Language matters and other Barcelona, Spain Local Custom Tips

The main language is Catalan, which is similar to French and Castillian Spanish. If you know either French or Spanish, you'll probably be able to at least read Catalan. In Catalunya, the people have their own language and culture which can be quite different from the rest of Spain. My professor told us that since the Catalan people are very proud of their language and culture (they consider themselves to be Catalan first, Spanish second), they might give us a hard time if we speak Castillian Spanish, but we never had any problems.

Since this city is so cosmopolitan and international, I think more people here know English than in most other cities in Spain. The front desk man at the hotel spoke to us in English.

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There are many street performers in Barcelona, and the talent ranges from zero to tops. Even if a performer isn't very musically talented, they can still be fun to watch.

One performer we saw was a girl with a recorder playing some easy tunes that little kids learn in elementary school (like Ode to Joy). I wasn't very impressed by her musical ability, but her act with her dog was cute. She laid a blanket down and got the dog to lie down on it, then she would start prancing around and playing music, and the dog would get up, bite her pant leg, and try to drag her over! We gave her a few coins when she came to our table at the cafe, but another table didn't give her any money. So she tooted her recorder loudly at each and every one of the people at the table.

On the other extreme, the next morning, we saw another group of musicians, who played music that sounded Middle-Eastern. One of them had a clarinet but I don't remember what the others played. I was very impressed by them. They were amazing!

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