As a native speaker of Catalan, I think I can give a couple of tips for you to introduce Catalan into your day to day life. So, whether it is music, tv series, movies, instagram or pinterest, you can get used to the sound of our language and hopefully learn some vocabulary along the way.
These are ‘methods’ I’ve been using for years to learn English and I am now using to learn French (and some Italian). They may seem pointless, but believe me, everything can help if you are constant.
1. Movies & TV Shows
10+ TV shows to learn CATALAN
Comedy:
- Plats bruts: two old ‘friends’ – a radio host and an actor - start living together in Barcelona.
- L’un per l’altre – a recently married couple starts living together: his parents own a sex shop and she is a receptionist at a hostel.
- Merlí – show that follows the life of an unusual Philosophy teacher and his students. Available on Netflix and 'TV3 a la carta'.
- Jet lag – follows the life of three stewardess and their annoying/funny neighbour.
- Crackovia and Polonia: gags, impressions of Catalan and Spanish athletes, politicians, etc. Both can be found on Youtube.
- Majoria absoluta – follows the life of a family formed by the dad, the stepmom and his seven kids.
- Benvinguts a la família – a comedy mixed with a hint of ‘thriller’ following the life of a woman, her children and the misterious death of her father. Available on Netflix and 'TV3 a la carta'.
Drama:
- Polseres Vermelles – follows the lifes of a group of teenagers who meet in the children's wing of a hospital.
- Com si fos ahir ( and La riera + El cor de la ciutat) – These are daily tv series that mix drama, comedy and are kind of ‘telenovela’ style.
Other tv shows:
- Catalunya Experience – The host shows different parts of Catalonia to guests (from all around the world, that get to stay one week there. The aim is to showcase the cultural diversity within Catalonia and to promote it.
- Katalonski– The host has the purpose of getting to know people that speak Catalan (and are not native speakers) around the world.
If you're into anime, there are several that have been translated into Catalan, such as Shin Chan, Doraemon or Sakura.
º https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUoiG-beW0s
º https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5RuChqvoWc
Movies
- El nom (a remake from the French movie Le Prénom): members of a family have dinner together, and they end up having an argument over how one of them wants to name his child.
- Salvador (Puig Antich): the movie narrates the time Salvador spent on death row prior to his execution in 1974.
2. Music
I don’t know if I can stress this enough, but MUSIC WILL HELP A LOT. That’s how I learnt a lot of English vocabulary and became familiar with grammar structure without realizing.
I have created a Spotify playlist with songs only in Catalan, since it is what I’ve been doing with French, Italian and Portuguese music. It is called ‘Songs in Catalan’.
From Spotify
If you don’t have Spotify, here are some Youtube links to some of the songs I included on the Playlist:
º Rosalía
º Txarango
º Manel
3. Social Media
I don’t know about you, but as a Millennial/Gen Z, I would say that I am kind of addicted to Social Media. Good news are...we can use it to your benefit!
Instagram:
I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but there is a well-known ig account called @frenchwords. Well, there is also one called @catalan.words - it shows words or phrases in Catalan translated into English.
From ig @catalan.words
Pinterest:
Pinterest can also be useful! I have created a board with lots of vocabulary. It can definitely help you organize and divide what you learn into categories.
From Pinterest
4. Other useful websites
There are several useful tools available:
From Gencat.cat
º Parla.cat - learn Catalan online
º Institut Ramon Llull - useful for university students
º If you live in Catalonia you can take a look at Voluntariat per la Llengua, a volunteer program where you can meet up with native people to practice the language in person or via Skype, for free.
(If you want to join the program as the 'student', click 'Alta aprenent')
º There is a website called My Language Exchange, where you can create a profile an get in contact with people that speaks Catalan (or any language). Normally it is an exchange, so for example, if you are a native English speaker, maybe a Catalan native speaker would be interested in practicing English. You can choose if you simply want to exchange emails, use Skype or meet up in real life.
That's it for this blog. I hope you find it helpful!
Mireia x
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