Greetings!

I have decided to enroll in a long term Spanish programme beginning this autumn. I am trying to winnow my options down from the nearly endless number od institutes, academies, and universities that offer such programmes. I beleive my current level would permit me to pass the DELE Basico, but not the superior. Accordingly, I have decided to enroll myself in such a programme that will elevate my Castellano to the next level.

I have read and have been informed that that purest Spanish is to be found in Castilla Y Leon. So I have narrowed my search to this region, but this still leaves many options.

Salamanca offers countless academies and the famed university to choose among. However, the large number of foriegn students and students from other regions of Spain is a double-edged sword. It alows for terrific opportunities to interact with people from all over the world, but it also means more distractions in my quest to learn Spanish with greater fluencey. The city of 150,000 inhabitants has nearly 40,000 students many of them English speakers, or those who speak English than Spanish. On account of the last reason I am leaning against Salamanca, despite glowing recommendations about ISLA Academia from a well respected Spanish Professor.

Valladolid, however, is located in the heart of the region and has fewer international students to confound the learning. I am considering studying at the University's Spanish languge institute for about 8 months. The cost is quite reasonable and the longevity of there programme is reasurring. There are additional programmes offered by Paramo, and by Living-Spanish in Valladolid as well, but the information I recieved from them regarding their courses was minimal and not reasurring. If anybody has any thoughts on my Spanish language crusade, please respond. If you have advise or ideas regarding Valladolid please help me before I write my checks out.

Gracias

Dear Shawn-- is that well respected Spanish professor anyone I know!? jaja. I have never been to Vallodolid, so I cannot say what it will be like. You have to tell us what you 'need': a small city with stuff to do? a city close to Madrid so you can go there for the busy/fun life, retreat to your town for intense language classes? In any event, check out the program thoroughly and do NOT commit to huge amounts of time until you are there. If I had eight whole months, I'd want to spend my time in a # of cities. 2-4 months in each place would be plenty. I bet Vallodolid will bore you after a few months. Also consider Segovia. Lots of people love Oviedo (the Spanish is very fine there, too!).

Thanks,

Here is a bit more information about what I am looking for and concerns I have.

If I stay in Spain fom more than 3 months, I will need a visa. If I enroll in different locations breaking up my intended 8 month stay, then I would not be able to get the needed visa. I would hate to be deported and banned from reentering Spain. I have read much regarding the government's new immigration laws, hence I fear their new resolve to fight illegal entrants.

I do enjoy the Spanish nightlife (tapas, tavernas, mesones, etc.), but my focus will be language attainment. Eight months of debauchery in lieu of work sounds great, but too many late nights followed by battles with the resaca could impair my primary goal. In short, I do plan to enjoy the terrific nightlife, but more modestly than the kind I enjoy during a two week get-away.

I love all aspects of Spanish life: history, gastronomy, culture, and entertainment. I would hope to broaden my exposure to all these elements, but in the holistic context of a language programme. I do believe that to learn a language well, one must not only understand the words and the grammar, but also the underlining social and historical factors that have help given rise to the lexicon.

I will look at Oviedo as suggested, but I have read about the Asturian dialect known as balbe and wonder how it has influenced the standard Castellano of Cervantes in that region. Does anyone have any ideas regarding the pervasiveness of balbe in Oviedo's accent and diction? The wonderful sidra and fabada do tempt me.

As for Segovia, I was awe struck by her beauty when I delighted in touring the city with my fellow high school Spanish students 11 years ago. But its proximity to Madrid may be troublesome. Has the large number of tourists left any taint? I am aware of the slight accent that most Madrilenos("T" sound at the end of words that finish in "D", further north it is more of a "Th" sound when the word terminates in "D" ) have in contrasts to their neighbours further to the north. Do residents of Segovia or Avila mirror Madrilenos in this regard or do they speak more akin to native speakers from Salamanca and Valladolid?

I apologize to all members of the esteemed board, if I sound too much like a nit-picking language snob, but given my planned investment of time and money I want to get it right. If I were to recommend to non-English speakers where to learn English, I would have to suggest the BBC style of English, while avoiding regionalism in England( I am an American, but aknowlege that the educated Brits speak a more uniform and excepted form of our common tongue). Now that I have slighted nearly everyone, I must stop before I getted spammed by the angry mob .

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 02-05-2001).]

Shawn-
Just a question-
If you are American, why do you spell the word program like a Limey? (No offense, Boqueron, Anchovy and Jo-Anne! )
I always promote Andalucia, but I suppose that may defeat your purpose.
Jen

Seeing as this is an international gathering of English speakers, I have elected to abide by the standardized orthography. If the readership was soley American, then of course I would spell according to our standards. It may sound strange for an American to be so deferential to our linguistic cousins, but sadly many of my fellow Americans seem to believe that the linguistic epicentre is in Missouri, along with the geographical one.

I believe some of the British usage to be superior. For example, "holiday" conveys a much more joyous way to spend time from work than "Vacation". "Vacation" seems to just imply vacating or leaving the premises. Trust me, when I go to Spain I am on holiday, not vacation.

Of course in day to day discourse, I opt for American usage for clarity and simplicity. I have always been fascinated with language, so this is one of my many quirks. Accordingly, I enjoy reading this international forum.

BTW, I am still scratching my head over the "tin of tuna" reference in prior posts.

[This message has been edited by Shawn (edited 02-06-2001).]

Thanks Shawn and everybody for speaking proper English. For us is sometime very difficult to understand some posts writen in slang. Lonely planet thorn tree is horrible, you cannot find the words even in the dictionary, writing in that way I guess they are not interested in information from non English speakers.

I forgot to answer your question. Valladolid pronunciation has fame of being the best allthough there is a very common gramatical error called "leismo", not only in Valladolid but in all Castilla. I cannot tell you if this fame is real, or which town it's better. The main problem with pronuntiation is the sound of "ll" which is almost lost everywhere, if you want to know more about loísmo, laísmo, leísmo , it consists of changing pronoms le, lo & la

[This message has been edited by Antonio (edited 02-10-2001).]

Thanks for that interesting info, Miguelito.
Shawn, what was the tin o tuna reference? By the way, I agree about the use of the word holiday as opposed to vacation. Maybe I'll incorporate that one...

Thank you Miguelito,

Jen- The "tin of tuna" refrence was posted by badger in a thread regarding Hostal Massachusetts. "Tin of tuna, week a tuuesdi", was the entire phrase. He typed it in a subsequent time later in the same thread and perhaps a third time in a later thread. This illustrates Miguelito's point with respect to standardized usage in this international dialouge on Spain. I am a native speaker, yet I have not a clue as to what the significance is. I certainly enjoy colourful expressions and crafty usage, but feel it is best suited for the new thread on puns- "Sancho Punza"

Regards,
Shawn

[This message has been edited by Shawn (edited 02-07-2001).]

Jen

I now feel like the boring 'Limey', I will have to change my UserName to match the intrigue of El Boqueron and Anchovy Front - Jo-Anne just doesn't fit.