What are the differences between Catalan and Spanish?

Differences: Catalan vs Spanish Spanish has five vowel sounds. Catalan has eight which may be open, closed or neutral, depending on if they are stressed, unstressed or neutral. Catalan uses consonant clusters whereas Spanish requires a vowel sound between consonant sounds (most of the time).

What is the difference between Catalan and Castilian Spanish?

As you know, Spanish or Castellano is from Spain and considered the official language, however Catalan is the second most spoken in the nation. Today, it’s standard practice for most people who speak Catalan to also speak fluent Spanish—but not vice versa.

Do they speak Spanish in Catalonia?

Catalonia has its own language: Catalan. Most of the people who live in Barcelona are bilingual and speak Catalan and Spanish, which is also an official language.

Is Catalan the same as Spanish language?

Catalan and Spanish are from the same family of language. They’re both romance languages. They share vocabularies, grammatical structures, some expressions, etc. If you’re unfamiliar with language families, then read this Wikipedia article about it. Other languages in the Romance Family include French, Italian, Romanian and Portuguese.

Is Catalan closer to French or Spanish?

Catalan is a Romance language like Spanish but is not a subset of Spanish itself. In fact, Catalan as a language is closer to French and Italian than Spanish or Portuguese. In Catalonia , this difference is most notably felt outside Barcelona as Catalan is the main language spoken on a daily basis.

How different is Catalan from Spanish?

However Catalan is not a dialect of Spanish. It is a completely different language. Catalan is spoken in Catalonia (northeast region of Spain, includes Barcelona), Valencia (where it is called Valencian), the small country of Andorra , and a few other places.

How does Catalan differ from Spanish?

A few key differences between Spanish and Catalan for keen linguists; Photo via Pixabay Spanish has five vowel sounds. Catalan uses constant clusters whereas Spanish requires a vowel sound between consonant sounds (most of the time). Catalan uses linkage. Catalan uses voiced and unvoiced vowels. Catalan shares the Portuguese L, Spanish does not.