Whenever I've spent time in Barcelona I've certainly heard almost as much Italian as Spanish or Catalan. In fact when I was hoping to move to Barcelona a few years ago (in the end I didn't get the job I was going for there) I was looking forward to it as an opportunity to perfect my Italian as much as my Spanish.Sonjaconjota wrote:I’m not one for grasping speaking opportunities with strangers, but I do perk up my ears when I hear foreign languages. There are plenty of occasions for that in Barcelona, Spain.
We have tourists, exchange students and immigrants from just everywhere in the world.
Among the languages that I can understand, the ones I hear most are English and Italian. It is always mentioned that Italians are the biggest group of immigrants in Barcelona, although it seems that some of them are actually Argentinians with an Italian passport. But yes, Italian is everywhere here.
Anyway I do have some opportunities on my doorstep that I haven't bothered to take advantage of. In fact, even closer than my doorstep in the case of my Russian-speaking flatmate. To be honest we're not particularly friendly so we don't speak a whole lot in any language, but I dabbled in Russian about a decade ago and I'd be very tempted to pick it up again given this opportunity if we were on better terms. I have had several Italian flatmates in the past and have made the most of it.
I also have at least one Italian neighbour in my block of flats, but we've never gone beyond exchanging pleasantries.
I hear Italian very commonly on the streets, and Spanish and French now and again. 10-15 years ago there was a huge Spanish-speaking community in my city and I heard it a lot in my social life, which was the main thing motivating me to learn the language, but it's really died down and/or gone underground in more recent years.
As for German... I wish. But I do hear it on the street now and again, mostly from young people who look like students. I wish I had been interested in languages in my university days: the speaking opportunities would've been absolutely unparalleled, especially if I had got into the Erasmus party circuit. Or even done Erasmus myself. At this point, all I can hope for is reincarnation