"Living abroad" Forum

People going to Barcelona

People going to Barcelona

Léa Dumont –
Vastuste arv 6

Hola:

I noticed you can open this kind of topic to look for recommendations or simply to share experiences and I'd like to connect with other people this way before leaving my home country. Maybe we can introduce ourselves and share hopes or expectations for the stay? By the way, feel free to use Spanish if you feel more comfortable with the language or if you want to practise, but I am typing this in English to be sure everyone understands more easily.

Sooo I'm from Belgium, I study Russian and Spanish and am going to study at the UAB in September for one semester. I will arrive on the 7th of September, providing there's no problem. I like languages (who would have guessed? And I'm looking forward to pick up some Catalan as well haha), reading, singing, photography, dogs, tea, dark chocolate... 

Where are you people from? Are you excited or nervous about your stay? Anything you'd like to share? :)

Vastuses Léa Dumont

Re: People going to Barcelona

Martina Follador –
Hola! I'm from Italy, I'll be in Barcelona next week and stay for 5 months. I'm excited but at the same time I don't know a word of catalan, hope it's not a problem but I don't know!
Vastuses Martina Follador

Re: People going to Barcelona

Bernat OLS Community Manager –
¡Hola, Martina! Don't worry, it's not a problem at all. All Catalans speak Spanish :-) Did you know that Catalan and Italian share 87% lexical similarity?
Vastuses Martina Follador

Re: People going to Barcelona

Léa Dumont –
Hola! From what I know everyone is pretty much bilingual so I think one can definitely manage with Spanish there (and even with Italian if you move enough XD); however, I would advise learning a few very basic words like hello, goodbye, thank you, out of politeness or to integrate with locals better (I mean, that’s what I do when I go abroad as a tourist not speaking the official language, and people are usually happy with this haha).
Vastuses Léa Dumont

Re: People going to Barcelona

Bernat OLS Community Manager –
Hello, Léa. I just wanted to say that I'm really happy that you are interested in learning Catalan as well! Catalan speakers are accustomed to foreigners using Spanish or English, so they really like and appreciate when you speak their language. I hope you enjoy the process of learning both Spanish and Catalan! 

Estic segur que Catalunya i Barcelona t'agradaran molt! (CATALAN)
¡Estoy seguro de que Cataluña y Barcelona te gustarán mucho! (SPANISH)

I'm from Sabadell, which is right next to the UAB :-) 
Vastuses Bernat OLS Community Manager

Re: People going to Barcelona

Léa Dumont –
Gràcies, encara no ho parlo bé pèro m’agrada el català. :) I actually started learning some words in an Assimil book I found online, and until now most words or grammatical rules look like French or Spanish, so I don’t feel too lost ahah.
I have seen this place on Google Maps when I was looking for accommodation!
Vastuses Léa Dumont

Re: People going to Barcelona

Bernat OLS Community Manager –
De res :-) Estic molt content que t'agradi (I'm happy that you like it)! 

Perhaps it is not the easiest Romance language to learn, but it has its charm! As you said above, the vast majority of Catalans are bilingual, so you'll have the chance to practise both Spanish and Catalan. Sabadell is definitely not as beautiful as Barcelona, but it is OK!