Our Students Know How to Speak to Spanish People when They Come

Spanish people speak different variants of the language, as many as there are regions in the country

I remember when I was travelling in Europe and I couldn’t talk to the local people. It was very difficult in places like Latvia, Lithuania or Romania. As much as English is the international language, there are still many countries where local people are not used to speaking it.

Sometimes it was difficult to go shopping or take the bus. At that time, I was teaching Spanish in Bulgaria and I wanted to travel a bit in Eastern Europe. It was a very interesting process because I understood how I had to teach my students. In my classes I was focusing on grammar and culture in general terms before I went on that amazing trip. From that moment on, I saw how important the local language is and why students should understand it from the very beginning.

Local language is not only expressions, but also cultural understanding.

When I say local Spanish, it must be understood that there is no such thing as a standard concept. Each region is marked by its own indiocracy and this makes the language very different within the same country. Knowing the mentality of the Andalusians will make it easier to get to know the Spanish people here.

How can I really learn Spanish if I live abroad? It’s easy. During our classes we always explain how we cope in different situations, we talk about society, religion or politics. We also talk about art and food. Many things that make us understand what we need to know if we want to connect with people here.

We are very direct, close and friendly.

If you ask any Spanish people (even people from other countries) about Andalusian culture, they will tell you these three adjectives: direct, close and friendly. Is it true? As you know, we are talking about stereotypes and prejudices. There is an expression in Spanish that says: “cuando el río suena, agua lleva”. We can translate it into English as “where there’s smoke, there’s fire”.

Obviously, there are always generalities that correspond very well to many things about the place. Although we know that this is a generality, it is not something that we can always find in the culture. Here we can meet very different people, we can be surprised!

In any case, being direct, approachable and friendly means that we use a Spanish that is not identical when compared to other regions. Andalusian is not a dialect, but a variant, one of them here. The most important thing is if you are interested in our region, its history and its people.

Can online Spanish classes be useful then?

Our students usually start taking online Spanish lessons with us and after a while many of them want to visit us taking an intensive course which we prepare with a lot of love! This intensive course was created to immerse you in the linguistic context. It helps students a lot when they want to travel here. Many of our students are committed travellers, that’s why they organise their cultural trip with us.

Celia, if I don’t want to come to an intensive course, are online classes valid? Of course they are! Some of our students have come to Spain to travel a bit without any intensive course because they didn’t have time for it. Online Spanish classes are always going to be the best way to learn if you want to take private classes and hold them at any time, wherever you want.

How many dialects and varieties does Spain have?

In Spain there are as many varieties as there are regions. We also have five official languages (I tell you this as a couriosity). This doesn’t have to stop you from studying Spanish because when we talk about varieties we are talking about some different expressions and vocabulary. There is nothing to stop us from learning Spanish.

Anyway, it is always an option for you. If you don’t want to get involved in the culture for any reason and just want to learn Spanish, we can do that too. We adapt ourselves to each of our students because the success of your learning depends on understanding what your objectives are and what you want to achieve live.