The international discussion forum - View Single Post - Need a personal letter from Spanish to English

backtotown · 11-17-2005, 12:37 PM

We Catalans speak Catalan (cat. "català") and we live in Catalonia (cat. "Catalunya"), Northeast of Spain. Catalan language, like Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and others comes from Latin, but Catalan is not a dialect of Spanish but a separate language, although has a lot in common with other Romanic languages, specially French and Italian. Catalan is spoken in Catalunya (where it is co-official with Spanish), of course, but also in Andorra (a small country between Spain and France where it is the only official language) Valencia (East of Spain, where it is also co-official with Spanish) Balearic Islands (in the Mediterranean Sea, co-official with Spanish), Southeast of France, a narrow strip of Spain close to the Catalan West border, and also in a small town in Sardinia island (belonging to Italy) called Alguero. Depending on the sources, there are between 8 and 10 million Catalan speakers.

Catalonia lost its independence 300 years ago when it was invaded by Spanish forces in 1714. Now it's part of Spain but many Catalan people do not consider themselves Spanish at all but just Catalan. Catalan language was even forbidden for long periods and you could go to jail if you were discovered speaking or writing in Catalan, but it managed to survive. In the recent history, it was forbidden in the 20th century for 40 years until the dictator Franco died in 1975, and for the last 30 years the situation of Catalan has improved a lot. Catalan is taught at schools, we have TV channels, newspapers, magazines, books and so on. In fact we are somehow lucky because we learn two languages (Spanish and Catalan) since we are children and most Catalans are totally bilingual.

We Catalans don't want to be associated at all with "typical Spanish" culture such as flamenco and bullfighting. We have our own culture and I hope someday Catalonia will we independent from Spain again, while remaining in the European Union. By the way, a very bizarre situation is happening right now: because Catalans want to have more autonomy from Spain, a lot of Spaniards hate and insult us and say that we are not Spaniards (this is a compliment rather than an insult for many), but they don't allow us to be independent from them. Perhaps the fact that Catalonia gives a lot of money to Spain has something to do with this...

Sorry if I've been too long...

Regards from Catalonia.

11-17-2005, 12:37 PM	#6 (permalink)
backtotown Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Torrelles de Llobregat, Barcelona Posts: 62 backtotown is an unknown character at this point	Catalan & Catalonia We Catalans speak Catalan (cat. "català") and we live in Catalonia (cat. "Catalunya"), Northeast of Spain. Catalan language, like Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and others comes from Latin, but Catalan is not a dialect of Spanish but a separate language, although has a lot in common with other Romanic languages, specially French and Italian. Catalan is spoken in Catalunya (where it is co-official with Spanish), of course, but also in Andorra (a small country between Spain and France where it is the only official language) Valencia (East of Spain, where it is also co-official with Spanish) Balearic Islands (in the Mediterranean Sea, co-official with Spanish), Southeast of France, a narrow strip of Spain close to the Catalan West border, and also in a small town in Sardinia island (belonging to Italy) called Alguero. Depending on the sources, there are between 8 and 10 million Catalan speakers. Catalonia lost its independence 300 years ago when it was invaded by Spanish forces in 1714. Now it's part of Spain but many Catalan people do not consider themselves Spanish at all but just Catalan. Catalan language was even forbidden for long periods and you could go to jail if you were discovered speaking or writing in Catalan, but it managed to survive. In the recent history, it was forbidden in the 20th century for 40 years until the dictator Franco died in 1975, and for the last 30 years the situation of Catalan has improved a lot. Catalan is taught at schools, we have TV channels, newspapers, magazines, books and so on. In fact we are somehow lucky because we learn two languages (Spanish and Catalan) since we are children and most Catalans are totally bilingual. We Catalans don't want to be associated at all with "typical Spanish" culture such as flamenco and bullfighting. We have our own culture and I hope someday Catalonia will we independent from Spain again, while remaining in the European Union. By the way, a very bizarre situation is happening right now: because Catalans want to have more autonomy from Spain, a lot of Spaniards hate and insult us and say that we are not Spaniards (this is a compliment rather than an insult for many), but they don't allow us to be independent from them. Perhaps the fact that Catalonia gives a lot of money to Spain has something to do with this... Sorry if I've been too long... Regards from Catalonia.
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