This is a pure delight to hear. Romance languages form a dialectal continuum, that should be cherished in all of its varieties. The Langue d'oc was the first European vernacular language to be used in literature. The language of the trobadours, the language of Eleonor of Aquitaine, the language that St. Francis admired for its poetry and the language Dante let eight verses slip into its Commedia ❤

The language of Spench

Can't believe I've never heard this language before, it's probably the most beautiful I've heard.

It's related closely to Catalan. In 1860 40% of the people of France spoke Occitan/Provencal, 14 million people, in 1920, 8 million, ow maybe 2 million. Sad.

To me, it sounds like Portuguese or Spanish with a French accent. I love it!

I stumbled across Occitan and Old Occitan on Wikipedia, and found it interesting. As a musician, I am composing a suite of songs using the cançons of Bernart de Ventadorn. They sure wrote some interesting stuff 800 years ago!

Interesting to hear knowing catalan, i'ts like going from french to catalan every few words 😆

I hear Spanish and French phonology with lots of French words! This is such a unique and beautiful language and needs to be kept alive with the help of their government

It's very mutually intelligible with Catalan!!

It sounds like Spanish as spoken by a Frenchman.

It is beautiful... sounds just like the middle ages. Can you hear the heretics burning while they speak?

It looks like a mash-up of Catalan, French and some northern Italian languages. Very interesting :D

How awful that the French have destroyed one of the most important languages of France, namely, Occitan. Horrible. So many kudos to those fighting to support their language.

In Spain, the dialect of Occitan is known as Aranes, a variant of Gascon, spoken by a population of about 3000 inhabitants of the Valle de Aran, a remote area of the Spanish Pyrenees in Catalunya. All road signs and public notices up there are in Aranes. It's a heart-warming situation.

Such a fascinating language...especially when spoken by the guy in the beret and glasses as he sounded very Iberian with only a moderate flavour of 'french' in his accent. Some research shows that this language has many strong links with other 'Romance' languages including Catalan, and much to my surprise it's influence stretches as far as Switzerland!

I agree! I already speak French, Spanish (i.e. Castilian) and Italian and I'm currently a student of Catalan as well. I, too, would love to see France do more to save Occitan, Corsican and Breton. Also, France is a bit more homogenised than Spain, it's not quite the same as the Catalans, Basques and Galicians of Spain. I don't think that promoting Occitan, Corsican and Breton would lead to additional separatism... they would all speak French and their own languages, and it would be beautiful :)

Occitan is older than standard French. RECONQUISTA of occitan language NOW!

I would love to learn Occitan languages so I could read all the literature from that region. Sadly, I hear most dialects are going extinct.

@tlockf I think it's good for you Catalonian people to use Catalan to talk to Occitan people, and get used to each other variants, to foster communication, like for us, Galicians, is good to use our language to communicate with Portuguese and Brazilian people despite the grammatical and lexical differences. Ieu vòli aprendre l'occitan.

Es com el català! M’encanta!

France should recognize this beautiful language as yours! Portugal turned "Mirandês" (I don't know how to speak that word in English) like an official idiom in their country. They are all still Portuguese and don't want independence. I can't see why French government don't do the same.

Wow! It does my heart good to hear people so committed to the survival of Occitan. My grandfather was a native speaker and my cousins in Bearn learned it in school as a second language. It's a proud, if obscure, part of our heritage. For reference: the troubadours spoke (early) Occitan, not French. The French ones were called the trouvères. Besides, what's cooler than a Latin language that aspirates the H (it's pronounced just like the h in English), where (depending on your sub-dialect) the word for "I" is pronounced "you", and where "son of a whore" is considered a mild expletive? Hilh de puta!

An interesting curiosity: basically this linguistic unity goes from western italian Piemonte to southern Valencia, passing by Baleares and Sardinia. If Occitania was a country, it would be one of the biggest in Europe.

the good thing in Catalonia is that we have Pompeu Fabra from the twenties, he designed a perfect grammarian corpse, he was an engineer and a great philologist, so the rules and the basis are perfectly described. Some people state that Catalan is more difficult to learn than Spanish due to this complexity but the truth is that having a language that dates from the IXth century and with a cult medieval literature and rich literature in general till now helps. It is spoken by 10 million people.

