English
Cata-what? Catalan! Though everybody in Barcelona speaks Spanish, it is the capital of Catalonia, where they speak Catalan. There are about 9.2 million speakers. Knowledge of French, Spanish or Italian might help you understanding Catalan, but don’t underestimate the difficulty of this beautiful language!
Let’s start with some tongue twisters and you’ll immediately understand:
“Setze jutges d´un jutjat mengen fetge d´un penjat.” The j is pronounced like the English [d?] sound in just/large. It is believed that this phrase was used like a watchword during the siege of Barcelona, because it if difficult to pronounce.
Or how about this one: “Plou poc, però pa lo poc que plou plou prou.” Note that you pronounce the ou like [ow]. It means: it doesn’t rain much, but it’s enough.
A little children’s rhyme to end with: “En Panxo li va dir a en Pinxo: vols que et punxi amb un punxó? I en Pinxo li va dir a en Panxo: punxa´m però a la panxa no.” Another difficult one, but Barça player Xavi Hernandez can help you with this one. The x [t?] is pronounced ‘tsh’ like you would say Cha-cha-cha. So Xavi is pronounced like Chavi.
Now you know some of the sounds, it’s time to listen! Rock Catalá is a very popular genre: take a look at the MySpace of the band Toquem Fusta, which means something like ‘knock on wood’, (www.myspace.com/toquemfusta or www.toquemfusta.cat) and discover their new song Abraça´l Fort. After playing in Razzmatazz last February (the biggest disco in Barcelona), your next chance to see them live is at the Andén NºZero 2010 Festival in Salou (end of July).
What are you waiting for? Start learning those lyrics!
“Ara és l’hora de saber trucar.
Ara és l’hora de saber escoltar.
Ara es l’hora de demostrar als demés
què t’estimes o què vols de veritat.”
Rent the best apartments in Barcelona and discover the Rock Catala! Impress everybody with a simple ‘Bon Dia’ (good morning) or seduce the Catalan ‘noies’ (girls) in their own language!
