figli del sole

hi everybody!
i'm giovanni from italy, this summer i'd like to go to spain for a couple of months to "try" to learn spanish, so i was looking for an italian forum about spain, but all of them are craps, and actually this one is the only one that seems good among many more...
i've been in galway (ireland) last year for a bit less than a year, there i met many (really, many! =) spanish, but that has nothing to do with it...

however i what i wanted to ask you if anyone knows spanish schools in spain.

sorry if already exists another thread about it, but im completely clumsy with computers... well, and sorry also if i made some mistakes, its already 6 months that i dont speak any english, more or less

sunnysenorita

Where in Spain were you looking to move to as there are lots of Spanish schools in very different regions.

Look at http://www.donquijote.org/

They seem to have schools all over.

accommodation-in-spain

I believe there are some good ones in Vejer and Cadiz in Southern Spain and the locals there only really speak Spanish which is really fantastic for learning.

Here are a couple of links but is you type 'learning spanish in Cadiz (or whatever location you fancy)' a lot come up:

http://www.spanishincadiz.com/
http://www.lajanda.org/

If you need any accommodation for the area just pop me an e-mail or click on my web-site link below

Happy learning - it is a gorgeous language.

Hasta luego
Zoe

figli del sole

thanks for your replyes, i've had a look on the links, those seem to be good schools.
however i don't think the situation is like in ireland (and i guess in the whole english spoken countries), i mean that there are many foreigner's schools in every town..is it!?
there isnt any web site with all the spanish schools!?

about the spoken spanish: some friends told me that in most of the little villages people dont talk spanish. probably this assertion is inaccurate...what do you think, is in the south in general spoken a "good" spanish!?

well, of course i'll need an accomodation... hope you don't mind "accomodation in spain" if i say that i'm not used to trust so much in agencyes, i'd rather prefere to stay in a hostel the first days, while i look for a flat... if i misunderstood, and you don't mean such stuff corrcet me... of course a little help is alway welcome.



slainte!

herman Kappen

It's true that the Spanish spoken here in Andalucía is different from proper castellano. People generally fail to pronounce their s's and z's, especially at the end of words. Thus, 'España' becomes 'Epaña' and 'dos' becomes 'do'.

To anyone who studied Spanish before coming to live here, it can be quite a shock to find that the Spanish they learnt back home is actually different from the Spanish actually spoken in the south. At first, I simply couldn't understand people and it felt as if I had emigrated to the wrong country. Soon enough, however, I got used to the accent. I still prefer proper castellano, though.

Regards,
Herman

keithwalters

The best schools are usually found in the big cities. Donquijote has already been mentioned. Cactuslanguage is another. International House for example.

In southern spain they tend to speak gramatically correct. However, the Andaluz accent is VERY strong. The "best" spanish is spoken around Valladolid or Salamanca. (Lots of foreign students end up in Salamanca).

It's not true that they don't speak spanish in the little villages. However, they don't speak spanish as a first language in Barcelona or the Balearic islands for example (that is Catalan or Mallorquin). So for the purposes of learning Spanish I would avoid the Catalan areas. Also avoid the coastal regions as you will find even the waiters will try to speak to you in English!

accommodation-in-spain

Yep Keith is correct Mallorquin is a language of its own but if you go to Mallorca and speak Spanish they will understand you. I am sure the schools would teach the 'main' form of Spanish or am I wrong - e.g. when you go to school and learn French they wouldn't teach you a local dialect.

I haven't noticed people in my coastal resort of La Barrosa trying to speak English to me yet but maybe that is because we don't speak any English to them (mind you my fair skin and red hair blows my Spanish cover ).

No problem regarding accommodation Figli - no offence taken. I am however not an agent but run an advertising portal for owners to post their properties directly to my site so it is the owner you would be dealing with not me - it saves you loads of money

Fortaleza

I own a school in a coastal town where NOBODY speaks English!! Great for business (for me that it is!) and we can fix you up with accommodation and, importantly, a job. Even if you don't need the cash from the job, it is a great way of putting into practice what you learn.

Send me a PM if you're interested

Chiclanagir

Can I have a job too please.

figli del sole

don't understand one thing: are you kidding me!?
as i said before i don't trust agencyes...
than, a costal town....what town!?

however... what do you think about Galicia and Asturias!? is the spanish good up there!?
everybody, as you did, told me not to go to Andalucìa, would be like trying to learn italian in Naples...

i ve seen schools are quite expensive.... so that i would also be interested in founding a little job... is it easy to get something with a bad spanish and a pretty good english (and italian of course) in those places!?

last, i heard that some pubblics schools (Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas) organize spanish courses for foreigners, is it true!? and would it be cheaper?

thanks for your patience =)

keithwalters

Some of the Escuela Oficiales have spanish classes for foreigners (most of their classes are English, German and French for the Spanish though). They start every september and are free (bar a few admin costs). Getting on one of these courses might not be easy though.

anabella

When you mention Galicia and Asturias I understand why you've been told that people in small villages don't speak Spanish, in those areas is true that you'll find people that don't (only in small villages as you well said). In Galicia people speak Galician (very similar to Portuguese) and in Asturias they speak Bable.

Andalucian is quite hard to understand even for me (and I am Spanish) and therefore it is harder to learn there than in other areas where you'll be able to understand much more. Being Italian you'll find learning Spanish very easy.. I've met Italians in Spain that are fluent in no time (they spend most of their time drinking that seems to really help ). Castilian is the purest Spanish.. if I was you I'd go to Salamanca; it is a really beautiful university city with a great atmosphere as it is full of students. You won't have a problem finding a Spanish course as there are many international (mainly Erasmus) students. If you prefer to find less foreigners Valladolid would be a good option too as Keithwalters said (I used to live there) but it is nowhere near as beautiful as Salamanca..

Good luck whatever you do, I am certain that it will be fun no matter where you go. . I'm trying to remember how to say Merry Christmas in Italian.. Buon Natale? I think it's something like that.. Feliz Navidad.

figli del sole

buon natale is perfect, gracias =)

i think also that drinking in a pub is a great way of learning new languages, that's what i did in ireland, and that's why i like learning languages...much better than studying mathematics!

however right now my first choice is salamanca, i ve seen some photos, and didn't see any car almost...that very affascinate me. coming back to italy from ireland has been a bit shocking for the stressfull lifestyle...

buon anno nuovo!

Slainte!

figli del sole

at finally i decided, im going to salamanca, i ve alerady booked the plain for the 27th of july, and i ll stay there till the firsts of octobre. now... i have some more questions: how should i move to find a job!? i guess there are websites to do it (like in ireland fas.ie). what do you think about the job situation in that period (august, septembre), do you think it willl be hard in salamanca than to get a little job!?
avout the school... the first few weeks (maybe 4) i will be studying spanish, so i did a little research (can i write so!? hope yes..) and thanks also to this website (very useful: http://centrosasociados.cervantes.es/CAcreditados.asp#3 ) i ve seen prices and all that goes; a good school seems to be "mester", does anyone know it!?
to find a roof i did this: i went to the erasmus office of my city (lecce) and i asked some email addresses of people who were there with the university, so i contacted those people....nothing sure yet, but it should be the easyest thing to do, also because in july the erasmus studenrts go back to their own countries

grazie
giovanni