Catalan belongs to the Gallo-Romance language family. Though some linguists argue it is part of the Ibero-Romance language family. Both of these groups include languages such as Portuguese, Galician, French, Provencal, and Occitan. Romance languages are very different in regards to pronunciation and vocabulary, but they are very similar in grammar. If you speak Spanish or Portuguese, it will be easy to learn and understand Catalan. Catalan evolved from Vulgar Latin on the east end of the pyrenees. The language is now the official language of Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands. When Spanish became more influential in the 1400’s, Catalan started to decline. Now, Catalonia wants to be recognized as an official country, creating political tensions with the Spanish government. Some words that are common among Catalan and other Romance languages are “brother”, “hot”, and “to ask”, though there are many more. Today Catalan is spoken on the southeastern coast of Spain, and parts of France that are located next to the Spanish border. These places do have different dialects though. Languages change over time by generation, borrowed/invented words, and sometimes the meaning of a word changes over generations of time. Linguists predict these changes by assuming there will be changes over each generation of speakers.
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