A new immigrant all over again (De nuevo, un nuevo inmigrante)...

Although I have lived in Spain for almost seven years, I'm suddenly a new immigrant all over again. You see I've just moved from Madrid to Barcelona.

Barcelona was the very first place I ever visited in Spain. Like so many visitors I fell in love immediately. What's not to love? Beach, mountains, astounding architecture, wide boulevards, tiny medieval streets, art, culture, style... I said back then that I was going to live here. Then I discovered Madrid, but that's a story for another day.

I'm a little ashamed to say that on my first visit to Barcelona I didn't know they spoke their own language here - Catalan. I didn't speak Spanish in those days, so I didn't notice that I wasn't being spoken to in that language! I do remember being confused by the fact that some Pans & Co (a fast-food company that in those days only sold filled crusty bread rolls, but now has added fries and burger-like items to their menu, I imagine to compete with the likes of Burger King and McDonalds) called the very same rolls different names depending on which restaurant you went into (some, you see, had their menu boards in Catalan and others in Spanish).

Now that I do speak Spanish, I can't believe that I couldn't hear the difference between the two languages. Catalan seems to me to be a mix of Spanish, French and Italian words, spoken with a bit of a Portuguese accent (I've probably just managed to offend all Catalans and Portuguese with that sweeping and superficial statement, sorry folks).

On top of the official language of Spain - Castellano (what we all know as Spanish), there are actually four co-official languages in the country: Catalan (Catalá - variations of which they speak in the Balearic Islands and Valencia), Galician (Gallego), Basque (Vasco or in Basque, Euskera) and Aranés (which they speak in a small region in the north-west of Cataluña). Where as all the others have, to vary degrees, commonalities, Euskera is a completely different language, of which no one really knows it's origins, although there are a number of theories.

In the days of the dictator Franco, Castellano was the only official language and in the early years of the dictatorship it was, strictly speaking, discouraged or even forbidden (depending on the language) to speak anything but Casetellano outside of the home. These days, kids are taught at school in their own language and here in Catalonia, there are Catalan-only TV stations and many letters and utility bills come solely in Catalan.

Needless to say, to a certain degree I'm reliving the same problems of understanding the world around me as I did all those years ago when I moved to Madrid.

Of course, just about everyone, everywhere speaks Castellano. My friends in Madrid (where Castellano is the dominant language) like to tell me that people in Catalonia don't like to speak Spanish and can get a bit uppity when forced to, but I have to say that I've never met with any hostility when people have to speak it to me.

When I'm out and about, waking the dog, or in a shop, just about everyone will start speaking Catalan to me (or more often the dog), but will switch to Castellano immediately when it's obvious I don't understand or I respond in Spanish.

Those Madrid friends tell me that's because I'm so obviously a guiri  (another word for a foreigner, although perhaps a little derogatory) so they don't get offended, but I'm yet to be convinced...