llull TV

4Cats Project

What is 4cats?

4cats is a series of 20 videos for learning Catalan. Each one depicts some everyday communication situation involving a group of 5 young people in Barcelona.

What is our objective?

• to encourage students to learn Catalan by depicting everyday communication situations that use a language model in tune with their own environment
• to help students acquire autonomy in oral comprehension of the language
• to familiarize students of Catalan who reside elsewhere with the socio-cultural reality of the Catalan Countries
• to reinforce knowledge of the dialectal variants of Catalan

Who is it intended for?

The project is mainly intended for students of Catalan resident outside the areas where Catalan is spoken. However, it can also be of use to anyone interested in learning Catalan.

The scripts are geared to students with a basic knowledge of Catalan who want to learn more about the Catalan language and culture.

What will you find in 4cats?

The language model used in the series includes the main dialectal variants of Catalan and both formal and informal styles of speech. Each video is divided into two parts:
A communication situation involving 2, 3 or 4 characters
A second part devoted to various features of the culture of the Catalan Countries, complete with associated images

• The situations dealt with in each episode are as follows:

Personal details

• Ja hi som tots: Pep has a flat of his own where he lives with Bel. Today they're choosing a new flat-mate.
• La cosina: Carles meets someone he knows in the street.

Social and family relationships

• La trucada: Bel and Llum phone their respective families.
• La castanyada: Pep gets ready for the Halloween roast-chestnut party.

Describing appearance and character

• El Barceló està molt bo: Sara and Pep discuss other people's looks.
• La sinceritat: Llum and Bel talk about people's characters and how they behave in the presence of others.

Addresses, places and giving directions

• Un home de negocis: Pep welcomes a new tenant to his flat.
• Perdudes: Bel and Llum get lost on their way to Park Güell.

Studying, working, and professional relationships

• Aquesta feina és per a mi: Pep goes for a job interview.
• Exàmens!: Carles has to a do a project for a course and Sara and Llum try to help him.

Everyday activities, leisure and holidays

• Voler és poder: Carles and Bel decide to change some of their habits.
• Cap de setmana: Bel, Carles and Sara are spending the weekend outside the city. Pep wants to go along.

Hours of opening, timetables and public services

• Aigua a les orelles: Llum is looking for someone to go to the theatre with her.
• El primer de les rebaixes: Pep tells about his adventures when he went to buy a cut-price item of clothing.

Shopping

• El llum màgic: Pep tries to persuade Carles to buy himself a few essential items.
• El cactus: Sara goes to a flower-shop to buy a cactus.

Eating and drinking

• Sopar romàntic: Pep asks Carles for advice about taking a girl out to dinner.
• Delicatessen: Pep shows Sara how to make really tasty Catalan tomato bread (pa amb tomàquet).

Opinions, tastes and preferences

• No tinc un duro: Carles, Pep and Sara decide to go out together.
• Sant Joan: Pep, Bel, Carles and Sara tell how they celebrate Midsummer's Night.

What does 4cats offer?

Each episode offers a set of tools that make it easier to understand and facilitate learning:

Additional learning materials

These can be found on the left-hand side of the screen and open up into a separate window if so desired. They are all translated into English, Spanish, French and Italian, except the transcripts. The contents are as follows:

• Transcripts: the complete dialogue of each episode
• Grammar: notes on some grammatical aspect of the episode
• Context: notes on sociolinguistic aspects of the situation, the context, or non-verbal communication
• Vocabulary: some of the words and expressions that can make the episode more difficult to understand, with special attention to terms that are considered non-standard (barbarisms), young people's slang (colloquialisms), and terms specific to the various dialectal variants.

Subtitling

We include the option to activate the Catalan subtitles of each episode. At a later stage subtitles in other languages will be provided.

Comments and forwarding

You can send the videos to social networking sites or forward them by email, and express your own views in the comments section.

Credits

Idea and production: Institut Ramon Llull
Script: Albert Plans
Directed by: La Taca Produccions
Actors and actresses: Pilar Llaràs, Nelo Gómez, Cesca Vadell, Esther Grothier, Xavier Lauder
Language counselling: Department of Language and Universities of Institut Ramon Llull and Maria Espelt
Translations: Servei de traduccions, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

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