Catalan MOOC

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Catalan for beginners

Catalan for Beginners is an online Catalan course which aims to provide basic lexical and grammatical resources so that you can communicate in a variety of day-to-day situations. It is free, open to everyone and meant for any international students who will join a Catalan university or anyone who is interested in Catalan Language and culture. A professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra accompanies all participants to provide anything you might need and encourages participation.

Over three weeks, you will gain a basic grounding in the Catalan language, but you will also acquire other knowledge. The course, by means of a fictional series and its characters, will allow you to immerse yourself in the heart of Barcelona. You’ll also learn a bit about Catalan cuisine, music and traditions. Because learning a language is much more than just understanding words; learning a language is opening a door to the world. As such, this is a course designed to learn Catalan while having fun.

The design of the MOOC Catalan for Beginners (A1.1) received the support of the programme Ajuts a les universitats de Catalunya per a actuacions de foment i ús de les llengües en l’àmbit universitari (INTERLINGUA), which also provides support for the supervision carried out by UPF staff during the editions of each academic year.

Course details

• Language of the MOOC: English
• Audience: anyone who is interested in starting to discover about Catalan language and culture (they can be UPF students, students from other universities or anyone from around the world)
• Level: knowledge and objectives from the beginning of level A1.1 (CEFR)
• Previous knowledge: no previous knowledge of Catalan is required
• Fee: free course
• Duration and dedication: 15 hours that participants may distribute as they see fit along 3 weeks (+ 2 additional weeks if neeeded)
• Schedule: there are no classes: participants complete the content at their own pace
• Tutorisation: a specialist from UPF will supervise the course, encourage participants to participate in an activity at the end of each week and answer all queries.
• Course completion certificate: participants who complete a minimum of 70% of the course’s content will be awarded a UPF course completion certificate, which will be sent via email approximately ywo weeks after the end of the course.

Editions for the academic year 2025-2026

• 1st edition: from 20 October to 21 November 2025 [registration is closed]
• 2nd edition: from 26 January to 27 February 2026 [registration is closed]
• 3rd edition: from 27 April to 29 May 2026 [registration is closed]
• 4th edition: from 15 June to 17 July 2026 [registration is open until 26 June]

Editions for the academic year 2026-2027

• 1st edition: from 5 October to 6 November 2026
• 2nd edition: from 11 January to 12 February 2027
• 3rd edition: from 26 April to 28 May 2027
• 4th edition: from 14 June to 16 July 2027

By completing the MOOC, you will earn 3 ECTS towards the 7 ECTS required to obtain the UPF Diploma CATStudies.

New CATStudies discount: you can enroll for free in the last course you need to reach the 7 ECTS required for the CATStudies Diploma (whether it is a quarterly Catalan language course, a culture course, or a Catalan conversation course).

Enrolment

Registration is open for the 4^th edition until 26 June 2026.

If you want to enrol on the course, follow the link below. Remember! The code for the course is 1805/3.

Team

The multidisciplinary MOOC team at UPF involves staff from different fields, ranging from audiovisual and computer technicians to educational support. Together with the MOOC teaching staff they aim to optimise the University’s resources to support the design, creation and publishing of MOOCs with the UPF guarantee of quality and innovation.

Meet the team!

Previous editions

If you have any doubts, contact us