Studying Spanish in Spain

I have been doing a little bit of research into studying Spanish in Spain and I thought it would be useful to share it in case this could be of help to anyone looking to make a similar decision. I have looked specifically at Spain for geographical reasons, so could not possibly comment on the advantages of Spain vs. Latin America, though Latin America is clearly an option for most people. For my analysis I have also considered a study period of around 3-6 months, with intensive classes (i.e. daily classes of 4-5 hours), enough to jump 3-6 levels in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

The reason for looking to study Spanish in a hispanophone country is obvious, one can learn a lot faster when studying an intensive course in a total immersion environment than when studying a foreign language in your home country. Now normally I would consider the national language and cultural institute to be the gold standard against which other options would have to be compared, e.g. Goethe Institut for German and Instituto Cervantes for Spanish. Strangely enough, while there are multiple Goethe Institut branches within Germany aimed at foreigners, Instituto Cervantes seems to have branches only outside Spain. This leaves private schools and public/private universities as pretty much the only organized options for studying Spanish in Spain.

First question: Private School vs. University

Private Schools: There are a number of private schools across Spain, which specialize in teaching foreign students, mainly for short courses. Better known examples include Don Quijote, Berlitz, Cactus, Enforex etc.

Universities: A number of universities conduct specials courses of Spanish as a foreign language, run by their department of foreign languages but often run separately from the main university. They award diplomas or attendance certificates rather than degrees, much the same as a private schools.

Between the two options, I have a strong preference for studying Spanish at a university for a couple of reasons:

• I quite like the idea of studying in a university with the academic atmosphere that it comes with. Now I know that most of the Spanish schools are somewhat cut-off from the main uni, but in most cases you would still get the benefit of using the uni libraries, computer centre and in some cases the sports facilities as well, giving you a chance to interact with the local students. This compares quite favourable to the private schools which tend to be smaller with just a few classrooms and an office in a small building, with interaction limited to other foreign students.
• I think it sounds better later in life to say that you spent 6 months studying Spanish at the University of Salamanca than it does to say that you spent the same time doing short term courses with Don Quijote. Even if the course are quite similar in content and quality, presentation does matter and I think time spent at a uni makes a better impression.

Second question: Which University

This was the hard question, with most of the universities having something or the other to recommend them, so I think ultimately the decision will be different for each person based on personal circumstances. What I have done below is list some of the main characteristics of each of the universities so each person can decide whether this is something they are looking for. My personal opinion of what is a pro and what is a con is also here but your opinion might of course differ.

University of Salamanca

• Salamanca university is the oldest uni in Spain (established in the 14 or 1500s) and one of the most prestigious as well. Having studied Spanish in Salamanca looks good to other people I believe. (Pro)
• Salamanca seems to be a uni town specializing in teaching Spanish to foreigners, and so is full of Spanish schools in addition to the uni and thousands of foreign students through the year. Accordingly the town seems to be a bit overwhelmed and have lost a bit of its localness (Con)
• Salamanca is a relatively small town with no airport of its own. The nearest airport is in Madrid and is a 2 and a half hour bus ride away, which could be a real pain if you plan to fly back home for a few days every month or so. (Con)
• Salamanca is in the middle of nowhere with little around the city for hours worth of bus travel other than dry scrubland. There may be places of natural beauty around, which I have not yet looked into. (Con)
• The locals in Salamanca are supposed to speak with what most Spaniards seem to consider the “best” Spanish accent. (Pro)

University of Malaga

• Malaga University is one of the newest in Spain, set up in the 1970s, so does not have the gravitas of Salamanca for example. (Con)
• Malaga is bang in the middle of the Costa del Sol and it the main transit point for tourists, so perhaps comes across as not so serious. (Con)
• Malaga airport is only half an hour away from Malaga town and has numerous connections all over Europe due to Costa del Sol tourism, making it the 4^th busiest in Spain. (Pro)
• Malaga is a mid-sized city making it big enough to have all the facilities you are looking for while at the same time being small enough to get around easily in. (Pro)
• While Malaga will provide a very local experience as it is not iteslf a magnet for tourists or foreign students, the accent of the locals in the province of Andalucia (of which Malaga is the largest city) is quite hard for a beginner to understand and sounds a bit different from the rest of Spain. (Con)
• Malaga is by the sea and Malaga University's Spanish school is very near the very nice beaches of Pedregalejo (Pro)
• Malaga seems to be quite cheap – the course itself is around 2/3rds the cost of those in others such as Salamanca and Madrid, and living costs including rent seem to be lower as well (Pro)

Autonomous University of Barcelona

• Barcelona is a wonderful city to live in though a little on the larger side (Pro)
• Barcelona is expensive compared to some of the other cities to live in as a result of its size (Con)
• Barcelona is by the seaside with excellent beaches (Pro)
• Barcelona airport is very easily accessible from the city (around 30 minutes travel) and is very well connected with the rest of Europe (Pro)
• The local language spoken in Barcelona is not Castillian Spanish, but Catalan (Con)

University of Alicante

• Alicante is in the middle of the Costa Blanca and Alicante Airport (30 minutes away from the city) is well connected to other parts of Europe (Pro)
• Alicante seems to be a good sized town and is by the sea with reasonably nice beaches (Pro)
• The local language spoken in Alicante is not Castillian Spanish at all, but Valencian, which is a dialect of Catalan (Con)

Granada University

• Granada is a historic town in Andalucia and is supposed to be one of the more beautiful places in Spain (Pro)
• Granada has the same issues with Andalucian Spanish as Malaga does, without the countervailing conveniences of the beach or a well connected airport (Con)

Antonio Nebrija University of Madrid and Complutense University of Madrid

• Madrid is the capital of Spain, with an excellent airport around 30 minutes away from the city centre, with flights connecting it to places all over the world (Pro)
• Being a large city, it is more expensive than most of the other options in this list (Con)
• Madrid has excellent nightlife and cultural attractions including museums (Pro)
• I have been to Madrid several times on work and personally do not care for it much. It just seems to be a bit cold and business-like to me. (Con)

Other Universities

There seem to be a few other universities such as Sevilla, Gran Canaria and Santiago de Compustela that seem to offer Spanish courses but do not seem to have organized themselves enough to offer a wide veriety of courses, so are unlikely to suit the majority of students. However if you are looking for a short course, specially a summer course you could get lucky and find a course at the time you are looking for. I would love to spend some time in Gran Canaria if I could.

My Choice - Malaga

After taking all the above factors into account, I would say that if I were to do such a course I would almost certainly choose the University of Malaga on account of the airport connections (I would like to fly back to London often), the beach and the lower costs. Regarding the accent it is true that the Andalucian accent is hard to understand so it would be difficult to interact with locals, but I figured that if I can ultimately learn to understand it, I will be better off as I would have no problem with standard Spanish, but will in addition be able to understand one of the hardest accents, which people who have studied in Salamanca/Madrid might struggle with.

Useful Links

http://www.unispain.com/Spanish-University-Courses-Spain.htm

http://www.topspanishschools.com/scgi-bin/Spanish-University-Courses-Spain.htm
http://www.cursoextranjeros.uma.es/

http://www.facebook.com/cursosdeespanol.uma.es