Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

CATALONIA

Seven things you should never say to a Catalan person

Catalans are usually friendly people but also very proud of their culture and language, so saying the wrong thing can make things awkward. Journalist Julia Webster Ayuso, who is a Catalan herself, lists seven faux pas to avoid.

Published: 6 October 2022 14:53 CEST
Updated: 25 October 2023 09:05 CEST
things to never tell a catalan
Some topics are best avoided in Catalonia, especially at times of political tension. (Photo by PHILIPPE DESMAZES / AFP)

1. Call the capital of Catalonia “Barça”

Our capital is often associated with football, and while for some that’s a real point of pride, not all Catalans are football fans. “Barça” is the nickname given to FC Barcelona, and you will hear people chanting it during a football match. The team is not, however, the same as the city, so don’t say “I love spending time in Barça”, it won’t make any sense to us. We have our own affectionate nickname for Barcelona: Barna.

2. Ask ‘isn’t Catalan a dialect?’

Catalan is one of Spain’s five official languages, along with Castilian Spanish, Galician, Basque and Aranese. Catalan is considerably different to Spanish as it’s from the Gallo and Occitano-Romance branch of languages whereas Castilian is an Iberian Romance language. So, even though there is vocabulary that’s similar in Spanish and Catalan, in some ways Catalan is closer to French or Italian because it wasn’t heavily influenced by Arabic like Spanish was. Catalan is not merely spoken at home: it’s the main language used in government, institutions and taught in schools.

3. Call Catalans “Catalonians”

The people of Catalonia speak a language called Catalan and are known as Catalans (Catalanes in Spanish, Catalans in French, Catalani in Italian, etc). English speakers have often used the term “Catalonians” instead, but this won’t go down well – it’s just wrong.

3. Mix up the senyera and the estelada

The Catalan national flag is made up of four red stripes on a yellow background and is known as la senyera. Though it looks similar to the estelada, there’s one very visible difference: the star on a blue triangle, which makes it a symbol of the pro-independence movement. The senyera is a patriotic symbol, while the estelada expresses someone’s support for the movement that would make Catalonia independent from Spain.

The estelada flag, not the senyera. (Photo by Josep LAGO / AFP)
 

4. Ask if you want to go trick or treating in Catalonia on the 31st of October

Halloween is a relatively new thing in Spain and while some people like to dress up and go knocking on doors on October 31st, many Catalans feels like it overshadows our own traditions. This autumn holiday is historically celebrated as la castanyada, a day dedicated to eating chestnuts and making panellets (little marzipan pastries).

5. Celebrate Valentine’s Day instead of Sant Jordi

Another imported holiday! We’re not fans of Valentine’s Day and you won’t see many Catalans carrying heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and fluffy toys or wishing each other a Feliç dia de Sant Valentí! on February 14th. For us, the most romantic day of the year is the April 23rd (also St George’s day, the patron saint of Catalonia), when it’s traditional for lovers to exchange roses and books as gifts.

6. Say cava is a lesser version of champagne

Yes, you may know of cava as “Catalan champagne”. And while cava is generally much cheaper than champagne, the production process is almost the same. We have some great producers like Codorniu and Freixenet, so maybe you should stop wasting your money on the more expensive French stuff!

7. Say what you think about Catalan independence

Passions run high over Catalonia’s independence and Catalans themselves remain divided, with the latest poll in 2022 showing 41 percent in favour of separation while 52 percent wanted to remain in Spain. Politics can be a touchy subject anywhere, but in Catalonia it’s best avoided all together, unless the Catalan person you’re speaking to wants to talk about it.

READ ALSO:

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

CATALONIA

Guns n’ ganja: Weapons flood Catalonia’s cannabis trade

In the dead of the night, wearing bullet-proof vests, their faces masked, scores of armed Spanish police staged a stealthy pre-dawn raid on homes in a small Catalan town this week.

