or 50 pct. Then the rest have a minor knowledge of the language to speak some "social" Catalan.
Anyway Spanish and Catalan have being mixed up so much and having the same latin roots, there are a lot of equal or similar words.
The Catalan speakers will eventualy talk to you in Catalan and if your reaction is of no understanding they will automatically shift to Spanish without any hesitation or even bad feeling.
Even if some idiots or cheap politicians try to make a conflict between Catalan and Spanish the fact is that in every day life there is absolute no problem.
I can only encourage you to learn Spanish and assure you that you will have a great time in Barcelona.

I agree with the other replies. Not only is Spanish generally more useful because it's spoken by far more people worldwide, but you will find a much bigger choice of learning materials, courses, phrase books, dictionaries, etc.

A lot of workers like bus drivers in Barcelona come from outside Catalunya, with a minimum of Catalan, so you should have no trouble getting by in Castilian.

I agree with previous poster, but if you learn a few words in Catalan and use them, they will love them.
As an example, if you use "sisplau" when adressing to somebody (think English "excuse me" or French "s'il vous plait&quot you will attract a lot of good will.
This simple use of a words makes implicit that you don't speak their language, but you understand Catalans have a specific identity.

Great advise I shall remember the sisplau, one question from an ignorant, that is me, the Catalan has some or many French similarities ? or is it me, .....for instance years ago,, we were coming into Paris driving a car with a Barcelona plate, we hesitate a little in a corner, and this guy comes like an arrow towards as, and he says like are you perdut..... and now you come with this sisplau...If my history is right the French were always around trying to keep as much as possible of Cataluña and they didn't fare that bad after all,....is that the reason or is it my imagination...

If my history is right the French were always around trying to keep as much as possible of Cataluña and they didn't fare that bad after all,....is that the reason or is it my imagination...

Actually what is now French Catalunya (rougly the department of Pyrenees Orientales) was Spanish until 1659 when it became French after the Treaty of the Pyrenees.

Catalan often looks like a mixture of Spanish and French. The word for "exit", for example, is "sortida" which compares with "sortie" in French and "salida" in Spanish. If you know some French and Spanish, it's easy to understand much written Catalan.

Quite so... ham is jamon in Spanish and pernil in Catalan, lamb is cordero in Madrid and xai in Barcelona

I've just found that my name translates to "Llop_Malvado" in Catalan
http://www.xtec.es/centres/a8030637/contecaputxeta.htm

To be exact, Catalan is a combination of Castillan and Provencal.

To be precise Catalan is an older language than French or Castilian so it is closer to the original latin, mother tongue of them all.
Some other languages like catalan are, the swiss Romanche or the Corso.
To call Catalan a mix of other languages is not correct.

Please check your references. As far I can tell Catalan was a distinct language until the tenth century.

Sorry there was misstatement.

It seems that Catalan is traced back to the 10th or 11th century.

Most academics believe that Spanish was rooted in Latin, brought by soldiers, during the occupation of Iberia by the Romans.

"Most academics believe that Spanish was rooted in Latin".
All Romance languages were rooted in Latin.

Most academics believe that Spanish was rooted in Latin".
All Romance languages were rooted in Latin.

There is one poster who beleives Catalan predated Spanish, hence the obvious.

The Spanish languages are:
Castilian
Catalan
Vasque
Galician
The one known worldwide as Spanish is Castilian or otherwise the language spoke originaly in Castilla.
The other languages are as Spanish as Castilian.