I like this language. They speak it with all their hearts and souls so there is still some hope that this beautiful tongue will survive. It would be a tremendeous loss if Occitan became extinct. Viva Occitania!

Since I speak French Portuguese and Italian fluently I think I don't even need the subtitles ! It's crazy

I had never heard Occitan before (though I knew about it). It sounds to me like Catalan with a French accent. I like it! :)

Indeed,it bears some resemblance with Catalan,which also has a touch of French in it but Friulian in Italy also does,maybe to a lesser extent.Actually,it may be due to the older linguistic substrata in those regions.Just take a look at La Pastorele in Friulian here on youtube !

Occitaine is official language in Spain , in Vall d'Aran in the pirinees

@SpanishHunkyGuy they are languages that started from the same base, although the split into separate languagues happened a long time ago. they are both occitano-romance languages, and we can understand each other quite easily.

I think it's in the same family as Catalan. Any Catalan speakers here? Can you understand Occitan?

It's a beautiful language, too. I have little idea what's actually being said, but I can feel passion in it.

It's quite similar to Catalan. It's a very beautiful language, very rich in words, and though it's in demise right now, a few hundred years ago, if someone asked you about Catalan, you would have explained that Catalan is a language quite similar to Occitan ;)

I speak Italian but I’m from Costa Rica ( mother’s language Spanish) And can understand what they are saying 😳

Beautiful language, in my opinion more beautiful than French. Like a mixture of French, Spanish and Italian

a more romancy sounding version of french

There is also the Academie Francaise, which does all it can to ensure that French prevails in all regions and over all regional languages, Basque and Occitan included. The Academia Real de la Lengua Espanola now recognises all the regional languages in Spain, but politically, things are somewhat more fractious.

my Grandmother was from Piedmont ,the dialect she spoke was very similar to occitan now that i think about it

The Occitan language did not stray away from standard Latin as much as the French language did. Like all French dialects, I am sure there was some influence from Celtic languages in Occitan (the French are a Celtic people, descended from the Gauls, after all). I think Occitan has some northern Italian and Spanish sounds to it, but it's interesting to note that Spanish-speaking posters think it sounds German influenced.

Occitan has several dialects Spoken in the South France, a Valley in Catalonia (NorhtEast Spain), Monaco, and a few places in North Italy.

preserve this language at all cost.

Qué hermoso idioma romance,

as a native spanish speaker; nope... it's not like spanish, but much more nearer to catalan.

Je suis pour la reconnaissance de cette très belle langue qu'est l'Occitan ainsi que d'autres langues en France. Hélas vue le chemin que prend nos dirigent depuis un demi siècle (impérialisme américain et tous ce qui s'en suit avec la mondialisation) je serais pas étonné que toute l’Europe parle l'anglais d'ici 200 ans, rétrogradant ainsi le français comme sous langue régional des "états unis d’Europe" (ce que nos élites veulent à tous prix). Le remplacement du français par l'anglais commence déjà à se faire doucement mais surement et j'en veux pour preuve; de nombreux anglicisme qui se glisse dans nos phrases, dans les publicités TV et radio et le numérique, déjà que certaines des universités française veulent faire des cours uniquement en anglais sa n'arrange rien. L'uniformisation de la langue suis sont évolution depuis la renaissance et si rien ne change c'est toutes les cultures qui passeront aux oubliettes et qui sera remplacé par un monde sans diversité, sans repère, sans racine bref vous l'aurez compris il est important de garder à tout prix notre patrimoine culturel dans nos régions de France, car une langue qui meurt c'est une culture qui tombe avec. Mes amis je vous le dis en vérité, l'union européenne et le marche pied vers l'uniformisation des cultures en Europe, ce qui induira en autres à la disparition des classes moyenne et à l'accentuation du nombre de pauvres et de riches, c a d le modèle américain. Je vous invite à préservé notre langue en la pratiquant et en la pérennisant. Vive nos régions vive la France.

Romantsch, Catalan and Occitan ♥♥♥ beautiful languages!

As a non-French and non-Spanish speaker, it sounds like a combination of both!

It´s actually their Romance development out of Latin which gave this similarity,not a hybrid exactly !

@kaindrg As for Galician and Portuguese, they were born together in the kingdom of Galicia and Leon, but Portugal took independence in 1128. Since then, both languages, with a political border in between, have evolved differently for almost 900 years. It's a really long time. They're considerably different today, especially for native speakers.

