Bring up the city of Barcelona in a conversation with a Spaniard and—depending on where in Spain you are and who you’re talking to—they won’t take long to smile at you indulgently and say, “Barcelona? You mean Barthelona?”
The locals’ witticism repeats itself until you either give in and start saying Barthelona as everybody else does, or you get tired of it and start replying with a, “No, I meant Barcelona,” at which point the conversation is most likely over. (Or at least doesn’t last very long.)
Here’s where it gets good.
Go to the city of Barcelona and say Barthelona, and the Catalans will look at you with a combination of puzzlement and slight concern because, to them, the name of the city is pronounced Barselona.
What gives? And what is the right way to pronounce Barcelona in Spanish?
These are good questions to be asking, especially if you’re moving to Spain and want to fit in. And as with all good questions, the long answer short is it depends.
Local legend has it that Ferdinand III, the king of Castile from 1217 to 1252 and of Leon from 1230 to 1252, was born with a lisp. So his courtiers, and then his subjects, started mispronouncing the letters “c,” “d,” and “z” as “th” in an attempt to speak as their beloved king does.
And so, in Castilian Spanish—the de-fact form of the Spanish language and the one spoken in northern and central Spain—you have Barthelona, Madrith, and Valenthia.
But the thing is that the people of Barcelona are Catalans, not Castilians. They speak Catalan, a different language from Spanish spoken in Andorra, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands. And their dialect of the Spanish language is influenced by Catalan pronunciation.
That is why Barcelona is pronounced Barselona in eastern Spain. The tongue doesn’t sit in the front of the mouth for a sharp “th” sound but retracts to the back to produce a pronounced “s” and a soft “l.”
Whether to say Barthelona or Barselona is a matter of personal preference. If you’re in northern Spain, the local way to pronounce it is Barthelona; if in eastern Spain and, specifically, the autonomous community of Catalunia, it’s Barselona.