Catalonia

Core values & worldview

If you want to understand a Catalan, start with the language. For most Catalans, Catalan is not just a way of talking but the thread that ties them to their grandparents, to a thousand years of history, and to each other. It nearly vanished from public life under Franco, and that memory shapes everything: why Catalans are touched when a foreigner says bon dia, and why policies on schools, signs or TV can stir such strong feelings.^•

A sense of being a nation. Catalans had their own counts, laws and parliament in the Middle Ages, and they remember losing them in 1714. Almost all Catalan parties, including many who oppose independence, describe Catalonia as a nation. What they disagree about is whether that nation’s home should be a federal or plural Spain, the current autonomy, or an independent state.^•

Seny and rauxa. Catalans often describe their character with these two words: seny, steady common sense and moderation, and rauxa, sudden explosive passion. The stereotype of the Catalan is hard-working, thrifty, practical and a bit reserved at first, with a strong civic streak, a love of associations, choirs, hiking clubs and castells teams, and a tradition of reaching agreements, the medieval pactisme. Catalans joke about these traits themselves; when others use them, especially the old Spanish jibe that Catalans are stingy, it stings.^•

Looking north and out to sea. Catalonia’s history faces the Mediterranean and Europe: medieval trade with Italy and the East, industrial links with France and Britain, and a self-image as Spain’s most European, modern region. Many Catalans feel their efforts and taxes have long sustained a Spanish state that does not understand or respect them; many other Spaniards see the same story as Catalans demanding privileges. That grievance, over money and respect, runs through modern politics.^•

Daily life & customs

Two languages, one conversation. In Barcelona you will constantly hear people switch between Catalan and Spanish, sometimes mid-sentence, and conversations in which one person speaks Catalan and the other replies in Spanish. Catalan dominates in the interior and small towns, Spanish in much of the Barcelona metropolitan area. In the 2023 official survey, 32.6% of adults said Catalan was their usual language, 46.5% Spanish and about 9% both equally; habitual use of Catalan ranged from about two-thirds in the Terres de l’Ebre to a quarter around Barcelona.^•

The festive calendar. On 23 April, Sant Jordi (St George), couples swap roses and books, and the streets fill with book stalls. On the night of 23 June, Sant Joan, Catalans light bonfires, set off fireworks and eat coca on the beach. 11 September, the Diada, is the national day. Each town has its festa major, with gegants (giant figures), correfocs (fire-runs where devils spray sparks), the sardana circle dance and, in many towns, human towers. At Christmas children beat the caga tió, a smiling log that “poops” presents, and nativity scenes include the caganer, a little figure squatting in a corner.^•

Food. Pa amb tomàquet (bread with tomato), botifarra sausage, escalivada (roast vegetables), crema catalana, seafood rice, and the late-winter calçotada. A Sunday-morning vermouth is a ritual.

Mountains, sea and Barça. Weekends often mean hiking in the Pyrenees or Montseny, a climb up Montserrat, or the beach. FC Barcelona is a near-religion, and for many it carries a political charge: its stadium was one of the few places Catalan identity could be expressed under Franco.^•

Wounds & sensitivities

1714. The defeat of Barcelona and the abolition of its institutions are remembered as the loss of freedom by force, which is why the national day marks a defeat.^•

Franco’s repression. The shooting of President Companys in 1940, the banning of the language and the exile of a generation are living family memories. Being told to “speak Christian” or “speak the language of the Empire” is something grandparents describe.^•

1 October 2017. For independentists, images of police charging voters, the jailing of leaders and the exile of the president are a fresh wound, as is the King’s speech on 3 October. For Catalans opposed to independence, the same autumn is remembered as the time they felt silenced or treated as outsiders in their own land, and as the moment companies, banks and friends left. Both memories are real.^•

“It’s just a dialect.” Calling Catalan a dialect of Spanish, or asking why people “don’t just speak Spanish”, is one of the most offensive things you can say to a Catalan speaker. Catalan has a literature older than most European languages and its own standard since 1913.^•

Anticatalanism. Boycotts of Catalan products, jokes about stinginess, and politicians campaigning against the Statute or against Catalan in schools have left many Catalans feeling disliked in the rest of Spain.^•

The 2017 attacks. On 17 August 2017 jihadists drove a van down the Rambla in Barcelona and attacked Cambrils, killing 16 people. The city answered with the slogan “No tinc por” (“I am not afraid”).

Modern attitudes

Independence: close to evenly split. Support for independence was around 15–20% in the 2000s, rose to about half of voters during the procés, and fell back after 2017. In the Generalitat’s own polling it dropped to 38% in late 2024 and recovered to 45% (with 51% against) in July 2026, its highest level since 2020.^•

Identity: layered. In Catalan government surveys about four in ten people say they feel more Catalan than Spanish or only Catalan, about four in ten feel equally Catalan and Spanish, and roughly one in eight feel more or only Spanish.^•

Pragmatism after the storm. Since 2024 the Socialist president Salvador Illa has governed with a message of stability, and many Catalans, tired of confrontation, have focused on housing, drought, tourism and public services. The independence movement itself is split between the left-wing ERC, Puigdemont’s centre-right Junts, the anti-capitalist CUP and, newly, the hard-right Aliança Catalana, which mixes independentism with hostility to immigration.^•

