Spanish, Catalan and Ibicenco?

T

Triple S

Active Member
I have been studying Spanish at night class for about 4 months now and am looking forward to using it when going to Ibiza this year.

I do realise that their Native language is Catalan or a dialect of it called Ibicenco??? but for anyone who speaks basic spanish, are there many differences? Am I likely to have many communication problems??

Thanks in advance
 
Ibicenco is a Spanish term. The Catalan dialect, that people born on the Island use, is called Eivissenc. Its not easy to understand.

Locals speak to each other in Catalan but will use English before they use Spanish.

Catalan is from Barcelona and Girona and was a repressed language in Spain under the rule of Franco.

Its all very political and complicated so stick with Spanish and English.

Im sure some of the locals on here could explain it better................

Once you have cash to spend you will have no problem communicating
 
If you learn spanish in UK in most cases its Castillian (in Madrid they speak standard Castillian Spanish) and you will have no problem getting by. I studied for 4 years and have never had any problems
 
you'll be completely fine with castillian spanish. as warren says, all ibicencos are bilingual and as we're a holiday island, spanish is the first language of bars/restaurants/hotels etc. it's only council employees who can't grasp why spanish should be used on road signs etc.

how confusing must it be for someone with a map pointing them in the direction of ibiza at the airport or port to drive out and the only sign say 'eivissa'?????

don't get me started.............
 
vodka jon said:
sounds like north wales!!
Click to expand...

Yep very similar. We have the same problem in Ireland with our native language Gaelic.

We use a similar method in Ireland for singposts (when you can find them)...... The Queens English first and the Gaelic name second on the same sign.

The Evissia thing is a little strange to be fair, and was changed from "Ibiza" in 1999.
 
proper catalan is slowly dying out in Perpignan and other unlikely historic catalan outposts like Alguero in Sardinia, whilst there is a big dispute in Valencia as to what exactly constitutes Valenciano. On my last trip to Ibiza, I hardly heard anyone using it.

watching catalan stations TV3/Canal 33 however, you'd be forgiven for thinking that it was a widely used language across the Mediterranean!
 
Olly said:
watching catalan stations TV3/Canal 33 however, you'd be forgiven for thinking that it was a widely used language across the Mediterranean!
Click to expand...

it's the lingua franca of the world in the ajuntament de sant josep!
 
stephen said:
it's the lingua franca of the world in the ajuntament de sant josep!
Click to expand...

when the weatherman on "Els Temps" talks about southern France - specifically the perpignan/narbonne/rousello area - he calls it Catalunya Nord (even though officially it has no such status) and the map behind him shows no frontier whatsoever!

even my ultra-nationalist Catalan family find it all a bit cringe
 
Olly said:
even my ultra-nationalist Catalan family find it all a bit cringe
Click to expand...

Still......its important not to loose your identity or culture, especially in today's throwaway celebrity society.

Catalonia needs an Catalan version of "Riverdance" to make the culture stylish again:)

There was a big rush of tourists into Ireland. Parents sent their children to Irish speaking schools and Irish Dancing classes after the Riverdance phenomena.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I speak Spanish learned in 4 years of school in America. It's pretty clean book Spanish, except we were never required to learn to vosotros conjugations. I'm far from fluent, I just don't speak it often enough. I am usually stuck with 5 basic conjugations and forget the conjugations for a lot of the irregular verbs :?

Bottom line is that all the locals and people from mainland Spain understand me just fine.

I've found the locals are appreciative when you attempt to speak to them in Spanish (even impress some of the ladies from the peninsula :p), they all understand. Only time someone asked me if I spoke Catalan was when I was in Barcelona asking for directions but she happily answered me in Spanish (Castillian) when I told her I only understood Spanish.
 
Bez said:
Ibicenco is a Spanish term. The Catalan dialect, that people born on the Island use, is called Eivissenc. Its not easy to understand.
Click to expand...

you don't have to born on the island to use it ;)

ibicenco/eivissenc is no big deal, it's just a dialect of a language, the same way american and british english are different. so words, spelling, pronunciation differ in some cases but certainly not all.

Locals speak to each other in Catalan but will use English before they use Spanish.
Click to expand...

errr, what??!! what makes you say this, other than if the local was english!
 
vodka jon said:
sounds like north wales!!
Click to expand...

the truth is that catalan's place as a minority language along side welsh or gaelic is totally incomparable. the extent, manner and need of its use just don't compare to gaelic nor welsh.

because the issue is generally over politicised, i find people go way over the top in criticising the language and its usage and even questioning the point of it at all.

more people speak catalan than norwegian or danish or finnish...........nobody questions the legitimacy of those languages and their usage.

moreover, in answer the original question. i'd say the percentage of bilingualism (with spanish) in catalan speakers is way into the high 90s. the owner of the house i live in is ibicenco and in his late 80s, he's basically lived on a farm his whole life, he's never left ibiza and even his spanish is pretty much perfect.
 
Bez said:
Still......its important not to loose your identity or culture, especially in today's throwaway celebrity society.

Catalonia needs an Catalan version of "Riverdance" to make the culture stylish again:)

There was a big rush of tourists into Ireland. Parents sent their children to Irish speaking schools and Irish Dancing classes after the Riverdance phenomena.
Click to expand...

who says the culture isn't stylish?

the renaissance in Catalan language and folklore started basically the day Franco died (20th November 1975)
 
Olly and Grego ......as its a very political issue, and as I do not have any personal experience of the subject, apart from what I read, there's only so far I can go on this debate...... and I think I have reached that point now.:):)

On the issue of locals speaking English before Spanish, the way I understand it is, that Catalans would rather speak English than use Spanish such is their dislike for the language that was imposed on them...........I may be way of the mark here so correct me if i am wrong:roll:
 
it's usually down to luck

there are of course militant catalans/Basques who would rather drink sulphuric acid than ever talk Spanish (in any situation) - I shared a flat with students like this back in 96

but the vast majority are actually very obliging and appreciate the effort you put in. As a guiri/turista/estranjero you are not expected to understand iberian politics, hence the leeway
 
Olly said:
but the vast majority are actually very obliging and appreciate the effort you put in. As a guiri/turista/estranjero you are not expected to understand iberian politics, hence the leeway
Click to expand...

Forgive them for they no not what they do?
 
Triple S said:
I have been studying Spanish at night class for about 4 months now and am looking forward to using it when going to Ibiza this year.

I do realise that their Native language is Catalan or a dialect of it called Ibicenco??? but for anyone who speaks basic spanish, are there many differences? Am I likely to have many communication problems??

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...


I've studying Catalan and Eivissanc for a few months myself. I'm not 100% if Eivissanc is a dialect of Catalan or of Baler (what they speak on the other Baleric islands) But the Catlan speaking people I found here (in nyc) told me that uh...that the language/dialect that I can't spell, but which they speak natively in Eivissa, is closer to Valencian and Belar than to Catalan propper.

I don't if Baler is considered to be a seperate language or is a dialect of Catalan. They were all derived from Latin, so whichever. And it's not like any two towns really that much a like unless they are really close together. That goes for everywhere.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top