About Catalan
Catalan is a Romance language spoken by approximately 10 million people. The Catalan-language area spans four separate countries: Spain, France, Italy and Andorra. Catalan's main city is Barcelona.
In Spain, the Catalan-speaking areas are Catalunya, País Valencià, Illes Balears (Mallorca, Menorca and Eivissa), and the “franja" of Aragó bordering Catalunya; in France, it is the Rosselló-Catalunya Nord; in Italy, the city of l’Alguer in Sardinia. Catalan is also the official language of Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenees on the borderline of Spain and France.
Despite the repressive policies of the Spanish and French states, Catalan has maintained a high cultural prestige since the Middle Ages and has played a central role in the political re-emergence of Catalonia as “a nation without a state."
Indiana University is home to a vibrant Catalan program, offering language, literature, and culture courses for undergraduate and graduate students (including a P.h.D. minor).