PDI new to the UB
I'm a member of the teaching and research staff and come from outside Catalonia
Teaching staff, research
Are you a researcher from outside the Catalan-speaking territories who will be coming to the UB to advance your research career? Are you a lecturer or a doctoral student and need to learn Catalan to integrate into university life? Or do you need to certify you Catalan language skills for teaching? As soon as you know when you’ll be starting at the UB, you can start your preparations and learn some basic Catalan. To make things easy, we’ve prepared an itinerary for you with specific learning suggestions.
As you probably already know, in Catalonia and at the UB, Catalan and Spanish are both official languages. In a broad sense, this means that everyone knows both languages, and each individual chooses the one they prefer. This means that you’ll hear them both, inside and outside class!
Catalan is the University of Barcelona’s official and institutional language. It is also an official language, alongside Spanish. In the area of teaching, approximately 64% of classes are taught in Catalan, 28% are taught in Spanish, and 8% are taught in English or another language.
The University is committed to the principle of language transparency, which entails publicly announcing the language of instruction for each subject before the start of enrolment. Once announced, the language cannot be changed and must be maintained for the duration of the academic year.
Students enrolled in subjects taught in Catalan or Spanish can use either of these languages to ask questions in class, submit written work or complete examinations, regardless of the language of instruction chosen by the teacher. To safeguard the linguistic rights of students, teaching staff must have sufficient knowledge of Catalan language.
Catalan, like Spanish, is a Romance language. The similarities between languages in this family mean that, if you already speak one, you can quickly learn to understand another. The Romanica Intercom programme for the simultaneous learning of Romance languages is an excellent example of this.
Recommended itinerary
At the Language Services it’s our job to make you feel welcome. We’ve prepared this itinerary for teaching and research staff who are not from Catalan-speaking territories.
Before arriving at the UB
Over the last years the UB has made great strides in the areas of language transparency and linguistic security. You’ll find full information on regulations and rights related to languages at the UB on the linguistic rights page. At LingCat you will find general information about the Catalan language.
– Click Study Catalan before coming to Catalonia to find a list of courses where you can study Catalan at universities around the world before you come to the UB.
– The Institut Ramon Llull offers Catalan courses through its network of lectureships around the world.
– The Centre Cultural Blanquerna in Madrid offers Catalan courses for adults.
– Catalan people can be found in many parts of the world. If there’s a Catalan residents’ association, or casal català, where you live, you could contact them to see if they offer language courses or other activities.
The Intercat website provides various resources for learning Catalan online. There are two well-known and easily accessible options:
Speakcat
Catalan survival course for international university students. Free and open access.
Parla.cat
Platform for taking Catalan courses from beginners’ to advanced levels. It offers other materials and learning spaces for practising the language. You can also access via the Online Language Support (OLS) platform.
The Language Services organize Catalan courses each July for students who will be coming to the UB. They are also open to teaching and research staff and the general public. Information about these courses in published in April.
Over the last years the UB has made great strides in the areas of language transparency and linguistic security. You’ll find full information on regulations and rights related to languages at the UB on the linguistic rights page. At LingCat you will find general information about the Catalan language.
– Click Study Catalan before coming to Catalonia to find a list of courses where you can study Catalan at universities around the world before you come to the UB.
– The Institut Ramon Llull offers Catalan courses through its network of lectureships around the world.
– The Centre Cultural Blanquerna in Madrid offers Catalan courses for adults.
– Catalan people can be found in many parts of the world. If there’s a Catalan residents’ association, or casal català, where you live, you could contact them to see if they offer language courses or other activities.
The Intercat website provides various resources for learning Catalan online. There are two well-known and easily accessible options:
Speakcat
Catalan survival course for international university students. Free and open access.
Parla.cat
Platform for taking Catalan courses from beginners’ to advanced levels. It offers other materials and learning spaces for practising the language. You can also access via the Online Language Support (OLS) platform.
The Language Services organize Catalan courses each July for students who will be coming to the UB. They are also open to teaching and research staff and the general public. Information about these courses in published in April.
When you arrive at the UB
The UB’s Catalan courses are free for teaching and research staff. Start with the beginners’ courses:
A1 (including cultural activities) and A2. These have been designed specifically for exchange students, but they are also suitable for teaching and research staff from outside the Catalan-speaking territories who are planning to come to the UB.
We then offer intermediate courses (B1 and B2) and advanced levels:
C1, which is generally taken by teaching and research staff who need to certify legally required Catalan language skills;
C2, and Catalan legal language.
We make it easy: intensive and extensive, face-to-face, online and hybrid. Information is published in June and December, when you will be able to reserve your place.
At the Language Services we organize cultural welcome activities to help you immerse yourself in Catalan language and culture, make new friends and find out more about Barcelona and Catalonia! To take part you just need to join CATclub, a community of international students interested in learning more about Catalan language and culture and local students who volunteer to help them. It’s free and is also open to teaching and research staff!
– University phrase books: to learn basic expressions in Catalan. They’re available on the web and on paper.
-Self-taught language learning if you want to learn at your own pace, check out the Catalan language learning portal or visit the UB’s Self-Access Language Learning Centres.
The UB’s Catalan courses are free for teaching and research staff. Start with the beginners’ courses:
A1 (including cultural activities) and A2. These have been designed specifically for exchange students, but they are also suitable for teaching and research staff from outside the Catalan-speaking territories who are planning to come to the UB.
We then offer intermediate courses (B1 and B2) and advanced levels:
C1, which is generally taken by teaching and research staff who need to certify legally required Catalan language skills;
C2, and Catalan legal language.
We make it easy: intensive and extensive, face-to-face, online and hybrid. Information is published in June and December, when you will be able to reserve your place.
At the Language Services we organize cultural welcome activities to help you immerse yourself in Catalan language and culture, make new friends and find out more about Barcelona and Catalonia! To take part you just need to join CATclub, a community of international students interested in learning more about Catalan language and culture and local students who volunteer to help them. It’s free and is also open to teaching and research staff.
– University phrase books: to learn basic expressions in Catalan. They’re available on the web and on paper.
-Self-taught language learning if you want to learn at your own pace, check out the Catalan language learning portal or visit the UB’s Self-Access Language Learning Centres.
Any questions?
If you have any doubts once you have read the information, contact us at one of the following addresses:
- beginners’ Catalan courses (A1 and A2): sl.catala.inicial@ub.edu
- advanced levels (B1 to C2): sl.formacio@ub.edu
- Catalan language support (CATclub, language exchange, etc.): sl.acollida@ub.edu
Language Services
Melcior de Palau, 140
01014 Barcelona
+34 934 035 478
serveis.linguistics@ub.edu
Melcior de Palau, 140
01014 Barcelona
+34 934 035 478
serveis.linguistics@ub.edu