This dictionary contains a guide to English and Spanish pronunciation and grammar, paired with a guide to Catalan pronunciation and grammar, and a dictionary of 2400 of the most commonly used words and phrases. Learn English vocabulary words Learn Spanish vocabulary words Learn Catalan vocabulary words Catalan is an interesting language which is neither Spanish nor French and is spoken by 4 million people primarily along the eastern (Mediterranean) coast of Spain and France. Just when you think aha, this is a lot like Spanish, you'll see a whole group of words that are French, primarily aligned along subjects - "Food is French, Love is Spanish" kind of things. Barcelona is one of the major cities of Catalonia and there is a strong push for independence from Spain, although the area has been under French domination in the past. Generally the standard of living is higher than other areas in Spain with the overall cost of living comparable to the southern U.S. The people are predominantly Catholic in religion, but like most of the rest of Spain generally secular in their practice of their faith. The Catalonia region is known for the lively beach resorts of Costa Brava, the Pyrenees mountains and as home to surrealist artist Salvador Dalí. Barcelona has an ancient Gothic Quarter, La Rambla pedestrian mall and several beaches. Antoni Gaudí's distinctive architecture can be seen at the Sagrada Família basilica and in the colorful mosaics of Park Güell. Spanish is the official or national language in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, and 19 countries in the Americas. Speakers in the Americas total some 418 million. In the European Union, Spanish is the mother tongue of 8% of the population, with an additional 7% speaking it as a second language. It is usually considered the world's second-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese. You will find an interesting number of words between these three languages which are cognates, but spelling and to some degree pronunciation often varies. This dictionary is extracted from our Words R Us system, a derivative of WordNet. English Wordnet, originally created by Princeton University is a lexical database for the English language. It groups words in English into sets of synonyms called synsets, provides brief definitions and usage examples, and records a series of relationships between these sets of synonyms. WordNet can be viewed as both a combination of dictionary and thesaurus. This dictionary will be indispensable for anyone visiting or doing business in areas where Catalan and Spanish are spoken. We also publish a companion volume with definitions of the terms in English. Check our website for availability.
About the Author: John Rigdon has authored a number of books on the Civil War and is the manager of the web site, Research OnLine, (www.researchonline.net) the premier site for researching Civil War ancestors in the Civil War. His titles include the Historical Sketch and Roster Volumes (1100 plus titles) and a dozen volumes in the "We Fought" series focusing on particular battles and commanders. Additionally John works in translation focusing on languages with minority representation and maintains the site, www.wordsrus.info. John resides in the foothills of the Appalachians outside Cartersville, GA. where he enjoys gardening and aquaponics. You may reach him at jrigdon@researchonline.net.