Job Discussion Forums

[mikethelin]

My wife and I are planning to spend our summer in Spain taking Spanish language classes. Our top choice of locations are Malaga, Cadiz or Sevilla. Can anyone recommend a good language school. Any we should avoid? And, is Barcelona a good place to learn Spanish? I've heard the locals speak mostly Catalan.

Thank you very much.

[IanN]

Have a look at this website.

http://www.donquijote.org/

This is the company I originally used about 9 years ago to learn Spanish. When I arrived then I didn't speak a word but after a 4 month intensive course I was fairly fluent.

Unfortunately I then didn't use it again until I moved to Spain 18 months ago but something must have been ingrained as I picked it up again quite quickly without further classes.

I just had a look back at the website for Granada (the school I went to) and noticed that they are still in the same building, the director is still the same and one of the teachers is still there.


Obviously this recommendation is from my experience many years ago but I have heard good things about them since. When I used them they only had 3 schools in Spain and now they have 9 (including Malaga and Barcelona) and a couple in Latin America as well.

I remember they weren't the cheapest when I was there but I met several students from other schools who didn't like their courses but the students at Don Quijote only gave good reviews.

I have just realised that this sounds as if I either work for them or am getting a good comission for writing this but I assure you this isn't the case.

If you have further questions just let me know.

Ian.

[laflaca]

I've also heard that Don Quixote are very good, but I've also heard that they cost about 2x as much as anywhere else.

Never been to southern Spain, but I hear it's very stifling inland during the summer... may want to stick to coastal cities.

And finally, the website of the European Association for Quality Language Services has a list of schools in Spain (and elsewhere) that are "quality assured." (never been to one and can't vouch for them, but the operation looks trustworthy)

http://www.eaquals.org

They have an interactive map that might be helpful.

Good luck!