Parla.cat - THE coolest language-learning resource

A week ago, I finally decided to start studying Català in a more structured way (i.e. joining a program) instead of doing my usual thing of just reading articles and listening to music. I signed up for a course at Parla.cat [parla-pun-cat]- which is a fantastic program that you can access in five languages: English, Spanish, Català, French and German.


Parla.cat offers four learning levels of Català: Basic, Elementary, Intermediate and Sufficiency. Within those four levels are three grades (Basic 1, Basic 2, Basic 3 and so on) and each grade lasts approximately three months and is equivalent to about 45 hours of study.

There are two methods used in Parla.cat: self-managed learning and with a tutor. The former is completely free and you can access all materials in the course while the latter costs 90€ and will give the student access to a tutor who will serve as a guide.

One of the things that first kept me from registering with Parla.cat immediately was because of the registration process. I was asked to put in the numbers for an ID document and I could choose from the ff: NIF, NIE, Passport, and Other. I had to send an email to ask for clarifications and apparently NIF is a number assigned for Spanish citizens and NIE is for non-citizen residents of Spain. I ended up putting my Passport number instead although I was assured that even the number from my ID card in my local university would be accepted.

Read on for some more details on why Parla.cat might just be one of the coolest language-learning programs out there!

Once I had registered, I took what they call a Test of Levels which, given my rudimentary knowledge of the language, was pretty tough! In the program, they allow you take the Test of Levels once every month to assess how you are doing. I was tested at the Elementary 2 level and because of that, the Elementary 2 course was unlocked and I could have started from there but I wanted to be able to start from the very beginning in order to build a firm foundation in the language so I opted to start with Basic 1 instead.

Basic 1 is divided into 7 unitats (units) and one of the great things about each unit is the final task. For example, after the first unit you must be able to complete a card with a persons basic information in it. In the second unit, you must be able to write a little something about your own family.

Another fantastic bit about the program is that there is so much opportunity to hear Català spoken and in a variety of accents. One character has a strong Mallorquín (from Mallorca) accent, another a strong Lleidatà (from Lleida) and yet another a very central accent (from Barcelona). Also the animated letter T (which serves to explain some of the grammatical concepts) speaks in Català but they also provide a transcript which you can toggle between Català to English/Spanish/French/German so you can fully understand what is being said.

My only complaint about the program is that their recording function does not seem to work, at least not for me. In each activity there is usually a function wherein you can use your headset to record the same phrase and it will be compared with the original sentence and the program will give a percentage rating based on how similar your pronunciation is. In my case, the program goes only so far as to recognise my headset but when I record my sentences they do not appear.

Aside from the course programs, Parla.cat also has what they call the Virtual Rambla wherein they have a collection of multi-media resources that will help the student in their studies. The Virtual Rambla is divided into seven sections: to read, to watch, to be informed, to play, to listen, and to communicate. I've discovered so many great things through the Virtual Rambla and was even able to watch an episode of The Adventures of Tintin in Català!

So with all these free resources at your fingertips, there really is no excuse anymore for not being able to learn Català. :)