Language courses in Seville?

Can anyone recommend a language school in Seville? I'm interested in taking a 2-week advanced-level course there. Any information is appreciated.

Thanks,
Darren

Try Don Quijote, www.donquijote.com
I don't have any first hand experience with them yet, but am planning to attend their Madrid branch. Their two week tuition is about 200$.

I can WARMLY recommend CLIC Sevilla ( www.clic.es ). I was very happy with them (I took a three week advanced level course), you got good quality for not terribly much money. Check out this thread: http://www.madridman.com/ubb/Forum9/HTML/000009.html

[This message has been edited by connie (edited 02-14-2001).]

Connie -

I'm planning on a few weeks in Seville. How did you find the city? I've contacted the language program you recommended. I'm traveling alone and know very little spanish. I'm young but not in my 20's. Was it a friendly place?

Thanks Amber

Amber,
Seville is one of the most beautiful places in Spain, it is a great city, and not so big that you would lose the overview. You can basically do everything walking which is nice.
You can stroll through empty, narrow cobblestone streets at night and feel as if you were in another world. The school arranges for accomodation and it typically in old Sevillean houses- mine had a little courtyard and mosaics on the floor and was a 5 minutes walk from the school. I lived with an elderly lady from Seville which was also quite an experience.
The climate is much milder in winter and spring than in many other parts of Spain (including Madrid), but in summer it is supposed to be terribly too hot.
The food is wonderful-very close to the school there are great places to have some small dishes. And then the pastry places...
As for the Spanish, you might find the accent of people from Seville harder to understand than the one from Madrid or Northern Spain. However, the teachers do not speak strong Andalusian, but are aware of the fact that they have to teach standard Spanish (although they are proud of their roots in Andalusia).
In language schools, I think you usually meet a lot of quite young folks- when I was at CLIC, there was a predominance of people in their early Twenties, particularly from Sweden, who stayed their for an entire year. However, since the school is big enough to have a whole range of people, after a few days I had my group of people in their late twenties and thirties and we had a great time. The school organizes quite a few social activities, so it is easy to get to know people.
The teachers were very, very nice. I hardly ever saw so many nice teachers at one place. Friendly and good instructors, and they even took us out at night.

I also attended CLIC for a 2 week period in August'96, when the city was scorching hot sometimes l20 degrees. I did not recommend it to Solsoul because I was not too happy with their program. The staff was extremely nice and acommodating, but I did not find the content of their program substantive enough. Maybe, I was also influenced by the heat at that time. The city was literally deserted. Although I find Seville enchanting and unique, I did not experience enough cultural things as I do in Madrid and Barcelona. However, the Sevillanos are a hospitable bunch of people.

I agree that Seville is not particularly recommendable in August, but the same is true for Madrid. Madrid is worth seeing at every time of the year, but August in my view is the least recommendable month because everyone is on vacations and the stores are closed.
As for Barcelona, I would not recommend it that much for a first immersion into Spanish culture because you hear a lot of a Catalan on the streets instead of castellano. Of course, basically everyone speaks castellano, too, but it is still not the same experience of a total immersion.
Sure, Seville has not as many cultural events to offer as Barcelona and Madrid (it is substantially smaller), but I still think it is a perfect setting for a language class for a few weeks where you get a taste of the country and the culture. For long term stays, I would prefer Madrid, for sure, but that is also a question of personal taste.
As for the school, maybe you had bad luck with the teachers, all the feedback I had and my personal experience were very positive.
In the end, I guess after attending many language classes it can get boring anywhere because you end up discussing the same issues at all schools (like How is the position of women in society, Should public smoking be prohibited etc.) But I found CLIC much more interesting in this respect than other schools.

Thank both of you for your reply. I am coming to Spain for nine+ weeks and plan to see quite a bit. I wanted to land somewhere for a few weeks at the beginning for a couple of reasons. I want to decompress from real life, learn a little Spanish so I can venture out beyond my own mind from time to time, settle into being by myself etc. I certainly considered Madrid at the place to do that, but the more I thought about it I wanted something a little smaller where I can lose myself in the ambience. I considered Granada, Cadiz, and Cordoba but Seville eventually seemed like the logical place.

I have a few more questions about this program. From what you said Connie it sounds like you stayed with a family. I think I'm going to try the shared flat. They place you with another student and two sevillans. Did other students have this arrangement? What did they say? Also this program like many others wants you to register with your credit card number. I may live in the dark ages but sending my credit card number to a program in Spain feels risky. Is this silly? You obviously had no problems.

Amber

Thanks everyone for your feedback I'm thinking about going in May.

One of the main reasons I wanted to study in Seville instead of Madrid is to have a more convenient base from which to explore other smaller towns in Andalucía. And, unfortunately, I'm only going to be able to be there two weeks.

I agree that when you're initially trying to adapt to a new culture and language, it helps to first be in a smaller-town setting. I personally feel less pressure that way. When I first went to Spain, I spent time in Caceres and Granada, and those were great towns to study in.

--Darren

Amber, sounds as if Seville is a good place for you to start out.
As for accomodation, if I stayed for some more time, I would prefer a shared flat, too. The lady I stayed with was kind-hearted, but it was like a family stay and after a certain age you do not really want to be treated like a child any more.
I heard from friends who stayed in a shared flat organized by CLIC that is was very nice. They stayed with a Spanish couple in their Thirties who were very nice even though they stayed just briefly.
If it is with Spaniards, I would go for the shared flat. A flat with only other foreign students could be a risk in the sense that they are all far younger.
Check the CLIC webpage again for payment options. I did not pay with credit card, but with money transfer. I do not know why it would be much more risky to give your credit card information to them than to a US website, but I am not too fond of this online payment either. On the enrolment page ( www.clic.es/english8.html ), click on general conditions.

[This message has been edited by connie (edited 02-15-2001).]

Regarding the use of a credit card... I do not think you have much to worry about. United States law provides that you are only liable for the first $50 of unauthorized use on a card and many credit card companies even waive this first $50. So if there was an unauthorized charge on your card, there is no real risk of a significant loss.

An update: I'm attending CLIC in April (when I could get a good plane fare) and I used CLIC's website to enroll. Everything has worked out using the web site--I got an e-mail confirmation a few days later.

I'm looking forward to going!