Published: 13 July 2024 13:22 CEST
Guns n' ganja: Weapons flood Catalonia's cannabis trade

Despite being armed to the teeth, this wasn’t an anti-terror operation: they were raiding marijuana plantations — which are increasingly run by gangs with serious weaponry.

With its eight million residents, this wealthy northeastern region of Spain has in recent years morphed from being a transit route for drugs to becoming a notorious European production hub, mainly of marijuana.

And as a result, guns are becoming increasingly visible and instances of armed violence are on the rise.

In their pre-dawn raid in Constanti, which lies 100 kilometres (60 miles) down the coast from Barcelona, police burst into seven homes that had been taken over by squatters.

READ ALSO: Barcelona starts to wage war on its cannabis clubs

Inside, they found 2,000 marijuana plants growing under powerful lights in rooms equipped with large fans.

“We’re fighting to stop this whole area from turning into a mini narco-state,” said Tarragona police chief Inspector Ramon Franques, referring to police efforts across the region.

A Catalan regional police forces Mossos d’Esquadra officer counts cannabis plants at an indoor grow found during a raid cannabis plantation in Constanti, near Tarragona. Photo: Manaure QUINTERO/AFP.
 

‘Military grade weapons’

Regional police say there has been a worrying rise in gun violence brought on by the growing presence of drug gangs.

“The trafficking and cultivation of marijuana is worrying, but mostly because of the associated increase in violence,” explained Carlos Otamendi, head of criminal investigations at the Mossos d’Esquadra regional police.

On June 23, gun violence exploded into the public eye when a man pulled out a weapon, allegedly a Kalashnikov, and shot dead two people during an argument on the outskirts of the northern city of Girona.

Initial indications suggest the argument was not drug-related but the alleged perpetrator — who is still at large — belonged to a gang involved in marijuana trafficking.

In a separate incident around the same time, police seized five weapons, two of them military-grade, while breaking up a group that had smuggled hashish into the region by boat, an increasingly common practice.

“Gang violence didn’t start now with drug trafficking, nor with the establishment of organised crime networks smuggling marijuana. But this use of military-grade weapons is new,” said Gerardo Cavero of the anti-trafficking arm of the Barcelona prosecutor’s office.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about cannabis clubs in Spain

Growing number of gangs

According to the EU’s Drugs Agency (EUDA), cannabis is the most widely-consumed illegal substance in Europe, be it in the form of hashish, marijuana or derivatives.

In 2022, 69 percent of all cannabis resin seizures across the EU was in Spain, along with 47 percent of weed and 81 per cent of cannabis plants, EUDA’s latest report says.

The findings highlighted Spain’s “significant role” as both a transit country for cannabis and a production area, it said.

READ ALSO: What’s the law on cannabis in Spain?

Mossos d’Esquadra officers cut cannabis plants during a raid indoor cannabis plantation in Constanti, near Tarragona. Photo: Manaure QUINTERO/AFP.

In 2022, Spanish police seized more than 36,700 kilogrammes of marijuana from Catalonia alone, interior ministry figures show.

And there are a growing number of gangs in the region who are “setting up plantations and then distributing the plants across Europe,” the office of Spain’s public prosecutor said in its latest national report.

For those running these lucrative operations, which are also prevalent in the southern Andalusia region, protection is essential.

“If there is one thing that characterises organised crime in respect to drug trafficking, it is the use of violence,” said Cavero.

More drug-related violence 

Last year, police seized 1,171 weapons in Catalonia, an increase of 28 percent from 2022.

During that period, armed attacks in marijuana plantations rose by 78 percent, while the related number of deaths in such incidents rose to five.

Four more were linked to the booming hash trade. In 2022, just one person died.

But with a murder rate lower than the European average, the Catalan authorities insist that the region is “safe”, with levels of criminality far lower than in other parts of the world.

In the latest regional survey, respondents were asked to identify issues which caused them concern, and only 7 percent spoke of personal safety.

But something is changing.

“I don’t want to say we’re getting used to it but it’s a type of violence that is becoming more normalised,” said journalist Fatima Llambrich, an expert on the subject.

SHOW COMMENTS