Why English to Catalan is harder than it looks
Catalan is not Spanish with a different spelling. Et trobo a faltar for “I miss you” has no Spanish parallel at all, and the verb system, pronouns and vocabulary differ throughout. A translator that routes through Spanish produces Catalan that a speaker immediately recognises as second-hand.
Weak pronouns combine and change shape. Me’l dónes? packs two pronouns into the verb, and their form shifts depending on the sounds around them. English has nothing comparable, which makes this the fiddliest part of writing natural Catalan.
Per molts anys covers more than a birthday. Like several Catalan set phrases, it is used for birthdays, saints’ days and celebrations generally. The set phrase is the right translation, not a literal rendering of the English.
Valencian and Balearic vary from Barcelona Catalan. Standard Catalan is understood everywhere, but everyday vocabulary and verb forms differ by region, which is worth knowing if you are writing to somewhere specific.
Written by Hardik Vegad, Co-founder, Translatify. Last updated .
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