by Lisa Rayne

Created on: February 05, 2009

For an American student going to study Spanish for a year in Barcelona, imagine my surprise when I entered the airport and saw a language other than Spanish guiding me in BOLD to the baggage claim. Of course, I knew that Catalan was prominent in Barcelona. After all, Barcelona is the capital city of the Catalonia region. I had no idea, however, just how close I would become with the Catalan identity while I lived in Spain.

Catalonia is one of Spain's 17 pricipalities. Due to the diverse heritage of the country from various historical conquests, Spain's rich culture boasts 4 official languages, belonging to the 4 nationalities of Spain whom mostly reside in their own principalities: Galician (Galicia), Basque (Basque Country), Catalan (Catalonia), and Castillian Spanish (throughout the country). Varying opinions range through the country in regard to the officiality of these 4 languages and the political connotations that they carry. For example, Basques and Catalans generally hold a more independent attitude which can even range to separatist movements in some sectors. The notorious terrorist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) hails from Basque Country and fights for Basque separation. Galicians, however, are not known for carrying independent political tendencies. Allow me to point out, however, that not all Catalans or Basques affiliiate with separatist or terrorist groups, either.

Traditionally, Catalans and Madrilenos hold a common political and cultural grudge against each other. The grudge originally stems from the conquest of the Catalans and their rich port of Barcelona in 1714 by Spanish military rule. During the rule of dictator General Francisco Franco from 1939-1975, Catalan culture and language was repressed and an underground movement of secretly teaching Catalan identity evolved. With the death of Franco in 1975, Catalan language was once again taught in school and a renaissance of modern Catalan pride publicly emerged. Today, the grudge still remains on the economic and political levels. Barcelona still generates more revenue than most of the rest of Spain, but relinquishes much of the wealth to socialist Spain's Madrid government for redistribution to build infrastructure in more needy provinces.

I was fortunate enough to find housing in a flat with three other girls on Calle Balmes -all of whom were Catalan. One girl was from the Costa Brava in a small tourist town called Malgrat de Mar. Another hailed from the southern Catalan villa of Penedes,

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