Open, secular and European. Catalonia is among the most secular parts of Spain, broadly liberal on social issues, and strongly pro-European; independentists have always imagined a Catalan state inside the EU.^•

Language anxiety. Despite school immersion, use of Catalan has fallen as the population has grown through migration, and young people increasingly use Spanish with friends and online. Campaigns encourage speakers to keep using Catalan with newcomers rather than switching to Spanish.^•

Not all Catalans are the same

Independentists and unionists. The deepest divide. Independentists are more likely to speak Catalan at home, have Catalan-born parents and live in the interior; unionists are more likely to speak Spanish at home, have family from elsewhere in Spain and live in the Barcelona and Tarragona industrial belts. There are many exceptions, and a large group in the middle wants more autonomy or a federal Spain.^•

By origin. In 2025, 61.4% of residents were born in Catalonia, 13.5% in the rest of Spain and 25.1% abroad. Children and grandchildren of Andalusian or Murcian migrants may feel fully Catalan, fully Spanish, or both; many recent immigrants from Latin America live mainly in Spanish, while others, from Morocco to Pakistan, learn Catalan at school.^•

Barcelona and the rest. Barcelona is a global, tourist-heavy city; rural and inland Catalonia, the Catalunya interior, is more Catalan-speaking, more Catalanist and sometimes resentful of the capital.^•

The wider Catalan-speaking lands. Catalan is spoken in Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Andorra and French Catalonia, which some nationalists call the Països Catalans (Catalan Countries). Many Valencians and Balearic islanders reject that idea strongly and see themselves as Valencian or Majorcan, not Catalan; calling their language “Valencian” or “Catalan” can itself be a political statement.^•

The Aranese. In the Val d’Aran in the Pyrenees people speak Aranese, a variety of Occitan, which is co-official in Catalonia.^•

The diaspora. Catalan exiles after 1939 built cultural centres in Mexico, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Caracas and Paris, and kept the Generalitat alive in exile until 1977. The cellist Pau Casals lived in exile in Prades and later Puerto Rico, refusing to return to Spain while Franco lived.^•

Meeting someone

Conversation starters

• A few words of Catalan. Bon dia (good morning), gràcies (thank you), si us plau (please). It will be appreciated, even if the conversation continues in Spanish or English.
• Sant Jordi, castells and the festa major. Ask what their town’s festival is like, or whether they have ever been part of a human tower.
• Food. Calçots, pa amb tomàquet and where to find a good vermouth.
• Hiking and the mountains. Many Catalans are passionate walkers and know every peak of the Pyrenees.
• Barça, if they follow football, though not every Catalan is a culer; Espanyol has its own loyal fans.

Topics to approach carefully

• Independence and 2017. Don’t assume where someone stands from their accent or surname. Many Catalans avoid the topic even with friends. If they raise it, listen.^•
  • The Rise of Catalan Independence: Spain's Territorial Crisis — Andrew Dowling, Routledge (2018)
• Language. Don’t call Catalan a dialect, and don’t insist on Spanish if someone speaks to you in Catalan; equally, don’t assume every Catalan prefers Catalan.^•
  • Singular and Plural: Ideologies of Linguistic Authority in 21st Century Catalonia — Kathryn A. Woolard, Oxford University Press (2016)
• “Spain” and “Spanish”. Some Catalans are happy to be called Spanish; others will politely correct you. “Catalan” is always safe.
• Money. The idea that independence is “just about money”, or that Catalans are stingy, will go down badly.
• Tourism. Many Barcelonans have mixed feelings about tourists, who have pushed up rents; be a considerate visitor.

Common misconceptions

• “Catalan is a dialect of Spanish.” It is a separate Romance language with its own literature since the Middle Ages, spoken by around ten million people across four countries.^•
  • Singular and Plural: Ideologies of Linguistic Authority in 21st Century Catalonia — Kathryn A. Woolard, Oxford University Press (2016)
  • Enciclopèdia Catalana (enciclopedia.cat) — Grup Enciclopèdia, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana
• “All Catalans want independence.” Catalans are close to evenly divided, and most polls since 2017 have shown more against than for.^•
  • Baròmetre d'Opinió Política, July 2026 — Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió, Generalitat de Catalunya (2026)
• “Catalan nationalism is ethnic.” The mainstream has always defined a Catalan as someone who lives and works in Catalonia, whatever their origin; a large share of independence voters have parents from elsewhere.^•
  • Catalonia: Nation Building Without a State — Kenneth McRoberts, Oxford University Press (2001)
  • Els altres catalans — Francesc Candel, Edicions 62 (1964)
• “Flamenco and bullfighting are Catalan culture.” Catalonia has its own traditions; the Catalan parliament banned bullfighting in 2010 (a ban later overturned by the Constitutional Court).^•
  • The Rise of Catalan Independence: Spain's Territorial Crisis — Andrew Dowling, Routledge (2018)
• “Catalonia is a country already.” Not legally: it is a self-governing autonomous community of Spain with its own parliament, government, police and public broadcaster, but foreign policy, defence, most taxation and the constitution are decided in Madrid.^•
  • Catalonia — Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica
  • Spanish Constitution (official English translation) — Cortes Generales, La Moncloa / Government of Spain (1978)