How do they compare? Should they be considered separate languages and written differently or standardised into one thing? What do you think of France's decision to veto recognition of Catalan as an official language of the EU?
These are the questions I'm asking myself before having read much about it. But I'm thinking of learning some Occitan as an alternative to French. However, I may end up not being able to speak it with anyone but people from Catalonia?
I'm thinking that it's worth making the effort to revive languages that spread over huge areas like that and unifying their speakers into making one standard that can make its way by virtue of size and number of speakers, in spite of the aggressive destructive efforts of governments.
And if there's someone from France in that forum, how common is it to find young people speaking Occitan between themselves rather than standard French?