Catalan language in danger?

l'ajut = masculine (plural: els ajuts)

l'ajuda = feminine (plural: les ajudes)

"ajouter" is "afegir" in Catalan ("añadir" in Castilian Spanish)

"ajout" would be "afegitó" (what is added).

How are the G's and H's pronounced in Catalan. I'm trying to learn it but I need to see the differences between Catalan and Spanish grammatical features in order to learn it better. Do you think if French was spoken with more of a Iberian accent that it would be more intelligiable to Spanish. At its current pronunciation French is unintelligiable to Spanish (this a comment from a different forum topic I created that to me would be more appropriate on this forum)?

Just write "Catalan Online Course" in English on your searcher and you'll see there is quite a choice.

"H" is not pronounced in Catalan, it is etymological (home = man). "G" is pronounced as Spanish "Guerra", when followued by a "u" or "i" (guitarra). "Gitar" (to throw away) is pronounced like French "jeter" In Spanish it is "echar".

As you can see Catalan is often closer to Gallo-Romance (French and Arpitan or Franco-Provençal) than to Ibero- Romance (Castilian and Portuguese.) As a matter of fact, many linguists consider a central group known as "Occitan-Romance", which is intermediate beween those two, and includes two languages: Occitan and Catalan.

It is easier for uneducated Iberians and Italians to understand Southern French phonetics than Northern French (Standard French).

French with a heavy Spanish accent would could be good French with a heavy Spanish accents and only Spaniards speaking French would understand it more and the French, of course.

I would there intonation has also a lot to do. The Southern French intonation sounds more Romance to the other Romance language speakers.

It is easier for Galician and Catalan bilingual speakers to learn French because they already speak 2 Romance languages. In the case of Catalan it is even easier to learn French since a lot of the vocabulary is really close.

I went far too fast:

...with a heavy Spanish accent would be good French with a heavy Spanish accent...

I would say intonation has also a lot to do...

Jordi,
I am Guilhem from Tolosa. My father is originally from Montalban in Tarn-e-Garona and my mother is French-Italian from a village called Vilamanda (Villeveyrac) near Seta, to the southeast of Montpelhièr. They spoke Occitan at home and taught it to me as a child but as a teenager I 'forgot' it on purpose. I rediscovered it after my great-grandfather had died in 1995 and I received some of his written 'treasures'. He was a member of the Académie des Jeux Floraux in Toulouse at one time and wrote in French and Occitan. I've been a 'student' of all things Occitanian ever since.

It's very interesting what you say about how 'j' is pronounced in Valencia as 'ch'’, the same as in Montpellier. Montpellier belonged to the kings of Aragon for many years before it was sold to France. In fact, King Jaume was born in Montpellier and it was from there that he launched his conquest of the Balearics and then Valencia. Perhaps the similar pronunciations are no coincidence. Another characteristic of Montpellier Lengadocian (Montpelhieirenc) that is different from the rest of Languedoc is the pronunciation of final 'a', pronounced /a/ instead of /o/.

I've read that in Old French the pronunciation of 'j', which was written as 'i' in some of the earliest text, was like that in 'John', changing to the current pronunciation in the 13th century.

Only read part of this thread so sorry if this question has already been answered.

What is the official status of Catalan in Spain?

Thanx for all Jordi.

Catalan is co-official with Spanish in three Spanish Autonomous Communities: Catalonia (7 million people), Balearic Islands (1 million people) and Valencian Community (4,5 million people, where the regional variant is also known as Valencian). It is also some degree of officiality in a part of Aragon and is spoken in a small part of Murcia.

It is the official language of the independent state of Andorra. It has no official recognition in the French department of Pyrennées Orientales (300.000 people), which is also a part of historic Catalonia. It is also spoken and has some degree of protection in the city of the island of Sardinia known as l'Alguer (Alghero: 40.000 inhabitants) where it was introduced 600 years ago by Catalans.

Catalan has, according to the latest Spanish official census over 8 million speakers and all children have to learn both languages at school, in the regions mentioned above.

The main city is Barcelona with 75% of the population being able to speak Catalan although Castilian Spanish is very much present as well.

Thanks Jordi!! :)

Amic Guilhèm:
Es un plaser poder t'escriure en lo teu occitan, una lenga sòrre que es força bèla e que a donat tant al mond. Coneissi ben lo païs vesin.
It's a pleasure to write in your occitan, a sister language, which is very beautiful and which has given so much to the world. I know the neighbouring country well.

Pronunciation of "ch" in the city Valencia dates from the 16th century and Jaume I (Jacme I) arrived en 1265. I think they are independent evolutions. Most of the Valencian country doesn't have this pronunciation and it only affects the central part. The rest of the region (north and south) is very conservative and pronounces "Joan" as "Dzúan" (English "John")

Thanks Jordi!! :)

I am studying catalan and i need a web where i get the phonetics transcription of catalan words.

This is a good web but it doesn´t phonetics transcription
http://pdl.iec.es/home/index.asp

moltas gràcias

Jordi and Guilhèm,

"Es un plaser poder t'escriure en lo teu occitan, una lenga sòrre que es força bèla e que a donat tant al mond. Coneissi ben lo païs vesin".

I understood everything - without the English translation :) I didn't read - except two words : Oc <sòrre> =? Fr <sobre> and Oc <vesin> =? Fr <voisin>.

sòrre =soeur
vesin = voisin