Occitan is generally spoken in southern France and has both, French and Catalan(Spanish) elements as the Occitan region is located between the two.

C' est dommage le gouvernement francais ne fait pas d' effort pour y preserver la diversite des langues en france. Au Pays Bas, le gouvernement reconnait le Frison depuis environ une demi-siecle, et cette langue est meme enseignee au college, et on peut aussi l'etudier. En Espagne on preserve le Catalon, en Engleterre on fait d' effort pour revigorer des langues celtiques qu' etaient jadis exterminees (et ca marche =D). Mais en france, la ou on parle des langues tres diverses et exceptionelles, on les etuve. Le gouvernement est trop orgueilleux, trop acharne.

@ekalb2185 Yes!!! A lot of them had stronger french accents and others seem less french and perhaps more occitan, yet its nice none the less, don´t you think?

Almost sounds Spanish. I almost understand it without subtitles

"Most" dialects are going extinct in France(in both north and south).

I found out my last name is not anglo saxon but came from nobility in Aveyron through the Norman invasion, such a beautiful language

It's very understandable for a northwestern italian, very similar to our dialect.

@tlockf Aranese is Gascon. I know it's different from Catalan, but I was actually referring to standard Occitan, which is Languedocien. It's the closest dialect to Catalan. This is the one I'm actually interested in, coz it's nice to talk to and understand the whole linguistic family. Nevermind, keep talking Catalan. It's the most revolutionary thing you can do in your everyday life. I can't wait to start speaking Languedocien.

@SpanishHunkyGuy some theorize that the strength of the basque noble families in early Reconquista(idk if i spelled it right :( ) spain affect the regions the ruled over leding the the strong rolled Rs adn the distincion sound. while portugese is a sister branch of Galego evolved independently. this is just my input from my history background.

that's awesome, it's like mixing and switching french spanish portuguese and italian

Check out Romansh language in Switzerland. It's arguably the most direct descendant of ancient Latin.

I understand about 75%, being a native Catalan speaker.

IN his book, "The Path to Rome," Hillaire Belloc was delighted by the continuity of the language he encountered, from central France, across the Alps and down to Rome. I used to live in Monza, Italy, and I was surprised to hear the local dialect sounding so much like French. I wonder if Occitan could be classified as something like a modern Middle Latin.

One can hear why some scholars think Spanish originated in France, too. But back then there weren't modern borders, so who knows? Mi granpere fabulava una lingua estranya, mas os deijo ici un exemplo de cuya lingua. El era de Gascon, credo yo. Y era Ebreo.

@SpanishHunkyGuy im not sure but that is one of the theories of why castilian aragornes, leonese, and some Galician preserve more defined consisnants becaues the nobles early on in spain in the begining of the dark ages stoped being germanic and became basque thru the Jimenez dynasty with the exception of the county of barcelona and catalan regions that was under the protection of Charlemange and hte HRE.

nowadays, 60 per cent of the population in Catalonia is in favour of independence without any official campaign being held.

Je viens de Canada puis j'ai trouvé ça très intéressant. Ici au maritimes nous parlons la chiack. Un patois mélanger avec anglais.

I speak catalan and I can understand most of what they're saying

respect à vous ! Continuez de faire vivre votre langue et vos traditions. Je suis du nord et également si on parle en patois, nous sommes immédiatement ridiculisés, alors que c'est notre identité

2)In the fifties of that century (650) the laws unified for all the population of the kingdom: the Liber Iudiciorum. All the cultural, political things of this kingdom keep existing in the independent Spanish kingdoms (Asturias and Pamplona) in Catalonia just the visigothic laws and a few cultural things survived, and in de territories under islamic control the Liber iudiciorum, the visigothic rite..survivied between cristians but in many ways they were arabised.

@kaindrg Reconquista is fine. Basque was supposed to affect two Romance languages: Castilian and Gascon, which surround the Basque region. They share common features like diphthongising Latin vowels: door in Castilian is puerta (Latin porta) and night in Gascon is nuech (Latin noctem). They both also lost Latin F in initial position: hierro is Castilian for ferrum (iron) and horn is Gascon for Latin furnus (oven). Basque influence?

Is it Catalan an Occitan dialect? I'm curious!

