Benvinguts

Benvinguts - welcome!
When I say I’m off to Spain, I’m not. I go to Catalunya, on the coast, north of Barcelona. It´s about 35 miles from the French border.

Catalunya is not Spain. The language is Catalan which is definitely not Spanish (Castillian). It’s a bit of Spanish and a bit of French - Frespagnol? During the Franco years (1935 to 1975 it was banned.

Watching Hollyoaks dubbed in Catalan is a very surreal experience.

It’s not like Wales where you have signposts and information in Welsh and English. It’s all Catalan (no Spanish on principle) so you have to get used to it.

The good news is that the pronunciation is straightforward - so there´s no lisping or pretending to be an extra from ´ello ´ello.
Here´s your vocabulary list:
fred = cold, sisplau = please, germans are brothers, pebrot is green pepper. bullit = bolied
You don´t eat TAPAS you have TAPES.
no entenc is ‘I don’t understand’ - not surprisingly

x =ch so you can guess xocolata or xampu
Red wine is ´vi negre´ - 49p a litre if you don´t mind a cardboard box.

I read recently that Torschlusspanik in German means ‘fear of diminishing opportunities as one gets older’.
Thank goodness for Catalan .. the word for retired is ‘jubilant’ Now that makes perfect sense to me.
KAZ