BA ’22, Linguistics

I’ve had a great experience. The classes are relatively small, which creates a really welcoming learning environment. We use a lot of different materials to learn the language, including a lot that aren’t from textbooks. The program also orchestrates a lot of optional extracurricular activities that have greatly helped me improve my confidence with speaking and let me get to know students in other classes.

Because I have a developed competence in Spanish already, I was able to pick up many aspects of the grammar much more quickly than I otherwise would have been able to. I feel like I’ve made more progress more quickly than with other languages I’ve studied.

Studying Catalan has brought me a deeper understanding of Catalan culture and politics, as well as the role the Catalan language has taken in those aspects of Catalan society throughout Catalan history.

I originally became interested in Catalan after learning more about the bilingual communities within Spain while studying Basque, but I knew very little about the history of the language and its complexities. Now, I feel I have a more comprehensive understanding of the language, and I was able to transcribe the beginning of this betevé interview and write an assignment dissecting its use of Catalan and Spanish for a linguistic anthropology class.

Meteorit ferit and Cant de la Sibil·la by Maria Arnal i Marcel Bagés. I had discovered their music before I started learning Catalan, and now it’s great to be able to understand some of what’s being said.

Ph.D., Ecology & Evolution

Studying Catalan at the University of Chicago allowed me to nurture my passion for the humanities through the program’s emphasis on immersive education. Catalan courses here organically introduce students to the language, culture, and history of the Catalan Countries through music, film, literature, conversation, board games, cooking, and of course the weekly “Hora del Cafè!”

As a so-called “minority” language, the students that the Catalan courses attract have a genuine interest in learning and practicing the language. The camaraderie and good-naturedness of faculty and students I met while studying Catalan really bolstered both my confidence in speaking and my desire to explore Catalan language and culture on my own.

In addition to the excitement and challenge of learning Catalan for the simple love of learning, being a part of the Catalan program as a new graduate student helped me to feel a sense of belonging in the broader university community outside of my “home” in the Biological Sciences Division. Taking courses with historical emphases such as “La Memòria Històrica a Catalunya” or the “Llengua, societat i cultura” sequence helped me to learn more about my Spanish heritage and the interconnectedness of the cultures within Spain.

I tant! I would recommend the film “La vida lliure” by Marc Recha. I not only had the opportunity to see this film during the13th Massachusetts Catalan Film Festival, but I also had the chance to meet and listen to the protagonist and renowned actor Sergi López! I’m currently listening to “El comiat de la vida” by Manel Navarro and “Cartes a mi mateix” by OR (O-ERRA).

Masters of Arts Program in Humanities, ’21

In my experience, classes were small but full of students who were always interested and passionate in the language and culture. Professors were accommodating, and some courses that were offered in Spanish could actually be done in Catalan.

I’ve experimented with many languages throughout my academic career, but my Catalan professors have been the most welcoming. The network is small, which has made it easy to connect with professors at different universities around the world. There are also so many opportunities and funding to better your Catalan skills such as the estades lingüístiques offered by the Institut Ramon Llull.

It’s made me aware of history, media, and literature I never would have encountered has it not been for the language. It’s also allowed me to explore other interests like translation.

BA ’22, Linguistics with a Minor in Catalan

Studying Catalan has been one of my favorite parts of my time here. The classes are all small and tight-knit, and the professors I’ve had are all lovely people and really great teachers! Because there’s not a lot of people in the class, it tends to be very flexible and allows for exploring students’ interests, which is not something that larger languages offer. In addition, the pace of the class depends on the students—it can be very in-depth if people are interested, or more chill if you’re just here to learn a bit about Catalonia. Honestly, I have never taken a Catalan class here that was not one of my favorite classes that quarter.

I haven’t taken a large language class since high school, so I’m not sure if that’s a fair comparison, but smaller college language classes are obviously much better and you learn a lot more. Compared to the two other languages I’ve taken at UChicago, the Catalan department has lots more things to do outside of class, such as the conversation hour or events like movies and author talks, which means that you end up getting to practice the language much more and that it can be a larger part of your life than a single course.

It’s really hard to say, because Catalan is such a big part of my life that I don’t think I would be the same person without it. It’s brought me most of the music I listen to and the TV I watch, a lot of my friends, and just generally a different perspective on what it means to speak a language, which I would never have gotten as an English speaker in the US. It also gave me a topic for my BA thesis, which is nice I guess.