BULLETIN BOARD

Territories marked in pink represent the areas where Catalan is spoken.

Discover a vibrant culture, learn Catalan

Applications now open for free classes in Catalan for staff and students

University members of staff and students with plans to travel to Valencia or Catalonia for study, teaching or research purposes can take advantage of free classes in the Catalan language, thanks to funding from the Institut Ramon Llull, the Cultural Section of the Government of Catalonia.

The opportunity is open to members of the University of Leicester and De Montfort University and the course will be held at the University of Leicester campus.

The course, covering 30 hours in total, will start on the 15th of February (there will not be classes during the Easter break), and lessons will be on Mondays from 18:00 to 20:00 and Wednesdays from 17:00 to 19:00.

Organiser of the Catalan course, Dr Anna Vives, Teaching Fellow in Catalan & Spanish, commented:

“Catalan is the mother tongue of Antoni Gaudí, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Montserrat Caballé, Ferran Adrià and seven million other people. It is a Romance language (a language in its own right and never a dialect). It is spoken in Spain, specifically in the old principality of Catalonia, the old kingdom of Valencia, a strip of eastern Aragon, the Balearic Islands, the Co-Principality of Andorra (where Catalan is official), the French province of Roussillon, and the city of l'Alguer in Sardinia.

“Altogether there are more people who speak Catalan than certain well-known languages such as Finnish or Norwegian. The similarities and differences between Catalan and Spanish are the same that one would find, for example, between Spanish and Italian."

The course would be of benefit to lecturers and students planning to go to València, Castelló, Alacant, Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona, Lleida and the Balearic Islands. There will be at least 12 participants on this course. On completion of the course, students will receive a certificate.

The closing date for applications is 12th February, and further information is available from Dr Anna Vives, tel 0116 223 1239, email afv2@le.ac.uk.