2. Catalan (català) is officially spoken in eastern and notheastern Spain, specifically in Andorra, Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands. It is also spoken in Aragon and Murcia and outside of Spain, in Roussillon in France and Sardinian city of Alghero.

3. Like all Romance Languages, Catalan derived from Vulgar Latin. It is categorized under the Occitano- Romance branch of the Gallo-Romance family, and is closely related to Occitan. However, Catalan has attributes of Ibero-Romance Languages as well.

4. Catalan has a wide range of speakers. There is a total of 12 million speakers distributed in the world. Andorra is the only country that Catalan is the sole official language with 35,000 speakers. Catalonia contains the most speakers with 6 million speakers.

5. Catalonia contains the most speakers of Catalan with 7.5 million inhabitants. Catalans believe they are a separate a territory from Spain.

6. Catalonia has various landscapes. It ranges from Mediterranean climate to a mountain climate. It has beautiful scenery of mountains, valleys, and beaches.

7.  Catalan developed from Vulgar Latin being spoken in the Roman Province of Hispania Tarraconensis. With the fall of the Roman empire and conquests by the Visigoths, Moors, and Franks, Catalan strayed away from earlier Latin.  Catalan became to reflect the language of Southern Gaul.  In the 10 th century, Catalan formerly became a distinct language. By the 12 th century, it was seen in written documents.  As time progressed, Catalan had risen and fallen as a language due to wars and change in government. Not until the 20 th century did Catalan actually continue to restore itself without decline due to the restoration of democracy.

8.  Catalan ’s status as a language has maintained strong and continues to grow as the speakers attempt to popularize their identities.  As mentioned before, Catalan is the co-official language in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and Valencia along with Spanish. In Andorra, Catalan is the only official language. It is only a minority in other countries such as Argon, Murcia, Alghero, etc.  Catalan is taught as separate subject in education in areas where it is an official language. If this is not a child’s mother tongue then they learn it in immersion programs.  There is also a dialect of Catalan, called Valencian, that is a result of Catalan nationalism.

9.  Although there are many speakers of Catalan, it is still thought of as a minority language because it does not contain its own state.  Catalan is not forced in any area but Andorra. Everywhere else, it is just suggested for employment and social reasons.  School systems do not see it has their responsibilty to teach students this unofficial language.  This language stays afloat because the Catalan community strives to keep their language prevalent and pass it to non- native speakers.

10.  In the 12 th century, Catalan appeared in literary works.  The Homilies of Organyà is the first full literary source written in Catalan.

11.  Catalan music is mainly folk Catalan music is mainly folk  La Vanguardia is the only newspaper that contains Catalan.  In television, there are many channels that are in Catalan in Catalan-speaking countries.  There also films that are spoken in Catalan.films

12. OccitanCatalan unu dos tres quatre cinc sièissis sètset uèchvuit nòunou dètzdeu OccitanCatalan onze dotze tretze catòrzecatorze quinze sètzesetze dètzesètdisset dètzeuèchdivuit dètzenòudinou vint OccitanCatalan trenta quaranta cinquanta seissantaseixanta setanta ochantavuitanta nonantanoranta cent

13. OccitanCatalan genièrgener febrièrfebrer març abrialabril maimaig junhjuny julhetjuliol agóstagost setembre octobreoctubre novembre decembredesembre

14.  Occitan and Catalan are both categorized under the Gallo-Romance Family so they do not differ significantly.  Their similarities are most apparent lexically and phonetically. They use many of the same words and sound pronunciations.  On the other hand, Catalan also resembles its “neighbor”, (Castilian) Spanish. Their morphology is similar and when listening to speakers of each language, they sound similar.

15.  Avui http://www.avui.cat/ This website (online newspaper) offers information on Catalan countries with useful services (calendar, weather, pharmacies, cinemas, etc.) daily in Barcelona.  Diaria de Mallorca http://www.uib.es/ciencia/ This website is a scientific supplement of the Catalan newspaper published in Mallorca.  FCBarcelona http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/catala/ This website is an online sports club that allows members to stay updated on all sports and purchase tickets to games, allowing them to be the “ultimate fan”.  Palau Musica Barcelona http://www.palaumusica.org/ This website is an online page for The Palau de la Musica Catalana. It gives historical information about the building and any recent info concering it.  La Caseta del Migdia http://www.lacaseta.org/ This website is for the restaurant La Caseta del Migdia in Barcelona

16.  Zinio http://es-cat.zinio.com/ This website is a place to buy books and magazines.  Lesrevistes.cat http://es-cat.zinio.com/ This webiste is a place to locate Catalan newspapers  El 9 Nou http://www.el9nou.cat/portada.php This website is an online newspaper  Catalunya Rock http://www.catalunyarock.com/web/ This website is an online newspaper for Rock music in Catalan  Generalitat de Catalunya http://www20.gencat.cat/portal/site/Llengcat/menuitem.1ab5a94fef60a1e 7a129d410b0c0e1a0/?vgnextchannel=6071f9465ff61110VgnVCM100000 0b0c1e0aRCRD&vgnextoid=6071f9465ff61110VgnVCM1000000b0c1e0aR CRD This website is dedicated to the Catalan language and the Generalitat de Catalunya, which is the political institution of Catalonia.

17.  Sailor Moon! The Best Cartoon Ever :] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TmtH 15QpHQ

18.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language  http://www.omniglot.com/writing/catalan.htm http://www.omniglot.com/writing/catalan.htm  http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Catalan/Catalan.html http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Catalan/Catalan.html  http://www.june29.com/HLP/lang/Catalan/webcat1.html http://www.june29.com/HLP/lang/Catalan/webcat1.html  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Romance_languages_improv ed.PNG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Romance_languages_improv ed.PNG  http://www.catalonianewstate.com/2009/11/catalan- minority-language.html http://www.catalonianewstate.com/2009/11/catalan- minority-language.html