¿Se puede vivir en Barcelona sin hablar español

Are you looking for if you can live in Barcelona without speaking spanish?

Whether you are thinking of moving to Barcelona as a family or with children, whether you are only going for a short time, or whether you are going to stay for a long period of time, it is very likely that you will ask yourself this question. In today’s article, we want to help you and answer this common question asked by many people who want to live in Barcelona. Are you ready?

Barcelona is a very touristic city

As you probably already know, Barcelona is one of the most touristic cities in the Iberian Peninsula and therefore one of the best places to live in Spain for expats. Most people don’t know perfect English, but they are friendly enough to try to communicate and find a way for you to understand each other perfectly.

People in Barcelona study english from very early years, as soon as they enter elementary school, they start to get familiar with the language. This means that by the end of the scholar years, they can handle a normal conversation with someone.

Another of the advantages of moving into this very touristic city, is that most of the signs and instructions of places, are translated to english. Some places where we’ll be able to see this are:

– Directions, signals to go from one place to another.

– Plenty of staff members that speak English in popular places.

– The menus in restaurants always have the English version.

– On the metro and bus, there’s always indications in both English and Spanish.

Moving to Barcelona for work

Now, if you’re thinking about moving to Barcelona and working there in an office, it’s a whole different situation.

If you’re thinking about finding a job there, it is mandatory that you know how to speak Spanish, since you are going to be working in Spain. Of course, there are some jobs you might want to consider where speaking Spanish isn’t required, but, in most cases, it is mandatory to speak the language. Some examples are:

– Sales executive

– English teacher

– Nanny

– Marketing

– Customer service

These are just some examples of some jobs that you could apply to. You can do some research, and you’ll be able to find many more in an area that you like or that you have studied about.

On the other hand, if you are going to look for a job it means that you are going to stay for a long time in Barcelona, so you will surely be interested in knowing how to look for and find an apartment in Barcelona. And is that in our luxury real estate, we have the best homes in the Catalan city, so you can live the experience and enjoy your stay in the most comfortable way possible.

On our website, you can find the best luxury apartments in Barcelona, located from next to the sea, to the upper area of Barcelona. Also, if you need help from one of our real estate agents, do not hesitate to contact us so we can help you in your search.

Finding a job

We have already made an article in which we talked about how to find a job in Barcelona, and now that you have seen that you can live in the city of Barcelona without speaking Spanish, now everything will be easier for you. If you are from the European Union, you will have it much easier. If you want to find a job in Barcelona, these are some of the requirements to apply for a job:

– Minimum age

– Being registered in the social security system

– Working visa

– NIE

– Register at the “agencia tributaria”

You should also take into account the average salary in Barcelona, to see if it fits you, no matter how many advantages it has to live in a city. And everything is related, because depending on the salary in your sector, the cost of living for you will be higher or lower. Because you know what we told you in the article where we talked about the cost of living in Barcelona vs USA… the difference is significant.

The languages spoken in Barcelona

Maybe you didn’t know, but in Barcelona there’s not just one language that’s spoken. Barcelona is the capital city of Catalunya, which is one of the autonomous communities of Spain. In this whole territory they speak Catalan, the other language that everyone born there speaks since birth as another of their mother languages.

You don’t have to worry, even if some people living in Barcelona prefer to speak catalan rather than Spanish, it is not that different. Many words are the same or vary a little bit in pronunciation, but you’ll get familiar with it as well as you’ll do with Spanish.

¿Is it better to learn spanish or not to?

If you’re going to just stay a few weeks as a holiday vacation, it’s not necessary, as we’ve mentioned before, people are very used to speaking in english to people that come from abroad, so you won’t have problems doing everyday activities like, ordering at a restaurant, asking for directions, etc.

Now, if you’re going to live in Barcelona you might want to learn some basics, just because at the end of the day, you might want to adapt to the city. Living in another country is a very good life experience that you might only live once, so you might even have a better experience if you try to live as a local.

Even if you choose not to learn any Spanish, you might find yourself knowing more and more everyday just by listening to people talk around the streets, or when you find difficulties speaking to people.

¿How can I learn some basic spanish?

It really depends on the way you find it fun, you don’t have to take classes if you don’t like it. The best way to learn a language is adapting it to your routine.

An example would be: If you really like to watch daily vlogs on YouTube, maybe watch those kinds of videos in Spanish and English subtitles. The same applies to movies and series. If you like reading books, try reading in Spanish, and so on.

All in all, as we have seen, it’s not impossible to live in Barcelona without speaking Spanish. If you’re planning to move into the city, it is very likely that you’ll end up knowing many expressions and words just by listening to them on a daily basis.

From Bcn Advisors, one of the best real estate agencies in Barcelona, we want to motivate you and maybe you will give Spanish a chance, maybe you will end up learning it and be able to speak it perfectly.

Can you live in Barcelona without speaking spanish?