Catalan
Catalan — Indo-European family, about 9–10 million speakers (estimate, Institut Ramon Llull, estimates for the language area). Script: the Latin alphabet, 27 letters, with ç and the punt volat in l·l.
Where to start
A young course: the words, the lessons and the recordings are all here, but a native speaker has not read it end to end yet. Spot a rough edge — tell us and we will fix it.
First words
Every conversation starts with them — and so does the first impression: one greeting in the local language and you stop being a stranger within a second.
- holahellothe h is silent: OH-luh
- bon diagood morningLiterally 'good day'. Before a masculine noun bo shrinks to bon: bon dia, bon cafè
- bona tardagood afternoonFor after lunch. Tarda is feminine, hence bona, not bon
- bona nitgood nightBoth a greeting late in the evening and a wish before sleep — like the Spanish buenas noches
- adéugoodbyeFrom a Déu — 'to God': the same road Spanish adiós took. The everyday parting word
- fins arasee you soonLiterally 'until now' — a goodbye for someone you will see again today. In Catalonia it outdoes adéu as the everyday farewell
- gràciesthank youstressed with the grave accent: GRAH-syus
- si us plaupleaseLiterally 'if it pleases you' — three words fused into one politeness. It goes at the end of the request
About the language
| Native name | Català · catala |
| Official in | Andorra, Catalonia, Valencia (as Valencian) and the Balearic Islands |
| Also spoken in | France (Roussillon) and Sardinia (Alghero) |
| How many speakers | about 9–10 million speakers (estimate, [Institut Ramon Llull, estimates for the language area](https://www.llull.cat/)) |
| Family | Indo-European family, Romance group — closest to Occitan |
| Writing | the Latin alphabet, 27 letters, with ç and the punt volat in l·l |
| Writing direction | left to right |
Hard: unstressed vowels are not pronounced the way they are spelled, and the apostrophe is compulsory: l'aigua.
Easy: you already read the alphabet, and a third of the vocabulary is transparent through English and French.
What Russian speakers most often take it up for: moving to Barcelona or the coast, work, study, school for the children.
How lessons work
A lesson is up to half an hour a day, split into three to five short sessions. A word comes back not on the course's schedule but at the moment you are about to forget it: the interval is computed by an algorithm from your own answers.
- The longer you want to keep a word, the rarer its repetitions should be. To hold it for a week, review every day; to hold it for a year, about once a month.checked many timesCepeda et al., 2008, Psychological Science 19(11) · Over 1,350 participants, tested after delays of up to a year. The best gap is about 20% of the target interval on a horizon of weeks, and 5–10% on a horizon of a year.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- Pay someone to study and they study less, not more. Praise and a clear explanation of their mistakes do the opposite — they help.checked many timesDeci, Koestner & Ryan, 1999, Psychological Bulletin 125(6) · 128 experiments. Material reward: d = −0.40 for taking part, −0.36 for finishing. Praise and feedback: +0.33.
Frequently asked
Where to start learning Catalan?
With the first everyday words and rescue phrases: the script is already familiar to you.
How many people speak it in Catalan?
About 9–10 million speakers — an estimate from Institut Ramon Llull, estimates for the language area. Nobody runs an exact census of languages, and sources disagree by noticeable amounts.
Is Catalan hard?
Unstressed vowels are not pronounced the way they are spelled, and the apostrophe is compulsory: l'aigua. At the same time, you already read the alphabet, and a third of the vocabulary is transparent through English and French.
Where is it spoken in Catalan?
An official language in: Andorra, Catalonia, Valencia (as Valencian) and the Balearic Islands. Noticeable communities: France (Roussillon) and Sardinia (Alghero).
Is Catalan in Duolingo?
Yes, but not from your own language: as of September 18, 2026, Duolingo teaches Catalan from Spanish only — there is no course in it from English. We have Catalan in full: 3960 words, a phrasebook and grammar in plain words.