The Catalan Countries

[Falkata]

Very Nice pictures.
Sadly I somehow agree about Barcelona. A beautiful city totally collapsed by (cheap) tourists and immigrants (pakis,chineses, moroccans..) . Many of the people from Barcelona that I know complain about the stupidity of their Major.
"Perroflautas" everywhere!

[Comte Arnau]

Very Nice pictures.
Sadly I somehow agree about Barcelona. A beautiful city totally collapsed by (cheap) tourists and immigrants (pakis,chineses, moroccans..) . Many of the people from Barcelona that I know complain about the stupidity of their Major.
"Perroflautas" everywhere!

He's certainly a jerk.

[AntonyCapolongo]

La Catalogne est un très beau pays! J'espère que mal grès les efforts des républicains français et des nationalistes espagnol, la Catalogne gardera sa culture et pourra enfin affirmer son peuple! Mais bon, avec les Espagnols c'est pas facile, sans compter que sans la Catalogne, l'Espagne baisserais d'un niveau! Mais cela dit... ils n'ont pas à imposer leur langue et leur culture aux Catalans ou aux Basques, non ?

Qui perd la seua llengua perd la seua identitat !

[Falkata]

Pues si con los españoles no es fácil ya me dirás... A ver si en Italia, Francia o Alemania sus lenguas regionales tienen alguna oficialidad. Se las cargaron todas por la vía rapida y a tomar por culo. Francia es el país jacobino por excelencia donde se ha tratado siempre de eliminar cualquier tipo de particularidad del Estado y hacer todo girar en torno a París

[Comte Arnau]

North-East Catalonia

Santa Maria of Ripoll
Important cultural centre in the 10th century, where the first history of Catalonia was written.


La Garrotxa
The region where the Catalan volcanos are.



Empordà Region, land of Dalí, Pla... and the Tramuntana wind.

Aiguamolls de l'Empordà (Swamps of the Empordà)


Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes


Cadaqués, in the evening


The Medes Islands


Platja d'Aro
One of the many tourist resorts in the Costa Brava.



Girona, main town in the North-East

Houses on the Onyar


The Carolyngian Wall


The Banyoles Lake

[Adrian]

Catalunia deserves to be indepedent state.

[Amapola]

país.

(Del fr. pays).

1. m. Nación, región, provincia o territorio.

2. m. paisaje (‖ pintura o dibujo).

3. m. Papel, piel o tela que cubre la parte superior del varillaje del abanico.

[aherne]

Actually, since Catalan used to be just a Langue D'Oc dialect, you can include in your list the whole Southern France, who used to speak the same language until 19th century, when rapid industrialization and mass immigration brought it to near extinction. Now Catalan, the last remaining dialect with a vigurous usage, is struggling to survive on a long term. Less than half of Catalans in Spain speak it habitually.

[Comte Arnau]

Actually, since Catalan used to be just a Langue D'Oc dialect, you can include in your list the whole Southern France, who used to speak the same language until 19th century, when rapid industrialization and mass immigration brought it to near extinction.

Catalan is likely an Ausbau language within the Aquitano-Pyrenean group of Occitan, Southern Languedocian being its closest relative, but the separation was already quite distinct as early as the 12th century. From then on, the vigour and autonomy of Catalan has been much stronger than that of any Occitan variety, and they grew up apart in spite of some efforts of getting closer. Today, Occitan remains the closest language to Catalan, but they can't be really considered the same language any more.

Now Catalan, the last remaining dialect with a vigurous usage, is struggling to survive on a long term. Less than half of Catalans in Spain speak it habitually.

Hmm, not really. Well, the use of Catalan is vigorous and is the only language of a stateless nation in the world that is clearly increasing its number of speakers. There are almost as many L2 speakers of it as native speakers. Of the more than 11 million people living in the Catalan-speaking area, about 95% understand it and more than 75% can speak it. Catalan is not really a 'minority language', not at a European scale, but a 'minorized language', which is something different.

I'm personally not as worried about the quantity of speakers as about the quality of them. One of the facts of not being a sovereign state is that the influence of the major language affects the quality of the native one. What means that Catalan in France has got very Frenchified, Catalan in Italy has got very Italianized and Catalan in Spain is getting gradually Castilianized.

[Comte Arnau]

Andorra
The only Catalan territory that is a sovereign state.





Capital: Andorra la Vella (Andorra the Old)






Encamp


Escaldes-Engordany




Sant Julià de Lória


Estany de les Truites (Trout Lake)


Pas de la Casa