Xarlar meaning, and Catalan.

Question

A message from my new penpal, she's great, but uses words I cannot find in any dictionary.

I asked about a couple of words she used (forgive my Spanish, I'm new, but learning).

"No puedo encontrar la palabra 'corijes'.  Yo puedo encontrar el verbo 'corregir'.  ¿En cuál tiempo se encuentra esto?   Mi conjetura es 'tú' forma de subjuntivo, 'corrijas',,, ¿No?. ¿Y 'vervo', no es 'verbo'? ¿Son 'v' y 'b' intercambiables? ¿Son estos los temas de dialecto?
Gracias, Ken"

She answered:

"Te explico, soy catalana, y perdón, mi español no es muy bueno, yo lo hablo perfectamente pero me cuesta escribirlo ya que es muy diferente al catalán.
Las expresiones y la manera de escribir son distintas del catalán.
Si no te vale, pues lo siento. :(
seguro que encontraras algun castellano por aqui,"

I understand everything except; "Y si te parece bien pregunta lo que quieras que me encanta "xarlar" con la gente."
I think it's "And, if it's OK with you, ask whatever you want, I love "xarlar" with the people."
I'm not sure what "xarlar" means. I assume it is "parlar" meaning "speak or chat". Why the "X"?

I still learn much from our dialogue, but seem to spend a lot (hours) of time researching a few unknown words, rather than focusing on grammar and puncuation. While I respect her knowledge of multiple languages / dialects, perhaps I am not ready for those differences.  Is Catalan that different?
Thanks, Ken

Answer 1

Hi, amaken!

No puedo encontrar la palabra 'corijes'. Yo puedo encontrar el verbo 'corregir'. ¿En cuál qué tiempo se encuentra esto?

It could be corriges (present indicative, tú) or corrijas (present subjuntive, tú)

¿Y 'vervo', no es 'verbo'? ¿Son 'v' y 'b' intercambiables?

Yes, it is verbo. V and B are not interchangeables in spelling, but they sound exactly the same, this is why many natives often make mistakes.

¿Son estos los temas de dialecto?

Yes, speaking a regional language is sometimes tricky when it comes to write properly, because the spelling rules are totally different to Spanish and people get confused.

Thank you. She was telling me to correct her ",,, te escribire en ingles y me corijes". - amaken, Jan 17, 2011

ah! then it's corriges :) - cogumela, Jan 17, 2011

I'm confused about why "qué" would be used instead of "cuál" for saying "In which tense is this?" - amaken, Jan 18, 2011

Answer 2

as you supposed, xarlar stands for charlar ---> to chat

and yes, Catalán is different from Spanish. just think of this ´x´ sound represented in Spanish as ´ch´

Ahh! Charlar, thank you. - amaken, Jan 17, 2011

Answer 3

Is Catalan that different?

Yes, it is. While I was in Barcelona, Spain, the heart of the Catalan language, most people spoke Catalan, not Spanish. Some, who were born and reared in other parts of Spain, never could learn the Catalan language. They spoke Castilian Spanish instead. To me, when I would see the language written on signs, it looked like French, but sounded like Spanish. Since Northern Catalonia borders Southern France, I'm sure there is a mix of the two languages, Spanish and French.

She lives an hour north of Barcelona, close to the border of France. Thanks for the info. - amaken, Jan 17, 2011