Do Catalan speakers pronounce the "c" in Barcelona instead of the "th" lisp they do in Castilian spanish? When Catalan speakers speak in Spanish, do they adopt the "th" sound for "c" and "z"? No reason I'm asking in particular, just curious about the language.
Yeah, you're pretty much right. In Catalan, it's pronounced with the hard c: Bar-sse-l-on-a And if you hear a Catalan speak Castilian, they'll pronounce the "lisp" for hard c's and z's. But overall the Catalan accent is, to me at least, distinguishable because it sounds like they're speaking with their tongue rolled to the back of their mouth, or as if they have a cue ball lodged in their throat.
wow right on point.... did you live in spain at any point? I know cause i speak spanish and understand catalan pretty well, but i dont think i could have described the pronounciation better...repped.
I'm Catalan. When we speak in Spanish we have a slightly different accent compared to a Castillian (like an Andalusian, Basque o Galician), but basically speak the same way. But it also depends where you're from in Catalonia. For example, I don't think you could tell I'm Catalan when I speak in Spanish, but I'm from Barcelona and grew up in an area with a lot of immigration from another parts of Spain. If you go deeper in the country you'll notice more differences. Usually the most common is, exactly, the 'C'. Some Catalan speaking people will say Marques instead of Marquez, for example. And there's also different Catalan accents. Puyol and Bojan come from western Catalonia and don't have the same accent as Xavi or Pique, who come from an area which is closer to Barcelona.
Yeah, I've lived there twice for extended spells. But I defer to the "native" lanu for all the intricate sub-regional distinctions in Catalan accents.
So here is a related question - do all of the players and coaches learn and speak Catalan? I'm assuming that all of the cantera players do, but take a guy like Eto'o who played in other parts of Spain first or guys from Latin America like Caceres who already know Castilian. Do they learn Catalan too? Or Rijkaard - did he learn Castilian and Catalan so that he could speak to the national and local press? It seems like Castilian might more of the universal tongue and easier for most people. But, then again, what do I know?
I know that they are ENCOURAGED to learn Catalan (as evidenced by that Barca documentary). Although, from what I've seen, the non-natives will learn Spanish first and only learn certain phrases in Catalan.
That's correct USCule. Nobody is forced to speak Catalan, of course, but it's welcomed. But actually, it's rare it happens (right now I can only think of Txiki), though most of them understand Catalan even if they don't speak it, so sometimes in interviews with Catalan media, the questions are in Catalan and they answer in Spanish.
Whatchoo talking 'bout? ...I don't see a cue ball in my throat... Very true. One of my gran's was from Lleida, and although she lived in Barcelona for many years, she had a Puyolesque type accent.
I thought it would be more widespread to learn Catalan. Does a guy like Messi who has been there since he was in his early teens answer questions in Catalan in interviews? It is really interesting to me how these international conglomerations of players from different nationalities play together. Even the South Americans who speak Spanish must have a tough time adjusting to the cultural differences. I watch a lot of NHL hockey and you get a lot of Scandanavian, Czechs and Russians and the odd one just can't really fit in with the North Americans and struggles on the ice. You have to think it is a big reason why Hleb is underperforming and deserves another year of adjustment - I think he even admitted his problems adjusting to Spain in a recent interview.
When he's on Catalan TV or radio he gets asked in Catalan but always answers in Spanish, same with guys like Iniesta. Actually I would say all non Catalan players speak only in Spanish, though most of them understand Catalan.
Hey! Last week I heard Patrick Kluivert speaking pretty well in catalan in an interview on Catalunya Radio. Hristo Stoichkov used to say some words in catalan, but these are very rare exceptions.
I've been listening to Catalunya radio for years now. I'm convinced it's one of the more beautiful aesthetic languages out there.