LingoflyHow do I get to the centre? in Catalan
A tourist asks the way to the city center in Catalan. 6 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Perdó, sóc de fora: és lluny d'aquí el centre de la ciutat?» — Excuse me, I am not from here: is the city center far from here?; «No, a deu minuts a peu. Agafi aquest carrer i segueixi tot recte fins al final.» — No, ten minutes on foot. Take this street and go straight to the end. Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: a tourist asks the way to the city center. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- Excuse me, I am not from here: is the city center far from here?
- No, ten minutes on foot. Take this street and go straight to the end.
- I a l'encreuament, giri a la dreta?And at the crossroads, turn right?
- Això és: giri a la dreta i la plaça és davant del pont.Exactly: turn right, and the square will be in front of the bridge.
- Very good. And to come back, could you show me on the map? My phone has died.
- Es clar. Mira: a l'altra banda del carrer hi ha una oficina de turisme; allà li donen un de gratuït.Of course. Look: on the other side of the street there is a tourism office; they will give you a free one there.
Lines one by one
| Catalan | Translation |
|---|---|
| Perdó, sóc de fora: és lluny d'aquí el centre de la ciutat? | Excuse me, I am not from here: is the city center far from here? |
| No, a deu minuts a peu. Agafi aquest carrer i segueixi tot recte fins al final. | No, ten minutes on foot. Take this street and go straight to the end. |
| I a l'encreuament, giri a la dreta? | And at the crossroads, turn right? |
| Això és: giri a la dreta i la plaça és davant del pont. | Exactly: turn right, and the square will be in front of the bridge. |
| Molt bé. I per tornar, em pot mostrar al mapa? El telèfon s'ha quedat sense bateria. | Very good. And to come back, could you show me on the map? My phone has died. |
| Es clar. Mira: a l'altra banda del carrer hi ha una oficina de turisme; allà li donen un de gratuït. | Of course. Look: on the other side of the street there is a tourism office; they will give you a free one there. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Catalan in this situation?
“Perdó, sóc de fora: és lluny d'aquí el centre de la ciutat?” — Excuse me, I am not from here: is the city center far from here? The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.