I was originally looking to go to Costa Rica to master Spanish before moving permanently to the DR. The schools there seem excellent, and the schools I found (online) in the DR seem to be more geared for tourists and partying, as opposed to getting-down-to-business learning. Are there any schools you could highly recommend on par, perhaps, with those in Costa Rica?
- Thread starter PCMissionary
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Best Spanish School in DR?
Good luck maybe in Santo Domingo. Personally from what I've seen on this forum they don't have any real strong Spanish language programs for foreigner, unless of course you want to include the Berlitz "institutes". Personally if I were you and your goal was to become fluent in as short a time as possible I would stay in the US and take college level night classes 5 days a week for a year to understand the structure of the language and build a vocabulary and then move to the DR to learn to speak fluently.
A word to the wise, the DR like all Latin American countries has it's language idiosyncrasies and like every other country in the world the lesser formal education one has the more difficult it is for foreigners to communicate with them. Seeing how you appear to be a missionary I think your experiences will be focused on the latter which will no doubt prove to be challenging to say the least. Don't be dissuaded though, Dominicans of all classes respect well and correctly spoken Spanish so take the time to learn it right. I also wouldn't recommend immersing yourself too soon as if you pick up the local speech bad habits they could be difficult to get rid of and certainly without a doubt will cause you to looked upon with disdain by many. I have found this out the hard way and have learned from my mistakes.
All the best.
A word to the wise, the DR like all Latin American countries has it's language idiosyncrasies and like every other country in the world the lesser formal education one has the more difficult it is for foreigners to communicate with them. Seeing how you appear to be a missionary I think your experiences will be focused on the latter which will no doubt prove to be challenging to say the least. Don't be dissuaded though, Dominicans of all classes respect well and correctly spoken Spanish so take the time to learn it right. I also wouldn't recommend immersing yourself too soon as if you pick up the local speech bad habits they could be difficult to get rid of and certainly without a doubt will cause you to looked upon with disdain by many. I have found this out the hard way and have learned from my mistakes.
All the best.
I have heard that Learn Spanish in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | donQuijote.org is a good school.
The PUCMM has an excellent Spanish program!
Costa Rica's spanish spoken as imparted in the schools, differs greatly with the real Spanish talk in the streets of San Jose and 85% of the Ticos... Another aspect is the accent and colloquial mannerisms present in the Tico's Spanish...
If you (as posted above) plan to move to the DR, why then waste time in learning a Spanish with accents that differ greatly with the one in the DR. Dominican Spanish, when spoken properly, is one of the best neutral types of the language to be able to carry on in about all Spanish speaking nations today.
There's always more than one way to speak a language, the educated one and the street kind. Which you learn depends all on you!
More than 85% of the people in Costa Rica speak "pachuco", which is the same as saying 85% of people in the DR speaks more than one type of style other than proper Dominican Spanish!
You may be correct but my wife and I just spent 7 days in Costa Rica, staying with Ticos. My wife had no problems understanding them and they had no problems understanding her. The only problems I had were my limitations in the Spanish language. We were staying with a family that had both educated and uneducated members.
Because I'm not Catholic, would there be another highly recommended school?
Pachuco seems to be more a Mexican than Costa Rican dialect from what I understand. I hear what you're saying though... why waste time with the accents and nuances that may differ once arriving in the DR.
Pachuco seems to be more a Mexican than Costa Rican dialect from what I understand. I hear what you're saying though... why waste time with the accents and nuances that may differ once arriving in the DR.
RE: PUCMM...unless you have trouble studying at a Catholic institution, per se, I can tell you that there are Mormon, Baptist, Pentecostal, Muslim, Animists, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses studying there...It is not an institution that pushes the religion. And the language program is not in the church or the chapel.
Regarding language learning, you do need formal grammar studies, and practice. As Chip suggested some night school would be good. Language tapes and on-line programs are also good if you are disciplined enough. Watch tele-novels and beisbol en espa?ol. Fox broadcasts f?tbol in Spanish...anything that you can see and hear at the same time.
That will prepare you for being here in a total immersion situation, where your ear will become attuned to the local variety of Spanish. You can get by with a 1000 word vocabulary. The fluency comes with practice. Therefore, a few months here, without having to do your missionary work, will certainly be to your benefit.
HB
Regarding language learning, you do need formal grammar studies, and practice. As Chip suggested some night school would be good. Language tapes and on-line programs are also good if you are disciplined enough. Watch tele-novels and beisbol en espa?ol. Fox broadcasts f?tbol in Spanish...anything that you can see and hear at the same time.
That will prepare you for being here in a total immersion situation, where your ear will become attuned to the local variety of Spanish. You can get by with a 1000 word vocabulary. The fluency comes with practice. Therefore, a few months here, without having to do your missionary work, will certainly be to your benefit.
