Read Your First Catalan Story Today

Quick facts about Catalan

Speakers

About 9.2 million speakers in total: roughly 4.1 million native and 5.1 million second-language speakers, according to the Ethnologue figures cited in Wikipedia's Catalan language article.¹

Did you know?

Catalan is the sole official language of Andorra and is co-official with Spanish in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, where it is called Valencian.¹

The main challenge

In Eastern Catalan, unstressed vowels reduce to three sounds: written a and e both become [ə], and o becomes [u]. Learners have to hear past the spelling.²

Sources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_phonology

About the Catalan language

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_orthography
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_grammar
4. https://wals.info/valuesets/81A-ctl

Catalan reading proficiency benchmarks (CEFR & Generalitat de Catalunya)

Stichos levels are modelled on the Council of Europe’s CEFR reading descriptors; A0 roughly corresponds to the CEFR’s Pre-A1 band. The Generalitat de Catalunya names its official Catalan certificates after the same levels, shown in brackets; the Institut Ramon Llull offers A2 to C2 abroad. Stichos does not test or certify.

Reference corpora

The Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC) maintains a large historical corpus of written Catalan.¹

• CTILC: The Corpus textual informatitzat de la llengua catalana, begun in 1985 by Joaquim Rafel i Fontanals, holds more than 100 million words from over 7,200 works published between 1833 and 2022.¹
• First version: Between 1985 and 1997 the IEC built a first version of the corpus, with more than 52 million words from texts published between 1833 and 1988.¹
• Standard: Stichos writes Catalan readers in standard Central Catalan and avoids strongly regional or archaic forms. Requests use si us plau, never the Castilianism per favor.

1. https://ctilc.iec.cat/scripts/IniPresentacio.asp

Readability design principles

We found no readability formula calibrated specifically for Catalan.

• Easy-to-read books: The Generalitat lists lectura fàcil titles, adapted in wording, illustration and layout, for people starting to learn the language.¹
• Stichos: Stichos controls difficulty with level-by-level grammar rules and sentence-length limits. At A0 a sentence has at most five words and no conjunctions; A1 allows one, i.

1. https://llengua.gencat.cat/ca/serveis/aprendre_catala/a-catalunya/llegiu_i_parleu_programa/lectura-facil/

Script & grammar scaffolding

• Tenses: A0 and A1 use only the present indicative (present d’indicatiu), and A1 states plans in the present (Demà quedem). A2 adds the periphrastic past (passat perifràstic, vaig plus the infinitive), the passat compost and the imperfet. The future, the conditional and the present subjunctive open at B1, the imperfect subjunctive at B2, and the literary simple past (passat simple) at C1.
• Weak pronouns: Object pronouns go before a conjugated verb (li diu, ho fa) and attach with a hyphen or apostrophe after infinitives, gerunds and affirmative imperatives (dir-li, fent-ho).
• Imperatives: At A0 commands appear only in fixed formulas such as Té / Tingui (“here you are”). A1 allows five informal imperatives: mira, vine, agafa, espera and seu.
• Register: Informal tu is the default; formal vostè, with third-person verbs, is kept for professional or deferential settings.

Related academic & framework resources

• The CEFR Levels (Council of Europe): The Council of Europe’s description of the six common reference levels, A1 to C2.
• Certificats de català (Generalitat de Catalunya): The Catalan government’s official certificates, from inicial (A1) to superior (C2).
• Catalan Language Certificates (Institut Ramon Llull): Certificates from A2 to C2 for learners outside the Catalan-speaking area, with a table of CEFR equivalences.
• CTILC (Institut d’Estudis Catalans): The IEC’s presentation of the corpus: its history, size and the period it covers.
• Lectura fàcil (Llengua catalana): The Generalitat’s list of easy-to-read books for beginning learners of Catalan.

Frequently asked questions

What writing system does Catalan use?

Latin script: the 26 basic letters plus à, è, é, í, ò, ó, ú, ï, ü and ç, and the raised dot of l·l for a double l

Is Stichos suitable for complete beginners with zero prior knowledge (A0)?

Yes. A0 is a primary focus, designed for readers with no prior knowledge. A1 then adds basic everyday vocabulary and simple connected clauses as your foundation grows.

Are Stichos levels the same as CEFR levels?

Not exactly. Stichos levels use the familiar CEFR names, from A0 to B2, and are modelled on the CEFR (the Common European Framework of Reference), so a Stichos B1 is meant to feel close to a B1 in your course book. They aren't an official CEFR rating, and different books and exams draw the lines in slightly different places. A0 is Stichos's own addition, just below the framework's first level.

Are the stories written by AI, and how accurate are they?

Yes. Stories are generated by AI and then checked by further automated steps against the grammar and vocabulary rules for your level. That catches most problems, but it isn't a human editor, so an occasional unnatural phrase or slip can get through. Treat Stichos as practice material, and check anything you're unsure of with a teacher or a reference.

Can I read stories with explanations in my native language?

Yes. Stichos allows you to pair any target language with any native support language. You can read a Croatian story with French glosses, or a German story with Spanish explanations.

How does word lookup work while reading?

Tap or click any word for its meaning in that sentence, explained in your own language. In the full version, you can save any word to your Vocab Bank for later review.

Is the preview free, and what happens to my email?

Yes. The preview is free and needs no account. If you join the Reading List, we use your email to send your 3 free sample stories (PDF, after you confirm your address) and to let you know when we fully open. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle it.

Do stories include audio or narration?

Story narration isn't part of the preview. At launch, the Premium Audio add-on reads every story aloud in a natural-sounding AI voice, in 39 of our 40 languages (Esperanto doesn't have audio support yet).