catalán Info
- The language of Catalonia. Like Castilian, Catalan is a Romance language. Variants of it include mallorquín of the Balearic Islands and valenciano spoken in the autonomous region of Valencia.
Banned under Franco, Catalan has enjoyed a revival since Spain's return to democracy and now has around 11 million speakers. It is the medium of instruction in schools and universities and its use is widespread in business, the arts, and the media. Many books are published in Catalan. See also lenguas cooficiales.