[JMa]

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How different are catalan and castillian? I thought they were about as mutually intelligible as Swedish and Norwegian?

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Wow no way. Catalan is much different than Castilian especially when spoken. Written it is still very different but like the difference between Castilian/Italian where many things can be deduced. Actually, I'd say the difference between Castilian and Cataln is about the same as the difference between Castilian and Italian.

Language CDs are crap and won't really teach you a damn thing. Seriously, the biggest things are tons of hard work and willing to make an ass out of yourself when learning to converse. Took me a while to realize no one expects me to speak perfectly. Once you begin talking freely often it comes much more quickly.

Edit: I'm assuming the difference between Swedish & Norwegian is close to the difference between Swedish & Danish since those are the only two I can remotely understand. If this is wrong, I don't think it is, let me know. When I only knew Danish I could understand a lot of spoken Swedish if I just imagined a Dane singing everything they said with a weird accent. That doesn't work with Castilian/Catalan.

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swedish and norwegian is alot closer than swedish and danish. when i go to denmark, i speak english b/c i cant understand a single word of what they say.