Barcelona - Language and the Art of Defecation

This trip has been a real challenge language-wise as we've gone from Spain to Italy to France. It's not easy keeping your “graciases” from your “grazies” and your “bon jours” from your “bon giornos.” Not only that, but the Castillian Spanish spoken here is in some instances different in both word choice and pronunciation from the Latin American Spanish we are more used to. For instance, the letter “c”, when followed by an “i” or “e” is pronounced with a lisp (i.e., like a “th”). So “gracias” sounds like “grathyas.” There is a legend that the lisp was a speech defect of a Spanish king some centuries past and his subjects, for fear of offending their monarch, adopted the lisp as well. A nice story, but apparently it's a myth.

Our language difficulties could be worse. We could be traveling in the northwest of Spain where they speak Galician, or in the parts of the north where Basque is spoken. The latter isn't even a latin-based language – it's actually said to be closer to Hungarian.

But Barcelona isn't so easy either. This second largest city in Spain is in the region of Spain called Catalunya, tucked into the eastern corner near the Pyrenees at the border with France. They don't speak Spanish here – well, they do, but it's not their first choice of language. They speak Catalan, which is not just a dialect of Spanish but, as the natives are quick to point out, an entirely different language. To my ear it's sort of a mash up of Spanish and French. “Hello” is still “hola” as in Spanish, but “please” is “si us plau”, which sounds a lot more like the French “si vous plais” than the Spanish “por favor.” We find it's usually best to just stick with what little Spanish we know and hope they have some clue about what we're trying to say. We also do a lot of pointing and gesturing. But nothing beats Deborah's efforts at a German-speaking pharmacy in Northern Italy several years ago when she successfully pantomimed a urinary tract infection.

Welcome to Barcelona - Plaza Catalunya



Plaza Reial


Barcelona has a community bicycle program. Those with a yearly membership can pick up or drop off one of the 6000 program bicycles at any of over 400 locations throughout the city.


A new holiday character for the kids. Read the following photo of an explanatory sign for perplexed English speakers. Yes, Catalan culture is a bit different.



Perhaps inspired by the aforementioned character, this street performer leans into a satisfied sigh when you drop a coin in his pot.


Fortunately, with all that crapping going on, Barcelona has efficient street cleaners always on the job.