In Barcelona there are two native languages: Spanish
and Catalan. Catalan is the language of Catalonia, the region
containing Barcelona. It is spoken mainly by native Catalans but there
are many immigrants both from Spain (outside Catalonia) and South
America that mostly speak Spanish. The Catalans also speak Spanish and
so Spanish is the universal means of communication. However, the
Catalans prefer their native language so if you can manage a few words
of Catalan all the better. The locals will be very
impressed.
The
first Spanish phrases you should learn
In
many places you can speak English
in Barcelona, but if it is something really simple (or someone starts
speaking to you in Spanish) then it is better to communicate in the
native language. Below is a list of the most useful phrases. If
speaking foreign languages really is not your thing then at least try
learning the top 10 phrases below (or print it out). It really is very
simple. The phonetic pronunciation is provided in the square brackets.
The syllables in bold show where the emphasis is placed in each word.
In Spanish, there is only one emphasis per word. It is tempting to
pronounce these syllables louder or with more stress, but the easiest way to
handle the emphasised syllables is to increase (slightly) the time pronouncing the
emphasised syllables and shorten the time of the rest of the syllables.
1) Si [see] - Yes
2) No [no] - No
3) Hola [ohla]
4) Adiós [addyoss]
5) Por favor [por fabor]
- Please
6) Gracias [grathyas]
- Thank you
7) No entiendo [no enntyendoh]
- I don't understand
8) Habla Inglés? [abla
eengless] - Do you speak English?
9) Lo siento - [loh seeyentoh]
- I'm sorry
10) No hablo Español [no ablo
espanyol] - I don't speak Spanish
11) Solo hablo Inglés [solo
ablo eengless] - I only speak
English
12) Una mesa para dos [oona messa
para doss] - a table for two
13) No fumadores / fumadores
[foomadoress] - smoking/non smoking
14) La cuenta [la kwenta]
- the bill
15) ¿Cuanto es? [kwantoe
ess] - How much is it?
16) ¿Hay que pagar primero? [eye
keh pagar
preemairo]
- Do I pay first?
17) Una cerveza [oona
therbetha] - A beer
18) Una caña [oona
canya] - a beer, normal size
19) Un café con leche [oon cafeh con letcheh] - Coffee with milk
20) Perdona [perdona]
- sorry, pardon?
21) No pasa nada [no passa
nada] - don't worry
22) Me gustaría pagar ahora [meh goostary-a
pagar
a-ora]
- I would like to pay now
