According to the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Catalan government), Catalan language is spoken by an estimate of 9.118.882 speakers although around 11 million people actually understand the language. The figure includes speakers from the whole Catalan linguistic area which comprises Catalonia itself, Valencia, the Balearic islands (Mallorca, Menorca and Eivissa), Andorra, the franja de ponent (a litle area between catalonia and Aragon), some areas in northern France and in l'Alguer, a small city in the island Sardinia. It needs to be said that Spanish is also spoken in Catalonia and shifting between the two is an absolutely normal practice in everyday life as Catalans are mostly bilingual.