Best Place to Learn Spanish in Spain?

[kujina]

Hello All,

I'm currently writing this email from Buenos Aires, I have been studying Spanish here for a few weeks, I'm going back to England in a week.

I would like to keep my learning momentum going by spending around two weeks this coming summer somewhere in Spain (cheap ticket via easyjet etc) maybe a homestay.

Obviously I'd like a place where Castallano is spoken well and ideally where very few people speak English.

I'm up for staying in villages or towns too (as long as the language remains reasonably clear).

Any Suggestions?

...Thanks...

[Rusty]

Welcome to the forums. A couple of nice places to visit in Spain have been mentioned in other threads, but I'll let others tell you about them, or other places.

Castellano is widely spoken in Spain, but it isn't the only language you'll encounter.

[CrOtALiTo]

Welcome.

As Rusty said before it already was mentioned in other threads.

I don't know anything about Spain. But I'm a Mexican person and if you want to information about Mexico, I will glad in give you information about of my country. As well if you have some question or need learn Spanish please you feeling free to ask me.

[Tomisimo]

One thing you should take into account is, for example, in Barcelona, quite a few people speak Catalán, so you might get less exposure to Spanish there. Do some research before you go. Sosia and Poli might have some better suggestions.

[sosia]

Usually it's said the "castillian" regions are the most pure (Salamanca, Burgos, León, Toledo, Ciudad Real,..) But you can learn good spanish everywhere Madrid, Navarra, Aragón, Asturias, Cantabria...... you only need to study.
If ypu go to a language school, you can go everywhere in Spain.
If you go to real inmersion, I recommend to avoid the three "edges" (Andalucía,
Cataluña, Galicia), because they have a characteristic accent.
Saludos

[poli]

First, be aware that Spanish spoke by the Bonaerences is a lot slower.
The rhythm is completely different. In Argentina, the accented word in the sentence is often the first word in short sentences unlike in Spain where is it often the second the the last word. To the foreign ear Spanish spoken is Castille is very sing-song and tonal like Mandarin but with tons of cognates.

As nice and as incredibly inexpensive Buenos Aires is, it cannot compare to the cultural richness of Spain. It has the richness that comes with being the actual seat of an empire that had its last breath about 110 years ago but lasted 400 years, Spain holds on to a kind of cultural impererialism(not in a negative way; it's comparable to England's role in the anglo world today) that still holds sway. When the king told Chavez to shut his mouth, the world listened. When Spain had a dictator, much of Latin America had dictators. When Spain became a democracy, military rule in Latin America started to crumble.

Because of it's cultural force, Spain is fascinating. Madrid is it's capital,
and much of the vibrancy of the country is there. The place and its people may stimulate you to learn--or intimidate you. I think it's the best place if you're interested in cultural as well as language immersion. Smaller university towns that Sosia mentioned (Salamanca and Burgos) are of course less hectic, and because there is less to do, may be better for studying.

[Sebastian]

Hi ,
why don´t you give Granada a try? 80.000 students, the Alhambra and Albayzin, snow and seaside closer than an hour away, free tapas with your drink.
I know the legend complaining about bad and fast pronuntiation in southern Spain, but there is a much better use and knowledge of grammacy in Andalucia than in central and northern Spain(v.g here there´are no mistakes using lo,le,la... ).
So, if you plan to come , take a look at my blog where I´ve put into a summary of all language schools in Granada.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by Sebastian

Hi ,
why don´t you give Granada a try? 80.000 students, the Alhambra and Albayzin, snow and seaside closer than an hour away, free tapas with your drink.
I know the legend complaining about bad and fast pronuntiation in southern Spain, but there is a much better use and knowledge of grammacy in Andalucia than in central and northern Spain(v.g here there´are no mistakes using lo,le,la... ).
So, if you plan to come , take a look at my blog where I´ve put into a summary of all language schools in Granada.

It seem more an invitation right?

[Sebastian]

sorry, I forgot to enter the enter the blog.
<snip>

[bobjenkins]

¿Entonces Madrid es un lugar buena aprender castellano? ¡Tambien el bernabéu es en Madrid!

[Ambarina]

Welcome, kujina!
If you want to come to Spain in the summer, you'll have no trouble finding courses practically anywhere. It just depends on what kind of immersion you're looking for.
In the large cities you're more than likely to find it difficult to spend time with Spanish speakers as there'll be lots of foreigners at that time of year. Even in Salamanca, as it's a university town and generally full of foreign students in the summer.
Like Sosia said, the smaller places are much better for immersion, and the corners of the country have either their own language (Cataluña and Galicia) or very heavy accents (Andalucía) which you may like to take into consideration.
The "cleanest" Spanish is spoken in the Castille provinces: Avila, Segovia, Valladolid, León, Toledo, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Burgo, Palencia....
There's also the northern coast which not many foreigners know about and when they travel in the area are surprised at how green it is - Oviedo/Gijón, Santander, Bilbao, San Sebastián. Basque is spoken more in San Sebastián than Bilbao.
Hope that helps.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by bobjenkins

¿Entonces Madrid es un lugar buena aprender castellano? ¡Tambien el bernabéu es en Madrid!

