Though these two languages are separate - i.e. How are the origins of Catalan and Spanish similar and different? On the other hand, since Spanish is taught in Catalonia it’s expected that some Catalan speakers can understand Spanish without much difficulty, but this depends on the education they have received. The written versions of Catalan sentences are possibly slightly intelligible to native Spanish speakers and readers since some words are lexically similar. Since Catalan and Spanish (Castilian) are both spoken in Spain, some might think that Catalan and Spanish are mutually intelligible.īut a Spanish speaker who hasn’t learned Catalan, who is visiting Barcelona and would like to have a conversation with a native Catalan speaker from Catalonia would still find it a challenge to understand Catalan.
Are Spanish and Catalan mutually intelligible? There are roughly 9 million Catalan speakers. There are other locations in which Catalan is spoken as well, including Andorra, parts of France and parts of Italy. You can expect to hear Catalan spoken in Catalonia, which is a region in the northeast of Spain. Where is Catalan spoken and how many Catalan speakers are there? It is also ~87% lexically similar to Italian. Since it is spoken in a Spanish region that borders the south of France, it also shares many lexical similarities with French. The level of lexical similarity between Catalan and Spanish is quite high as you might expect.īut Catalan also shares some similarities with other languages.
How similar is Catalan to Spanish and other languages? Here are the similarities and differences between Catalan and Spanish. If you’re curious to discover more about how Catalan and Spanish compare, read on. They’re both spoken in Spain, and they both have linguistic similarities.īut they’re are also significant differences.