Is Catalan a dialect of Spanish?

Many people ask me, for example, if I speak Spanish, do I also speak Catalan? The answer is no.

Catalan is mutually unintelligible with Spanish. For instance, I know many Spanish speakers, who have lived in Catalonia for a long time, such as ten years, who can neither speak nor understand Catalan. Most Catalan speakers know Spanish because they studied it at school, but Spanish speakers, who haven’t learned Catalan, are unable to comprehend any Catalan.

Catalan is a language spoken in Catalonia, Andorra, and some parts of France and Italy. There are Catalan dialects. For instance, there are slightly different accents and vocabularies between the provinces of Barcelona and Girona. You might be surprised to know that more people speak Catalan than Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Lithuanian, Irish or Albanian. Catalan is a member of the Romance family of languages, which includes French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian.
Even though Spanish and Catalan have divergent grammars, pronunciations, vocabularies, orthographies and intonations, they share a common origin and they are closely related and quite similar in many ways like other Romance languages.

Let’s look at some vocabulary to show how Romance languages are related.

1,(Spanish) pescado, (Catalan) peix, (Portuguese) peix, (French) poisson, (Italian) pesce. These words mean, “fish.”

2. (Spanish) ventana, (Catalan) finestara, (Portuguese) janela, (French) fenêtre, (Italian) finestra. These words mean, “window.”

3. (Spanish) hablar, (Catalan) parlar, (Portuguese) falar, (French) parler, (Italian) parlare. These words mean, “to speak.”

As you can see, I emphasized that Romance languages are related closely to each other. Nevertheless, Catalan has a much more complex phonology than Spanish. It has many extra sounds. Also, Catalan has plenty of pronouns like French. This makes it difficult to write and speak Catalan.

Interestingly, Spanish influences Catalan’s vocabulary and grammar these days. Even native Catalan speakers confuse Spanish and Catalan. They use incorrect Catalan grammar and vocabulary that is based on Spanish. This is because Catalan was banned in public spaces during the dictatorship of Francisco.
Catalan was not allowed to be taught in school when my mother was a child. Therefore, my mother’s generation didn’t learn Catalan formally. As a consequence, there are many Catalonians who speak and write poorly.

Today, however, there is a Catalan language examination and many people take Catalan courses as adults. For example, my mother’s friend told me she learned how to write Catalan from her children’s textbook.