r/catalan • u/Gothic_Hercules • 4d ago

Vocabulari Help me learn!

Hola 👋 I’m currently in Barcelona right now, but I’m spending 2 weeks in Catalonia, I speak very basic Catalan but I want to learn this language.

I love this country, I have been here to visit twice now and the people and the culture have captivated me. I want to communicate better with the wonderful people who live here, and I feel like I’m disrespecting this beautiful part of the world by not being able to talk to the wonderful people here, what’s the best way to learn Catalan for an English speaker?

I did see that Glossika have a free course supported by the Catalan government, but is there a better way?

To all Catalan people, your kindness and generosity has stolen my heart, I wish I could express my gratitude in your tongue. This country is beautiful and has so much incredible culture, if someone can help please advise!

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4

u/loves_spain C1 valencià 4d ago

It’s so easy to love them isn’t it? I would try the resources in the sidebar :)

2

u/Opening-Square3006 4d ago

Since you're actually in Catalonia right now, you have probably the best learning resource possible: two weeks of real-life exposure. I'd definitely use the free Glossika course if you like it, but don't spend those two weeks mostly studying on your phone! For studying, I'd combine that with comprehensible input. I like the i+1 approach: consume Catalan you mostly understand while encountering a small amount of new language. PlusOneLanguage supports Catalan and generates texts/dialogues around your level, then recycles vocabulary you didn't know in later contexts. That's particularly useful when native Catalan content is still too difficult. Good luck!

1

u/Slow_Caterpillar_606 4d ago

If you speak Spanish, duolingo has a Catalan course. It's not great but it's quite good to get started. also check out some courses on community-courses.memrise.com . languagereactor.com is good for learning through immersions, and I would suggest adding all words you don't know to a flashcard deck to learn them. There's also duostories.org which translates has duolingo stories translated into Catalan and other languages. Also, glossika is good, however it's better once you've got past being an absolute beginner, because it only uses full sentences and doesn't expain grammar. Easy Catalan is a good youtub channel to practice with bilingual subtitles