Most of the residents of Vilanova i la Geltru are at least Bilingual, speaking Spanish and Catalan, many others are at least tri-lingual, being able to converse in English, French and German too.

Immigrants into Vilanova / Catalunya can take advantage of the Generalitat's programmes for Catalan lessons. Here in Vilanova they are provided by the CNL

I have been attending the classes for a couple of years now, and am getting to grips with the language bit by bit. It is similar to both French and Spanish, but also very different in parts. The general understanding of the language can be picked up quite quickly if you have any facility for languages at all, but in my opinion to be able to get it grammatically correct with the accents all in the right places and facing the right direction could take a lifetime.

The classes tend to be fairly small, up to a dozen people, and are made up of incomers to the area, some of whom have lived her e for mush of their lives, but never learnt the language. South Americans also make up large number of the students. It is my experience that the English make up a very small percentage of the courses. In the last couple of course I have taken I have been the only Brit. But don't let that put you off. If you're going to make VnG/Cataunya your home have a go, you might just enjoy it. I may not be the best student, but I do try to enjoy the classes s much as possible.