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Catalan language facts for kids

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Catalan
català
Pronunciation (EC) ~ (WC)
Native to Andorra, France, Italy, Spain
Region See geographic distribution of Catalan
Ethnicity Catalan people
Native speakers 11.5 million  (2009)
Language family
Standard forms
Catalan (regulated by the IEC)
Valencian (regulated by the AVL)
Writing system Latin (Catalan alphabet)
Official status
Official language in Latin Union

 Andorra

 Spain (co-official language in the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and the Valencian Community)
Recognised minority language in  France (co-official language of the department of the Pyrénées-Orientales and the city of Perpignan)

 Italy (official language of the comune of Alghero in Sardinia)

 Aragon (Spain)
Regulated by Institut d'Estudis Catalans
Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
Linguasphere 51-AAA-e
Global Catalan Countries.svg
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Catalan in Europe
Where Catalan is spoken.

The Catalan language is a Romance language spoken in Catalonia, Valencian Community, the eastern part of Aragon, the Balearic Islands, a small zone of Murcia (all of them in Spain), Andorra, North Catalonia (in France) and in the Italian city of L'Alguer. These places are often called the Catalan Countries.

The language most like Catalan is Occitan. It is also a bit similar to Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese.

There are about 6 million Catalan native speakers and about 10 million people who can speak Catalan. The Catalan language is the 6th most spoken romance language and also is the most spoken language of the European Union that is not official.

Images for kids

  • Extensió de la llengua catalana als Països Catalans

    Catalan Countries (Països Catalans): (In orange, strict Catalan-speaking area) NE modern Spain (Catalonia, Valencian Community and Balearic Islands), SE. France (Roussillon, touching the Pyrenees) and Comune of Alghero (NW coast of Sardinia, an island belonging to Italy)

  • Homilies d'Organya

    Homilies d'Organyà (12th century)

  • Greuges de Guitard Isarn

    Fragment of the Greuges de Guitard Isarn (ca. 1080–1095), one of the earliest texts written almost completely in Catalan, predating the famous Homilies d'Organyà by a century

  • Linguistic map Southwestern Europe-en

    Linguistic map of Southwestern Europe

  • Interdiction officielle de la langue catalana 2 avril 1700

    Official decree prohibiting the Catalan language in France

  • SpeakFrenchBeClean

    "Speak French, be clean", school wall in Ayguatébia-Talau, 2010

  • Catalan dialects-en

    Main dialects of Catalan

  • Casa de Convalescència - IEC

    Casa de Convalescència, Headquarters of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans

  • Catalan geminated L in a dictionary

    The word novel·la ("novel") in a dictionary. The geminated L (l·l) is a distinctive character used in Catalan.

  • Billboard in Barcelona (detail)

    Billboard in Barcelona (detail), showing the word il·lusió ("illusion")

  • Flexió of word Gat

    Gender and number inflection of the word gat ("cat")

  • Begur - Plaça de la Vila - Catalunya

    Sign in the town square of Begur, Catalonia, Spain. In plaça de la vila (literally "square of the town"), since the noun vila ("town") is feminine singular, the definite article carries the corresponding form, la ("the").

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Idioma catalán para niños

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Catalan language Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.