If you’re thinking about learning a language it’s always good to know a little about the origins and history of the language you are learning. Here, Cactus Language offers up our most interesting Catalan language facts:
Widely used across the Mediterranean world during the Middle Ages, Catalan declined when Spain was unified in 1479 onward. Catalan saw a revival in the 19th century, before being banned during most of the 20th century by the Francoist dictatorship.
Catalan is mainly spoken in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Valencian Community, and in the French department of the Pyrenees-Orientales. Catalan is an official language in Andorra, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community and a co-official language in the Italian city of Alghero in Sardinia.
Catalan was banned for the first time in 1714 after the Catalans’ defeat in the War of Spanish Succession. The Spanish language was used as a tool to unify Spain and the use of Catalan declined as a result. After the renaixena movement which saw the revival of Catalan in the 19th century, Catalan was banned once again in the 20th century. From 1940 to 1978, Catalan was strictly banned by Franco. Despite this, Catalan managed to survive and is today spoken by over 9 million people.
Catalan has the following dialects:
Catalan is a Gallo-Romance and is very similar to Occitan. It has more in common with French and Italian than with Spanish.
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Cactus offers a range of options for Catalan private tuition. You can choose one-to-one classes if you prefer online and tailored Catalan lessons that suit your schedule and location. For more information please visit our private tuition and corporate language training division.