2) If I say a name, for example "García Gonzalez", in the middle ages this name could be from some one of portugal, leon, castile, navarre, or Aragon, or from a cristian living under an arabic state. In catalonia, the hispanic traditions and language (catalan is more close to occitan than to castilian, and castilian and portuguese are very very similar) were very "frenchify" although catalan people keep the visigothic laws (Liber Iodiciorum) as well as the other hispanic lands and catalans keep

ah, 9 million, 10 million, it got my point across. I got 9 million from wikipedia, seemed pretty accurate. Well, some may say that actually all that variety makes it more complicated, but mostly its great, as all our philoligists say. I can't say that I mind. It's fun talking to people from les illes or valencia, its so different

Spanish french hybrid sounds cool as. Similar to rumantsch

Where was this?

I read about that portuguese language received some influence from ancient occitan. Listen it sounds oddly familiar to me.

The navarrese kings had the same political traditions of the Visigothic state, for example the "ordo quando rex cum exercitu ad prelium egreditur". The "Liber Ordinum" the book of the traditions of the monarchy was used in Pamplona. The visigothic rite was used in Pamplona as well as in the rest hispanic territories. The first national symbol of all the hispanic states was the Visigothic Cross, the visigothic names (fernando, ramiro, gonzale...)were common also in Pamplona...

they only show one on my notification each time. but things like claimed lineages are all but usually discredited since many of fictional to claim legitamicy.(if uve made other point it shows up in different orders and u might as well just send a message lol)

What did Old Occitan sound like I wonder?

2) Basque and Vascon in the middle ages refered to the people that lived in Vasconia (actual Gascuña) the land between the river Garone and the pirennes, and that land was part of tha actual france. The rulers of Pamplona and Aragon couldn´t consider themselves basque, although the main language of Aragon and Navarre was the basque. There was a word to refer to the people of Castile, navarre and Aragon who speaked basque: Vascongado. But Navarre was a Visigothic state as well as Asturias/leon

How do you say sometimes in occitan?

I can understand some of it from my knowledge of French and Spanish

Right in the middle of Spanish and French

Sounds quite similar to Catalan. With elements of Italian (as well as Spanish and French of course) that also feature strongly in Catalan. Written Italian, French and Catalan are very similar indeed (ie the grammar and some vocabulary). You don’t find any of the Arabic words that you have in Spanish in the other 4 languages - which all call an olive an olive!

Sounds mainly French, combined with Spanish Italian.

It´s so similar to Catalan!!

All the comments here are forgetting the similarity with Italian, for example "finestra" means window in both language and the Occitan word for window is not close to the French or Spanish words for "window". "tot" and "molt" also show the similarity with Italian, which all the comments below are forgetting.

it seems like the language between Catalan and Italian, with some french borrowed words

I can hear a hell of a lot of Latin in there, the first couple of people spoke with an accent I could almost imagine the Romans spoke with...

Free Occitania

Ничего не понял, но было очень интересно. P.s. Думал что-то на английском.

in 4 different states: Spain, France, Italy, Andorra and the 8th language used on internet. More spoken that Swedish or Danish for example. I talk about Catalan because I know about it. Catalan with the Catalan pro independence movement, is being promoted and seen as the blood of Catalan culture, nowadays Catalan nationalism is out of date, instead the independence movement is reaching high figures,

Sounds way better than French

its more like Catalan, Spanish with French

occitan mixt latin, spanish ,french

@SpanishHunkyGuy No one's perfect. I guess there's people who just have terrible double standards. All languages in Spain have been terribly influenced by Spanish, it's unfair to say one of them is worse than the other. Well, this has been very interesting and revealing, thanks :D

I think they’re speaking different languages, or very different dialects. The girls pronunciation sounds french, and the boys sound Italian and Catalan respectively.

Joli !

@tlockf They just expect Galician to sound like Catalan. They can't even pronounce "xa cho dixen" properly and expect us to pronounce "xunto" with a vibrating sound, like them. They hear us pronounce "facer" with a th sound and assume that Galician is "castellanitzat". That sound goes back to Middle Galician: /fatser/ > /father/. In modern Portuguese it just became voiced: /fatser/ > /fadzer/ and then simplified /fazer/. Therefore, it's not Spanish.

Looks like the baby had a look of bewilderment on his or her face. Like wtf are you saying

If the French language and the Spanish language had a baby