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I heard sometimes in the forums that most Catalan people would rater prefer to speak English than Spanish to foreigners. This has part of reality, but not due the political reasons some may think. The fact is that still very few people have a decent level of English, apart from the ones working in the touristy industry and services. Therefore, if you ask something in English to a random person on the street, and it happens this person do speak English, yes... probably he/she would prefer to practice English with you (rater than speak Spanish that’s a daily thing!)
In any case, here as everywhere in the world, the "golden rule" usually works well: be polite and smile!
Here you have some useful words/expressions:
English / Catalan / Spanish (Castilian)
Hello / Hola / Hola
Good morning / Bon dia / Buenos días
Good afternoon / Bona tarda / Buenas tardes
Good evening / Bona nit / Buenas noches
Thank you / Gràcies / Gracias
Please / Sisplau / Por favor
Excuse me / Perdoni / Perdone
I'm sorry / Em sap greu / Lo siento
Goodbye / Adéu / Adios
See you later / Fins després / Hasta luego
Hi, I don’t speak Catalan / Spanish, do you speak English?
Hola, no parlo Català / Castellà, vosté parla Anglés?
Hola, no hablo Catalán / Castellano, usted habla Inglés?
If you're interested in learning some Catalan expressions, the following links is an online conversation guide where you can hear the words/sentences (oriented to foreigner University students, but may be useful to any visitor):
http://www.ub.edu/guiaconversa/angles/a.php?fer=GUIA&idioma[]=1&idioma[]=7&ordre=7 Leave a Comment
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 Catalan language and
dialects map -from
Wikipedia by Belsaita
Correction, not 100% of people in Catalunya do speak Spanish. I would better say 98%. There may be a 1% of very old people in remote areas who never needed to learn it. And there may be a 1% of nuts who know perfectly Spanish but refuse to speak it (usually when addressing to Spaniards, as they usually don't mind to use their multilingual knowledge with foreigners). You can find quite a few people who may speak to you in Catalan, but they would switch to Spanish immmediately as soon they notice your accent. Please note that many of us here are using BOTH languages all the time, and sometimes we even do not realize we changed!! Except of course you bump into anyone belonging to the second 1% named above (and this would be plain back luck... just ignore them and ask anyone else)
Catalan is not a dialect of Spanish, but a language on its own, derived from Latin as Spanish, French, Italian... etc. As well, Catalan has its own dialects, and it's spoken by about 10 million people in Catalunya and other surrounding areas (including French Catalonia, Balearic Islands, and – if politics permit – Valencia ;)
If you are interested on learning a bit of Catalan language, have a look to the link below (includes a linguistic tool from the University of Barcelona, which may be useful as well for touristy purposes) Leave a Comment
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 by HosellLeave a Comment
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The main language is Catalan, which is similar to French and Castillian Spanish. If you know either French or Spanish, you'll probably be able to at least read Catalan. In Catalunya, the people have their own language and culture which can be quite different from the rest of Spain. My professor told us that since the Catalan people are very proud of their language and culture (they consider themselves to be Catalan first, Spanish second), they might give us a hard time if we speak Castillian Spanish, but we never had any problems.
Since this city is so cosmopolitan and international, I think more people here know English than in most other cities in Spain. The front desk man at the hotel spoke to us in English. Leave a Comment
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Bon dia: Good day
Adéu: goodbye
No ho entenc: I don't understand
Gràcies, mercès: thank you
Moltes gràcies: Thank you very much
Dispensi! Perdoni!. Excuse me
Quant costa això?: How much is it (x is sh)
T'estimo: I love you (you never know when this phrase will come in handy!!! ;) Leave a Comment
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Outside the tourist areas, it didn't seem that Barcelonians spoke more than Spanish and Catalan. I found some minimal knowledge of English and German but found it easier to speak what Spanish I knew and fill in the gaps with Italian. When I spoke pure Italian, people seemed to get kind of the gist of what I was saying, but corrected me in Spanish each time, which helped me improve but also kept my ego in check.
In tourist areas or areas of interest, it seemed that facilities catered to speakers of French or Spanish, Catalan of course. English, Italian, or German? "If you must". Beyond that, very little effort was made to present things in minor, Central or East European languages. No effort at all was made for speakers of Asian languages that I could see. Leave a Comment
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 català by PeretLeave a Comment
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 comarques by Peret
This is a simplicity to guide. For exemple, i'm descending of people of Spain, my mother-tongue is spanish, but my language that i use usually and identified me is catalan. All combinations are possible. What you can do? Speak you spanish without problem, everybody will talk with you, but if you want to wine the heart of most of catalan, say a few words of catalan, althoug this won't always work. Leave a Comment
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Barcelona is an Autonomic Community, with a President, laws and police of its own. The culture is a it different than the rest of Spain and you will notice it directly with the language.
While everyone knows Spanish, the official language is Catalan, which is very similar to Spanish, but could be hard to understand if you don´t know the pronuntiation relues.
Most signs are written in catalan, as well as menus, and such.
You might find some people who refuse to speak Spanish and a few that can´t speak it. Don´t take it personally, and rtry someone else. Leave a Comment
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It would be great if you learned some basic Spanish words and phrases because almost no one speaks English or any other language besides their native (and that's Catalan for people who live in Barcelona or in any other part of Cataluña, and Spanish). It made a world of difference to me that I was able to communicate in Spanish, because it can get a little frustrating that everytime you want something, you have to point with your finger on it.
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