Catalun vs Spanish?

Question

If i study Spanish can i understand catalun??? i think it;s almost the same am I right?

Answer 1

As everybody has said both of them are different languages but if you know French or Italian you can understand a few words since they're not that different.

For example on the TV when a catalan politician speaks to the rest of the nation they put subtitles though if a Spanish speaking person puts a little bit of attention it's not that difficult to understand.

A note from the Spanish native speaker from the South of Spain: yes we do understand Spanish and very few Catalan people will pretend that they don't understand.

"Que tingueu un bon any 2007" (have a nice 2007 in catalan) and in Spanish it will be: "que tengais un buen año 2007" - not that different, isn't it???

Answer 2

I guess now you know as evrybody said the same thing with basketman being more clear.

No, it is not the same and you will not understand it.

Answer 3

It's hard for spanish speakers to understand catalan, so you can guess that is going to be impossible for you.

Answer 4

I am a native spanish speaker and I travel to Barcelona ever 2 or 3 months. Catalan is a Latin langauge but as far as speaking it if you know spanish no.  You can understand some words but it is quite different. Especially when written it is very hard to understand .

Answer 5

You won´t understand "catalonian" (in Spanish is "catalán", which in English may sound as "catalun") if you study Spanish. Spanish speakers can understand a few words but not a whole context; it´s not only the way they write it but the way they pronounce it. There are some words that are written the same or almost the same both in Spanish and catalonian but catalonian people pronounce it absolutely different from the Spanish way. You can tell who is from Catalonia , even when they speak in Spanish: they have a very distinctively pronunciation and intonation.

A tip: if you study catalonian, no Spanish speakers will understand you even if they wanted to, unless they have studied it too; if you study Spanish, many catalonians may pretend they do not understand you, even when they do.

Answer 6

Catalan and Castellano (Spanish) both derive from Latin, but so do Portuguese, Italian, French.  Spanish is my native language and I can sometimes (more like rarely) understand a little Italian or Portuguese, Catalan is just as different.

Answer 7

I´m german and I study Spanish but Catalan is not even almost the same. Some things you can guess by reading but for me it sounds like a mixture of french, portugues  with some spanish, really strange!

I don´t think that you will understand a word! Sorry!