Spanish & Catalan Language
Catalan
Contrary to what you may sometimes hear Catalan is not a dialect of Castillon Spanish (Castellano) but a completely different language that has more similarities with Italian and Portuguese than Spanish. It does however have numerous dialects of its own including Valenciana, spoken in the Comunidad de Valenciana (although the status of dialect may well be hotly disputed here too), Mallorquí, Menorquí and Eivissenc which are spoken in Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza (Eivissa) respectively.
Once that's understood, and you don't insult the locals by suggesting the language that is as much a part of their identity as Barcelona is their capital, is anything less than a unique tongue, then the hard work really starts. If you've come or are planning to come to Catalunya, even reasonably good Spanish, hoping to understand chatter in the street you'll be disappointed, although having any language skills will of course always be beneficial. You will however be understood when speaking Spanish and, with some very rare exceptions, replied to in Spanish as it is also the co-official language and taught throughout schools to a fluent level, although as a language rather than in normal lessons.
Apart from the fact that Catalan is a major factor in identifying Catalunya as a different country another reason Catalan people are so proud of it is that during the Franco regime it was forbidden from being taught or even spoken in public as were other languages throughout Spain. Despite this people carried on speaking Catalan at home and today the only sign of Franco's efforts to crush it is that many people who were educated at that time are unable to read or write in Catalan, only speak it.
These days Catalan is the co-official language of Catalunya and the first language used in schools and is spoken by an estimated 7 million people.
Parla Català! or Hablar Español!
If you've got to a certain level in Spanish and don't want to confuse the issue by trying to learn two languages at the same time it's probably best to stick with it until you've reached a level where you think adding Catalan maybe possible. In reality it is also more practical to learn Spanish as it's a much more widely spoken language globally and obviously very useful throughout the rest of Spain. You'll also find Catalunya an excellent place to learn Spanish as, due to the fact as it's spoken as a second language, it tends to be spoken very correctly without much slang, local interpretation or accent, thereby making it as easy to understand as Madrid Spanish.
If however you've decided to learn Catalan there is a significant amount of support for foreigners coming to Catalunya to live. The first stop should be your town hall where Catalan for foreigners classes are often run and in many cases free. There are also language intercambio schemes in some towns that put foreigners wanting to learn Catalan in touch with locals wanting to learn other languages. This can be an excellent way not only to learn the language but to integrate into the community. If your local town hall doesn't offer this service why not try advertising in GOcatalunya classifieds for an intercambio?
For both Catellano and Catalan the most important thing is not to be shy of making mistakes. Most people are very tolerant and will appreciate the effort you are making – especially if you're trying Catalan. You won't learn much without speaking either language on a regular basis so confront situations that require you to speak rather than avoiding them.
Other good ways of improving your vocabulary are to buy a newspaper on a regular basis – and read it! It will be very hard work at first, plodding along word by word with a dictionary, but within a few months you'll be understanding a lot more and this combined with hearing the language spoken will help enormously. If you find newspapers to dry then try one of the numerous celebrity/entertainment magazines – Hola! did after all start in Spain.
Another major influence on the speed of learning is your ears exposure to a language so leave your English TV and radio stations switched off and tune into the Catalan regional and Spanish national stations. Again you may be lost at first but repetition is the key, particularly with programmes such as the news, the weather and any copies of similar programmes you may be used to such as Who wants to be a millionaire?
Online resources
Catalan
UB web - Universitat de Barcelona - online course
el Periódico de Catalunya in Catalan
Spanish
el Periódico de Catalunya in Spanish
