Learning Catalan

The official language of Andorra is Catalan. Here is the dilemma: Do I really want to learn it?
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During the application process for Fulbright, the answer was definitely yes. I probably wouldn’t have been considered without some exposure to the language (though I am waaaaay behind everybody else). Now that I’m here, though…
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The people here are very multilingual, and pretty much everybody speaks at least two languages. For instance, in the school system they teach Catalan and French in primary school (in many classes they have two teachers; one only speaks Catalan and the other only French), and in secondary school they offer Spanish classes (by this time the students already speak it because of how much it is used). For foreigners this multilingualism is great because if they already know one of the languages they can get by. Including me.
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So here is my problem. I don’t have any pressing need to learn Catalan. For the most part, I can get by with Spanish (and in some cases, even English). In addition, I want to improve my Spanish speaking skills and begin studying French, which together might be a lot to handle. Now add a third language, and who knows how much time I will be able to devote to each of them. Also, thinking long term, Spanish and French are definitely more practical than Catalan.
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On the other hand, in the moment, understanding and speaking Catalan would be very useful. As the official language, it is the default for the people I interact with on a day to day basis. At school, they speak Catalan. On the street, they speak Catalan. It is an inconvenience for them to switch for me.
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This was the main topic of discussion during lunch the other day. (On my long days of school I eat lunch in the cafeteria with other teachers. Even though I don’t always understand them very well, I figure it’s better to sit there awkwardly and try to listen than to sit by myself). The three teachers I sat with were all speaking Catalan, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much of the conversation I understood. They were talking about the use of Catalan in different settings such as at home, at school, and amongst friends.
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One thing that they seemed annoyed about was the fact that Catalan, even though it is the official language, is always the language to be pushed to the side when somebody doesn’t understand it. For example, tourists don’t bother learning Catalan phrases when they come here because they know that they can get by without it. If somebody doesn’t understand Catalan, then it will be the Catalan speaker that is forced to change. Many people are surprised that I want to learn Catalan even though I will only be here for a year, compared to the many people who have lived in Andorra for years and never bother to learn.
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Another thing: Even though people here speak other languages, it isn’t always easy switching from one to the other. One thing that the English teachers at my school were telling me was that usually with each person you know, you only speak one language with them. For example, even though you both might speak 3 different languages, if you meet them in a Spanish speaking setting, then you speak Spanish with them. If you meet them while everybody is speaking Catalan, then you will always speak to them in Catalan. This came up because they had been speaking English with me, but with each other the two teachers were speaking Catalan. After awhile they noticed that I wasn’t listening and suggested that they speak Spanish instead, but then they told me that if they spoke Spanish they wouldn’t be able to look at each other while they did it because it was so weird to them. I had never thought about it before, but it makes sense. So if somebody that doesn’t speak Catalan enters a group, people don’t want to switch just for them. One on one, it’s okay, but as one guy at lunch said, if there is a group of 8 people and one person doesn’t understand, they aren’t going to switch just for that one person. They might speak a little slower or do some translating, but no switching.
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The other day I even visited the Servei de Política Lingüística, the government agency that monitors the use of Catalan within Andorra. They gave us lots of free material, including a free Catalan grammar book and workbook that I will definitely use. He talked to us for maybe a half hour about the work that they do in translating, encouraging people to learn Catalan through free classes and language volunteers, and studies that they publish about the use of Catalan in Andorra. It was all extremely interesting.
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So in the end, I feel guilty about not wanting to learn Catalan. I think the hardest part is that I want to continue learning Spanish, French, and Catalan, and I know that it will be difficult to study all three at once. However, because I am here and because it is the official language and the default language, I am going to try my best to learn it.
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One thing that is really going to speed the process will be living with Catalan speakers. I ended up finding somebody who is renting out a room while her daughter is away in Sevilla, and both her and the other girl that lives there are from Barcelona and speak Catalan and Spanish. Living with them will force me to practice Catalan and Spanish, which I am really looking forward to. The other Fulbrighters ended up taking the 4 bedroom apartment along with the other Oxford student that lived in the aparthotel with us. I think they all felt that they were using enough Catalan within their schools and would like to have a place to speak English, but I feel like at my school I will not have as many opportunities to practice Catalan or Spanish because the people I interact with the most, the English department, only speak to me in English. Besides, the other Fulbrighters are already at a much higher level of Catalan than I am. In the end, I wanted to go abroad to improve my Spanish and to study other languages and I feel like for me, this is the best way to do it. In Sevilla I didn’t truly immerse myself in the language because all of my friends there spoke English. I don’t want this year to be a repeat of that.
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In other news, the man at Gautxo took our picture yesterday while we were at the store. That was a little weird. I think it is because they are going on their first vacation in 21 years and they probably bought a new camera and wanted to try it out. Oh yeah, and I've been a little sick (just a cold, not 'gripe A' or swine flu), so that hasn't been fun, but it looks like I'm starting to get better.