Hello Everybody,

I am from Canada and am looking to learn Spanish.  I am debating between Barcelona, Madrid and Malaga and am unsure of which to choose.  My options are not limited to those three locations however; I am willing to go to any place that will offer me a good school, good nightlife and one that is rich with culture.

I have never been to Spain so any suggestions would be a great help.  Thanks very much, looking forward to reading some responses.

hola desde espana!

i’m currently living in spain (well.. for 6 days now) and i will just tell you what i know about two of the places you mentioned:

barcelona’s main language is catalan. this doesn’t serve much purpose unless you are living in barcelona forever. soo.. i’d vote against it.
madrid is a big city and is caro (expensive). if you can afford it, it’s a great destination (so i’ve heard from my span tutor who was born & raised there)
but if not i’d go with something a bit smaller. i don’t know anything about malaga (lo siento).

as for where i am, i am living in lugo, galicia. it’s a small small town & that doesn’t seem like what you’re looking for so i’ll leave it out.
i can tell you that a thousand people mentioned granada to me & it’s where i was originally going to go (before i decided i wanted a small town experience).

it’s in the southern part of spain.. i hear it’s awesome.

sorry i can’t be of MORE help but thought i’d share what little info i do have..

buen suerte!
erica

eribell.blogspot.com

Hola Erica,

Gracias (that’s all I know so far) for responding to my post.  Since then I have done some in-depth searching and have come up with these two places: (1) Salamanca and (2) Alicante. I know they are two very different places but I have heard great reviews about both.  Salamanca has a great university and Alicante has a lot of students in the area.  I will look into Grenada as well, thank you so much for your recommendation.

Did you move to Spain to learn the language? How are you finding things so far?

Jessica

Hi there and welcome!

I will give my opinion as I think I have had a pretty good experience in this realm.

I am from the US and I live in Barcelona, and I am here pushing 4 years now.  It is a fantastic, international and cosmopolitan city, one of the best places to live in Europe.  A misconception about Barcelona is that Catalan is the main language. Catalan and Spanish have equal levels of importance and use here in BCN, with all the people that speak Catalan also speaking Spanish.  Catalan is definitely not necessary to learn here, but if you are here long enough it will sink in, and it doesn’t hurt to know!

Something I have a strong viewpoint on is coming to Spain to learn the language.  Although I love it here, and have had a fantastic experience, I do not necessarily believe it is the best place to learn the language.  Although the “mother land” of the spanish language, there is much more slang and accents, as well as etiquette differences here than is most other spanish speaking countries making it more challenging to learn.  But what degree of challenging mainly depends on the region. 

I have done a lot of travelling all over Spain, and then very much in Central and South America as well and have seen many variances in the language.  I think if you are not dead set on coming to Spain for other reasons apart from learning the language you should consider some other options as well.  Although some may not agree, from my personal experience with many people and time spent in the country, I have found Colombia to be the country where Spanish is spoken in its most clear and proper form, allowing for much easier comprehension from someone intending to learn.

Those are my thoughts, hope they could be of help.  Best of luck!

well I lived in Barcelona for some time but never been to Madrid but from my experience and from what I heard I would say
go to Madrid! Malaga is in Andalucia and the speak a heavy accent there (though I had less problems to understand this than the spanish spoken in Barcelona)

Barcelona is indeed a VERY beautiful city and especially during the summer with the beaches and all def. a great place to stay!

But I couldnt agree less with the member “Chef” -  the whole Catalan movement is bound to go on your nerves sooner or later…

exactly 5 minutes into a party somebody WILL approach you and start a conversation about Catalan and why everybody should speak catalan, why catalonia should be a country seperated from spain….The catalan people dont even consider themselves spanish and they hate basically everything that resembles spain e.g. bullfights,

Hi Everyone,

Thank you very much for all of the helpful information and recommendations.  I think I have finally nailed down a spot where I would like to go.  I have read and heard many good reviews so I have decided to go to Salamanca.  Apparently the University is really good and the place is beautiful. 

As for the post about considering other Spanish speaking countries, I hadn’t considered that option.  Not because I thought they would be less useful but only because I have always wanted to go to Spain.  I also have some friends who live in Spain who I would love to visit so I thought this would be an excellent excuse.  Thank you for bringing that up though!

Anyhow, thanks for all the posts they were very helpful. Any more information on places to visit and things to see are much appreciated and welcomed.

cladinred - 08 November 2010 07:26 PM

Hello there! I believe that if you really have the will to learn a new language, you can truly achieve it. Right now I?m learning to speak Spanish through the Rocket Spanish software? and so far so good?

I’ve just checked Rocket Spanish website. Did you apply to their free course first?

Very worth a visit even if you don’t do your course there…
Barcelona.
Vibrant, full of culture and my month there on an intensive 4 week Sp lang course was fab!
(It was not Catalan but Castillian!)... versionoriginal*  (google it).
The teachers were young and fun and organised some great trips out, including night time.
There is also a large university in the city with a Cosmopolitan mix.
(*They also organised my accommodation for me with a family not too far from the centre and
very affordable rates!)

The course has stood me in good stead for many years (here 10 now, entering the next decade!)

!Buena Suerte!

PS. I live near Malaga city, which although much smaller than Barcelona, has a laid back buzz!