Guillem speaking Catalan

This video was recorded at the Afûk, in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands by Guillem Belmar and features Guillem speaking the Catalan language. Catalan was spoken by 3,750,000 people in Spain as of 2012, with an estimated international population totaling 4,079,420 L1 users. It is recognized as an official language of Catalonia alongside Aranese, Spanish, and Catalan Sign Language, and as an official language of Andorra, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands alongside Spanish. It is also recognized as a minority language in Italy, but has no official recognition in France. Although Catalan, a Romance language derived from Latin, is named for the medieval Principality of Catalonia, it has varieties spoken in places like Valencia and the Balearic Islands where it is known as Valencian. Catalan has born witness to linguistic erosion as it became increasingly displaced by Spanish from the late 1400s to present day, and by French especially after the French Revolution of 1789. Despite these and ongoing challenges to vitality, Catalan remains resilient with efforts by the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales, and by revivalists such as Aribau, Verdaguer, Oller, and Guimerà. The teaching of Catalan in schools and its official (minority) recognition in Spain have gone a long way to bolster its prestige, though cultural challenges remain.