La meva història de llengua in Catalan
We meet: we tell where we come from in Catalan. 6 phrases that the conversation is made of: «I tu, d'on ets? Has nascut aquí a Barcelona?» — And where are you from? Were you born here, in Barcelona?; «No: vaig néixer en un poblet de muntanya i allà vaig passar la infància.» — No: I was born in a mountain village and spent my childhood there. The conversation is predictable: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: we meet: we tell where we come from. The conversation is short and predictable — which is exactly what makes it good for a first try: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
- I tu, d'on ets? Has nascut aquí a Barcelona?And where are you from? Were you born here, in Barcelona?
- No: vaig néixer en un poblet de muntanya i allà vaig passar la infància.No: I was born in a mountain village and spent my childhood there.
- I com vas arribar fins aquí?And how did you get here?
- Vaig trobar la primera feina en un hotel del centre i em vaig mudar. Ja fa deu anys que visc aquí.I found my first job at a hotel in the center and moved. I have been living here for ten years now.
- I tornes al poblet sovint?And do you often go back to the village?
- Un cop l'any, a l'estiu. La infància a l'ombra de l'arbre del davant, el rierol... No ho oblidaré mai. Quina llàstima que hi torni tan poques vegades!Once a year, in summer. The childhood in the shade of the tree opposite, the stream… I will never forget it. What a pity I return so rarely!
Lines one by one
| Catalan | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| I tu, d'on ets? Has nascut aquí a Barcelona? | — | And where are you from? Were you born here, in Barcelona? |
| No: vaig néixer en un poblet de muntanya i allà vaig passar la infància. | — | No: I was born in a mountain village and spent my childhood there. |
| I com vas arribar fins aquí? | — | And how did you get here? |
| Vaig trobar la primera feina en un hotel del centre i em vaig mudar. Ja fa deu anys que visc aquí. | — | I found my first job at a hotel in the center and moved. I have been living here for ten years now. |
| I tornes al poblet sovint? | — | And do you often go back to the village? |
| Un cop l'any, a l'estiu. La infància a l'ombra de l'arbre del davant, el rierol... No ho oblidaré mai. Quina llàstima que hi torni tan poques vegades! | — | Once a year, in summer. The childhood in the shade of the tree opposite, the stream… I will never forget it. What a pity I return so rarely! |
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 it gets in the way badly. It is one of the most reliably measured findings in the entire field.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?
“I tu, d'on ets? Has nascut aquí a Barcelona?” — And where are you from? Were you born here, in Barcelona?. 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.