Away with Words by Sophie Cameron
Away with Words by Sophie Cameron is one girl’s story of moving to a country where the language is new and unfamiliar. Sophie Cameron shares her own experiences of learning a new language and culture in her guest blog for the FCBG today.
Catalan culture recommendations
Away With Words is about an 11-year-old girl named Gala who moves from Catalonia, Spain to Scotland with her dad, to live with his boyfriend, Ryan. It focuses on Gala’s struggles to learn English and adapt to her new country, but Gala is very proud of her roots and her native language, Catalan, a Romance language that’s spoken by around 10 million people in Spain, Andorra, and parts of France and Italy.
I lived in Barcelona for around 5 years and am now based in the Balearic Islands, where various dialects of Catalan are spoken, so it’s also a language that means a lot to me. When I first started learning I constantly watched films and series and listened to music in Catalan to immerse myself in the language, and I found some real gems! Here are a few recommendations for anyone interested in finding out more about the language and culture. (Please be sure to check out age recommendations and trigger warnings before you watch!)
Merlí
Set in the philosophy class of a Barcelona high school, with each episode mixing the theories of a different philosopher with lots of teen drama, Merlí was a huge hit in Catalonia. Its spin-off, Merlí: Sapere Aude, which follows a working-class student who goes onto study philosophy at university, is currently available on Netflix UK with subtitles.
The Yellow World by Albert Espinosa
I’ve struggled to find Catalan books to recommend on this list because, unfortunately, most of my favourites haven’t been translated into English. Albert Espinosa is a very popular novelist but one of his most successful books is The Yellow World, a surprisingly light and funny memoir about his experience of childhood cancer.
The Red Band Society
The Red Band Society may sound familiar – it’s the title of an American teen series starring Octavia Spencer and Mandy Moore, about a group of teenagers in a hospital’s paediatric ward. The US adaptation was actually based on a really great Catalan show, Polseres Vermelles, which was also written by Albert Espinosa, and is well-worth watching if you can find it.
The Hockey Girls
Also available on Netflix UK is The Hockey Girls, another teen show about 7 high school girls who fight to save their hockey team after their coach leaves them to train a rival team. It deals with a ton of issues along the way and has lots of great queer representation too.
Summer 1993
Based on director Carla Simón’s life story, this award-winning film is a 6-year-old girl from Barcelona who is sent to live with her aunt and uncle in the countryside after her parents die. It’s beautifully acted (especially by the young lead, Laia Artigas) and very moving. Her latest film Alcarràs is also high on my to-watch list, as it won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival last year.
Catalan music
I owe a sizeable chunk of my Catalan vocabulary to the region’s musicians, as I had lots of their songs on repeat when I was first learning. Among my favourites are Els Amics de les Arts, Manel, Andrea Motis, Beth Rodergas, Pupil·les, Blaumut, Love of Lesbian and of course, one of the world’s most famous Catalans, Rosalía. Some sing in Catalan, some Spanish, some English, and some a mixture of all three.
And for anyone who is thinking of learning Catalan, look no further than parla.cat, a very old but really excellent website created by the Government of Catalonia that covers all levels from beginners to advanced. As they say in Catalan: som-hi!
Away with Words is published by Little Tiger and is available now.
Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Federation.