earlyoap

Hi again
We would like/need a basic in Spanish when we get around to moving. The town (Tarifa) we are heading for does not have many English speakers.
Got some cds s and books but dont really rate them. I have never walked into to a Bar or Cafe and said "Me llamo rob" = my name is rob I have never done this even though my name is rob
But any way we have our hols planned 6 weeks in the above town to have a look at some property. So we where thinking Spanish lessons there.
the cost is 765 euros each for a 5 week course and thats about 4 hours a day 5 days a week. or 33 euros an hour for private lessons for 2.
Do you think these are a good price?
would 4 hours aday 5 days a week be to much?
To make things hard this end (UK) we live in the middle of nowhere nearest town 20 miles away no evening classes for 80 miles
So any Ideas
rob

lurchio

Woah! Intensive lessons demand intensive concentration and loads of'homework', then you have to move, set up home, do all the legal things, adjust to the climate / lifestyle etc etc.Try some free sites like Babelfish and Memrise. When you settle in an area, you may find the Town Hall offers lessons (really cheaply, if not free) you will have a local tutor, who can also importantly help with the local dialect as well. They cover practical things like Restaurants,Doctors, Dentists,Post Offices, Shopping etc etc which can initially be FAR more useful than learning twenty odd tenses etc. Poco a poco Amigo.

scrubbedexpat142

Very relevant points here about the relevance of what you will learn. I could write a dissertation about the behaviour of "small green frogs on buses" and a great novel about "kindergarten teachers flying among caves and through trees" (not in Spanish though!) but still precious little that I can use in a bank, post office, shop, etc!

Came across a cracker the other day on a language app. - "That beautiful woman has no clothes on". For some reason the girl in the bakery didn't seem too impressed!

lurchio

Also ask yourselves when did you last'intensively'learn a complete new subject, especially a language? No disrespects, you will put an awful lot of pressure on both of you, right in the middle of life changing decision time.

tebo53

I agree, try Memrise and Duolingo. I've found them both usefull. Google translate is handy for odd words or sentences of your own.

earlyoap

Points taken and thanks
We have been to Spain a few times and always there was some one that spoke English.
Last time we went we drove from Bilbao to Tarifa hol there and then drive back. Every where we went no one spoke English maybe one or 2. But the point is I/We think it is polite at least to try and speak Spanish.
The funny thing is when we tried and people worked out we where English some wanted to try there English out or would answer us that fast in Spanish we looked at them open mouthed.

lurchio

I like it !!!!!


Yes, if you want to engage a Spaniard on the answer to life, the universe and everything else you will really need to know your stuff. Although you will have to pick your audience carefully to avoid ridicule, or in my area of Granada, ending up with 20 lashes and then popped in the Wickerman for blasphemy or something.


No, better to know for example, which tooth you need filling, whats hurting you, how much money you need and how to buy a car / meal / skin cream etc. Also avoids being constantly served things like Pigs knuckles in grey gravy, when you wanted a nice pork chop really. Also avoids not being able to eat it, leaving the plate alone and being threatened by a knife wielding 18 stone Spanish mama who spent all day in a 100 degree kitchen making the stuff and now wants your cojones for the specials board.


I love it here though!!!!!


Rob, poco a poco.

lurchio

All been there, I still am to a certain extent, my local tutor taught me (amongst all the other really helpful stuff) Spanish for 'Talk to me slowly, please', and to listen without panicking whilst picking out key words that gave the picture. Remember dialect can twist your 'Classically' learned Spanish and you will end up wondering if you were totally wrong in what you said. You weren't, it just that its not said that way in a particular area. Mad, just go with it.


Also remember if its really IMPORTANT, you will find an interpreter in your area to use. No one expects you to learn the language so quickly and with such precision that you can deal with House purchases. Legal matters, serious illness, and Contracts etc. and totally make the right decision. Take the pressure off in cases like that, its probably no more than 10 euros an hour and job done.

For the 'normal' stuff, its fun learning and you'll have loads of laughs on the way, remember in the day to day stuff none of it will be fatal if you get it wrong, enjoy!

lurchio

Sorry, yes, I forgot Duolingo! Very structured, gives you revision, active refreshers on what you have covered and phrases / sentences. My wife found it the best way to learn Spanish of them all, really useful.

Cape Blue

Plenty of English spoken in Tarifa - choc full of wind and kite surfers from northern Europe so the locals have learned enough English.

Learn Spanish in the Costa de la Luz | Spanish Language School Andalucia - this place a bit further up the road to compare prices.

earlyoap

When we where there this winter. Never meet any English speaker except the lady in the tourist info place. But either way If where going to live there think its only right that we can at least get by in Spanish.
But thanks for the link. Ask wife should we save the cash and do so kite lessons. She looked at me like I was speaking Spanish not quiet got the quote bit right.

Cape Blue

Winter certainly less than summer, but having owned a house down the road since 2003 I tend to find more English speaking capability in the shops and services in Tarifa than anywhere else on the Costa de la Luz.

Of course speaking Spanish will be important if you intend to live there, difficult to succeed otherwise.

Perhaps split the money/time and do a bit of both.

earlyoap

me in a dry suit with my Beer Belly

But would really like to speak the lingo. May just go with the 1 hour private lesson a day see how we get on. If nothing else it would make us get out the holiday home.

FranE

A few thoughts of mine:


Private lessons once or twice a week during your forthcoming holiday. I think 33 euros is pretty good.


Audio conversational "lessons" whenever you can, driving in the car or whatever, just listening to them and "getting your ear in" will help. Even if you don't think you're learning much you will be taking something in.


When you're eventually settled in, do the intensive course. That sort of immersion for me would have been really useful. I did a couple of evening conversation courses at the local college - but once a week, among about 20 other people, is quite slow going.


Are there any Spanish speakers in your local town who could arrange conversation with you once a week or so, for a fee of course? Have you tried the web or Facebook to find Spanish ex-pats? I live in a small city in the South West and there is a sizeable Spanish community here, invisible unless you start looking. There are 2 Spanish ex-pat teachers at my grandchildren's school, and a Spanish nurse at my surgery. I arranged an hour's conversation weekly with one of the teachers (part time so she was really glad of a bit of extra cash) and I found that incredibly useful. She told me the Spanish mums around here had arranged their own mother and toddler group and yet I had NO IDEA there were any Spanish here at all!


Like I said, just some thoughts.

rachelk

In my experience, 4 hours a day is great.

I did something similar for two weeks years ago and would have loved to continue for longer but at the time was in spain on holiday, not yet to live.

In my case it was 4 hours in the morning, finishing in time for spanish lunchtime, with the afternoons free but occasional cultural/social things planned in the evenings.

It's a great way to get started, intensive classes in the mornings plus immersion (if you want!) for the rest of the day. By the end of the 5 weeks you should have enough decent spanish to get by and perhaps even enough to continue learning in a less formal way ie by language exchanges etc.

Good luck!