Language Volunteers

Help a student from outside Catalonia to become fully immersed in the Catalan university experience and culture. The universities’ respective linguistic services will tell you how. Get in touch.

Autonomous University of Barcelona

UAB

The UAB offers new students the chance to take part in the Language Volunteer Programme, making contact with a local student to practice Catalan and find out about the Catalan linguistic and cultural situation at first hand. Each language pair organise a total of eight meetings at the times and places that suit them.

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Polytechnic University of Catalonia

UPC

UPC has a buddy programme, called SALSA’M, that lets you meet local students who can help you get to know how the University works and practise speaking different languages.

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Pompeu Fabra University

UPF

The UPF Language Volunteers scheme is a programme created to help newly-arrived international students get to know about Catalan life, language and culture, and at the same time encourage Catalan students to have a more international outlook and learn languages. To achieve both these aims, the scheme offers a wide and varied range of programmed activities and cultural visits around Catalonia, and organises language exchanges between international and Catalan students (language partners).

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University of Lleida

UdL

Language Volunteers accompany members of the university community from outside Catalonia to help them learn the language, find out more about the region and discover Catalan culture. They can also help you make the most of your time at the UdL and in the city of Lleida.

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University of Girona

UdG

Language volunteering is designed for people who want to help someone else learn Catalan in a more informal way. At the UdG we put local students in contact with visiting students who want to learn or practice our language.

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University of Vic

UVic

Are you interested in volunteering? The language volunteers scheme at UVic comes under the Mentor programme for welcoming students from outside Catalonia on exchange visits to UVic-UCC's Vic Campus. This programme enables you to take part in volunteering activities in an intercultural context and to help newly arrived students to integrate academically, linguistically and culturally.

To take part, go to the Programa Mentor page.

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International University of Catalonia

UIC

Would you like to practise Catalan with a native speaker? Join the UIC Barcelona Language Exchanges programme. We will put you in touch with someone who can teach you Catalan and who would like to practise speaking your language. You are free to meet when and where you like.

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Abat Oliba CEU University

UAO

Would you like a local student to help you take your first steps in the Catalan language? At UAO CEU we put you in touch with a volunteer who will help you get started in the language. You just need to join the Tandem UAO CEU programme.

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Language volunteers

If you speak Catalan and have some spare time to chat with a person who wants to practice, become a volunteer and help someone to learn, either face-to-face or online.

Get in touch with people who want to learn Catalan

What if I am not in Catalonia?

If you want to build Catalan connections from outside Catalonia, the University network for Catalan studies abroad and Catalan communities abroad organisations can help.

How can I find a language partner?

A language exchange involves pairing a visiting student who is learning Catalan with a Catalan-speaking student who wants to practice another language. Most Catalan universities have a language exchange register that they use to put students in contact with each other based on the languages they want to practice. From this point on, the students themselves arrange their meetings.

If you are not a university student you can take part in the Language volunteer programme, organised by the Language Policy Secretariat, as a learner.

Where can I practice Catalan if I don’t live in Catalonia?

If you want to build Catalan connections from outside Catalonia, the University network for Catalan studies abroad and the Catalan communities abroad organisations can help.

How do I become a language volunteer?

If you are taking or have taken a course at any of the Catalan universities, you can take part in the language exchange or language volunteer activities organised by each university.

If you are not a university student you can take part in the Language volunteer programme, organised by the Directorate-General for Language Policy, as a learner.