Also Mexico should be one chose to learn the language, I don't know why only Europe the people chosen to learn the Spanish.

Because also north American we speak us at Spanish.

[irmamar]

Maybe this link is useful for you, although the Instituto Cervantes said that it doesn't depends on the place, but on the people who you are talking with.

http://www.cadenaser.com/articulo/cu...rcsrcul_1/Tes/

[Sebastian]

Originally Posted by bobjenkins

¿Entonces Madrid es un lugar buena aprender castellano? ¡Tambien el bernabéu es en Madrid!

Madrid es demasiado grande para mi gusto. A esa altura tienes salamanca como sitio muy recomendable.
Repito una vez más que si bien la gente pueda tener una mejor pronunciación en el centro y norte(discutible: el habitante de Madrid pronuncia "Madriz"...) , en gramática cometen fallos muy grandes.
En Andalucía, por el contrario , se usa la gramática más correctamente y

[irmamar]

Creo que se te cortó el post

Efectivamente, en Andalucía se utiliza la gramática correctamente, pero no hay que olvidar que el andaluz es un dialecto (y soy andaluza de nacimiento). Para un extranjero, entender el andaluz es bastante difícil, creo yo. Te lo digo por experiencia, porque he tenido en mi casa de Andalucía a unos alemanes y no entendían nada de lo que les decían.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Creo que se te cortó el post

Efectivamente, en Andalucía se utiliza la gramática correctamente, pero no hay que olvidar que el andaluz es un dialecto (y soy andaluza de nacimiento). Para un extranjero, entender el andaluz es bastante difícil, creo yo. Te lo digo por experiencia, porque he tenido en mi casa de Andalucía a unos alemanes y no entendían nada de lo que les decían.

The you can take the same example from Mexico, here in Mexico the people speak different and they have much idioms for example, the Chiapas state they speak in Spanish but anyhow they using much kinds to dialects for the Maya culture, therefore I believe that in Spain is alt most the same than Mexico.

[poli]

Crotalito,como en Mexico en España hay muchos idiomas tambien. Creo que el español hablado en Mexico puedo ser muy claro. Cuando está hablado por una persona con educación en comunicaciones (como reporteros) tiene un carácter muy homogeneizado y interancional y por eso tal vez más util que español hablado en Argentina y España que tiene accentos muy distintos.

[CrOtALiTo]

Yes. You are right.

[teresa]

The purest Castillian Spanish is said to be spoken in Castilla y león autonomous region and Segovia is in the heart of it.

Segovia is quite small (I was born there and It is BEAUTIFUL). The council and the Universities and Schools have prepared Spanish courses with leisures activities and accommodation(full boarding) included in the price, from 650 for one week!!!!

The problem is that almost nobody speak English and It is difficult for English people to find there courses when looking for it ( I tried it but no results) BUT
I´ve found a PDF courses, I can send you the pdf and promote MY CITY

[MMills]

I would say the best place to learn Spanish is Spain is in Salamanca, which is about 2 hours west of Madrid. It is located in the Castila y Leon region, and so here in Salamanca pure Spanish is spoken. It is the best place to learn if your ultimate goal is to really truly acquire the Spanish language. If one's goal is mainly to travel around then Salamanca may not be for you. Although, Salamanca is very close to Portugal, and only a 20 Euro bus ride away from Madrid, where one could fly, bus, or train to almost anywhere.

Salamanca is full of students and locals, and both speak Spanish most of the time. And clear Spanish. This helps ALOT, because most of your learning won't happen in the classroom, but in the streets, in the restaurants, in cafes, at bars, at events, etc. So I believe its important to study in a city where the culture empowers a deeper and sustainable acquisition of the language. That place is certainly Salamanca. 2nd oldest university in the world here. Many Spanish schools (I currently attend Tia Tula Spanish School in Salamanca). Historic look and feel. Most things are walking distance. The city is SAFER than some of the bigger cities, which is a small but big aspect of travel. That's one big thing to not have to worry about. You can truly walk down the street with your valuables and possessions and feel comfortable. With this, you can focus that much more on speaking the language.

Here in Salamanca, because of its intimate and small presentation, coupled with the international feel, you in a very interesting way become a 'Salmantino' for a time. It's the type of immersion I believe one would enjoy if immersion is what they are looking for.