Haydée moved from Paris with the idea of working in Barcelona. However, things didn't go as smoothly as she expected them to, considering the language barrier. She talks to us about her arrival in Barcelona and what made her want to learn Catalan.
What made you want to move to Barcelona?
I initially moved to Barcelona because my partner's company offered him a job here and because I already knew Barcelona. I liked the city and the atmosphere, and I had a sufficient level of Spanish to get by. I was hoping to be able to find a job quickly. When my spouse started working in Barcelona, I didn't immediately give up my job in Paris. I used to work as a project manager in working-class neighborhoods, and I loved that job. So I resumed my Spanish language learning, and then I took 3 months of leave (accumulated for years) to do 3-month volunteering in Barcelona. I thought that would help me understand how the associative world and NGOs function and improve my Spanish language skills.
And then your plans changed. Can you tell us about it?
And the Covid came, and volunteering became a real challenge. It was hard to find new opportunities. I was still able to work with the association Mes que cures, for which I carried out a market study. It was interesting for sure, but in the end, we started to work remotely, so I had fewer opportunities to improve my Spanish skills. And then everything went very fast. During my first three months in Barcelona, I got pregnant. So it was obvious that we would no longer be able to go back and forth with a baby. We liked the city, and the climate, so we decided to settle in Barcelona permanently. During maternity leave, I continued to work remotely for my jobs in Paris and Barcelona.
So you've settled permanently in Barcelona. How would you describe your arrival and the integration process?
We settled in Gracia, a neighborhood that seemed very pedestrian-friendly (one of the things I dislike in Barcelona is the car park). For example, we would not have lived in certain streets of Eixample. From the birth of our baby, being both on vacation, we really got the most out of the city by walking along the streets and in the parks, and we spent a lot of time together on our apartment's terrace. We had met parents of small babies, but most of them were French-speaking. We were really looking to practice Spanish for better integration, so we had to make more efforts to socialize. My partner and I agreed that this was a chance for us to integrate as we did not want to live in Barcelona like tourists, only seeing foreigners or the French-speaking community.
This means that you had to learn Catalan. How did you handle this?
After our daughter's birth, it seemed obvious to us that we had to learn Catalan if we wanted to integrate. It was also essential for me if I wanted to land a job, although I wasn't really aware at that time. Our baby was born in February. In March, we started free classes with the Catalan language organization CPNL. It was intense, but at the same time, we felt more comfortable taking part in workshops and discussion groups in Catalan. We both have a parella lingüística (a linguistic partner) with whom we exchange every week. We also have a couple of Catalan friends. For now, we mostly speak Spanish, but sometimes we switch to Catalan.
How difficult was it to find a job without knowing the language?
When our daughter was 6 months old, I started looking for work, and then I was confronted with the harsh reality of the labor market. Without a good level of Catalan (level C1), finding work in my sector is almost impossible. After about twenty applications sent, I got only one interview. I got no response from the rest. However, I only applied to offers written in Castilian, which also required French, but there were very few. So I continued to learn and practice Catalan. You can't learn a new language in just 2 days, but I didn't give up. At the same time, I started working at the French high school in Barcelona. It was interesting, although I aspired to find a job in my field, in Castilian and Catalan, and with better career prospects.
Is there any advice you would like to give anyone who wants to relocate to Barcelona, whether in terms of language or integration in general?
My advice is to learn Catalan before moving and try to fit in as much as possible once you're there. If possible, enroll your children in a Catalan nursery and/or school, take part in activities in Catalan and participate in support groups even if it is difficult. It's not always easy for us, but it's our choice and we're happy here.
