wrote on Dec 28^th, 2012 at 11:00am:

[quote author=5B7A7A777B414A716C6C7B6D1E0 link=1356186250/17#17 date=1356597869] So then, how do you view the locals view that everybody should speak Catalan ? Do you realise that around here they do not even speak Catalan, they speak Tortosien, a mix of Catalan and Castellon dialect spoken with a very heavy [aka unintelligible] accent ? People who do learn Catalan end up learning 2 versions, one of which is of zero use in Tarragona or beyond and one of which is useless [and ultimately offensive] to the rest of Spain and Spanish speaking people.

We don't go to Amposta much but we go to Tortosa regularly and we have  found people there to be very friendly on the whole.  Obviously not everyone is going to be lovely any more than everyone in a British town would be.

Of course I'm aware that everyone speaks a different dialect, in our village its 'Masover' but we have never had a problem with anyone understanding basic catalan as far north as Perpignan and as far south as Valencia.  Our experience has been that if we make an effort, and we do mix in castillian too, then we are understood.  When we are in 'the rest' of Spain we speak castillian and if we have lapsed into catalan I have never noticed anyone being offended.

As for "the locals view that everybody should speak Catalan" that just isn't true of the majority of people we have talked with when applied to immigrants/ex-pats, they are more than happy to speak castillian.  Obviously catalan is the first language and it makes sense to know it, you can't go to school or work for the Government if you don't.  I actually think that they have made a mistake with their hard line approach but that is a political opinion.

The reason that I personally made the effort to learn catalan is because I would feel isolated if I lived somewhere where I couldn't understand all the chatter going on around me when I go shopping or go to the bars or restaurants.