Both Catalan and Spanish are official languages in the islands. Catalan is designated as a llengua pròpia, literally own language in its statute of autonomy. The Balearic dialect features several differences from standard Catalan. Typically, speakers of Balearic Catalan call their own language with a name specific to each island: Mallorquí, Menorquí, Eivissenc, Formenterenc.

Virtually all residents of the Balearic Islands speak Spanish fluently. In 2003 74.6% of the Islands’ residents also knew how to speak Catalan and 93.1% could understand it. Most of the native speakers of Spanish in the islands have family roots elsewhere in Spain.

Other languages, such as English, German, French and Italian, are often spoken by locals, especially those who work in the tourism industry.