As Figueres is in Catalonia and Catalonia is an independent, yet integral part of Spain, everybody in Figueres can speak Spanish, albeit to varying degrees. Despite the fact that Catalan was banned from being spoken under the Franco regime and Spanish was the only language, the older generation above 60, when speaking Spanish, will often speak a form of "Spatalan", which is mostly Spanish but with a lot of Catalan tossed in which can be difficult to understand at times for foreigners. And keep in mind that Catalan is as separate a language from Spanish as French and Italian are. It is not a Spanish dialect.
For those wishing to make the effort to speak some Catalan, keep in mind that they speak Northern Catalan, which has a strong influence of French through the interchange with French and Catalan speakers across the border in France. Such dishes as 'pa amb tomaquet' (bread with tomato) become 'pa amb tomate' with a soft 'uh' sound at the end. There are many more examples and one of the most difficult is when they say words that end with 'o' and say it with a long 'u' sound. If you make the effort to say neighboring town names in Catalan, make sure you understand the pronunciation and if you say Barcelona pronouncing the Castillian 'th' sound for the 'c', people will assume that you are speaking Spanish.
The generation under 35 will generally speak some if not a good deal of English as well as French. Some people here and there may speak a little Italian and oddly enough, there is a large Russian community in Figueres who naturally can speak Russian. But these are all the language regularly spoken. Those who speak only Germanic languages will have a difficult time communicating.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Figueres
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Figueres - updated May 2024
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Figueres Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
