PODCAST: A new language, a new life - Learning Catalan goes viral 

Catalan is currently spoken by more than 10 million people in four different countries: Spain, Andorra, France and Italy. It is a Western Romance language that evolved from everyday Latin spoken during the Roman Empire.

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Whilst Catalan is spoken mostly on the Iberian Peninsula, it differs significantly from Spanish in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.

This week on Filling the Sink we reveal what it’s like to learn Catalan as a foreign language, find out who is studying it and why and discover the importance of our national language.   

Catalan News journalist Cillian Shields talks to influencer and content creator Júlia Riera about the success of her educational channel, @dailycatalan.

Host Beth Cohen discusses the popularity of the free Catalan classes for beginners run by the Consortium for Linguistic Normalization.

And Catalan News journalist Lorcan Doherty meets Gerhard Kirsten, a mathematician from South Africa who has documented his progress learning Catalan on social media.  

This week’s Catalan phrase is “Qui no té feina, el gat pentina”, the equivalent to the English phrase “Idle hands are the devil’s playthings”. So if you’re looking for something to do this weekend, tune in to Filling the Sink and learn some Catalan with us!   

Get in touch with the podcast team: fillingthesink@acn.cat 

Listen to more episodes of Filling the Sink below or find out more here.