HB
To the OP:
I would highly recommend reading the news almost exclusively in Spanish. It has increased my reading and writing comprehension by leaps and bounds after only a year or so and if it weren't for that I 'm certain I wouldn't be able to keep up in the Masters program I'm in at PUCMM.
I can't say I recommend any Dominican newspapers to learn from but probably the best for me is Listin Diario. I have the Google news language set to Spanish as default and they have reports all over the LA community including Spain. The WSJ also has a Spanish version. I unfortunately find the Dominican papers to be pretentious what with their constant effort to use as obscure and little used terms as possible. I expect it is some sort of desire on the authors part to appear well read however I doubt it helps their subscription numbers. In this case finura would appear to trump purpose not to business sense, oh well. It could probably be postulated that this country can't get ahead for all the priviones, but that's a subject for another thread.
I would highly recommend reading the news almost exclusively in Spanish. It has increased my reading and writing comprehension by leaps and bounds after only a year or so and if it weren't for that I 'm certain I wouldn't be able to keep up in the Masters program I'm in at PUCMM.
I can't say I recommend any Dominican newspapers to learn from but probably the best for me is Listin Diario. I have the Google news language set to Spanish as default and they have reports all over the LA community including Spain. The WSJ also has a Spanish version. I unfortunately find the Dominican papers to be pretentious what with their constant effort to use as obscure and little used terms as possible. I expect it is some sort of desire on the authors part to appear well read however I doubt it helps their subscription numbers. In this case finura would appear to trump purpose not to business sense, oh well. It could probably be postulated that this country can't get ahead for all the priviones, but that's a subject for another thread.
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BTW, I may be exaggerating a little about the Dominican papers 
as I suppose I am overly biased against anything that appears classist. I suppose I've had my fill of politicians etc filling sentences with such obvious garbage meant to confuse but really we have our share in the States too. Think Greenspan, Obama et al.
as I suppose I am overly biased against anything that appears classist. I suppose I've had my fill of politicians etc filling sentences with such obvious garbage meant to confuse but really we have our share in the States too. Think Greenspan, Obama et al.Hola!
I would recommend you Cabarete Language Institute!
I spent one month on the north shore of the Dominican Republic and i stayed in the town called "Cabarete". My goal was to learn Spanish and Kiteboarding. I studied Spanish at "Cabarete Language institute". (Spanish Lessons Cabarete)
This language school is very organised, the teachers are very professional and their prices are not expensive if you compare with any Spanish school in the US. The director graduated in the US.
Saludos,
Ammy
I would recommend you Cabarete Language Institute!
I spent one month on the north shore of the Dominican Republic and i stayed in the town called "Cabarete". My goal was to learn Spanish and Kiteboarding. I studied Spanish at "Cabarete Language institute". (Spanish Lessons Cabarete)
This language school is very organised, the teachers are very professional and their prices are not expensive if you compare with any Spanish school in the US. The director graduated in the US.
Saludos,
Ammy
Cabarete might seem to be a place to party but there are several things to do other than partying... More and more people are moving here to either learn languages, business/work and/or Kite and Surf. There is an excellent language school here in Cabarete that has a great reputation and the programs are really interesting. They offer intense Spanish class, which I did take and you learn pretty quick and do not waste any time. All teachers have a degree in Education. I strongly recommend this School (Cabarete Language Institute or CLI ). If you need any info you can contact them anytime, just go on their website. Good luck with your new project.
With all those "SPAMMERS",I'm Gonna make sanwiches for a month!
Why is it that their first post on DR1 is a glowing endorsement for a service,or product?
And one right after the other!
"NICE TRY"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
Why is it that their first post on DR1 is a glowing endorsement for a service,or product?
And one right after the other!
"NICE TRY"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
I find it strange, laughfable, sad, silly, etc. that someone is looking for the best school to learn Spanish and then rejects a good recommendation because they are not of the same religious belief. Is it theology or language that you want to learn? No wonder the world is so devided. " I only want to learn a language in an institution that shares my religious beliefs." anyway... good luck.
I thought I had money to blow till I saw this:
Individual Course in Latin America - Spanish Courses
Now I don't know what the prices should be and what the prices are but this!?!?!
To say about schools, I've found for myself an interesting catalogue of schools in Dominicana Schools, Short Courses, Lessons & Evening Classes in DR. Dance, Zumba, Yoga, Fitness, English, Driving, Singing, Swimming, etc.
I can't recommend any exact school of language but I think you can find there the school you need. I saw there language schools in Cabarete, Puerto Plata and Sosua
I can't recommend any exact school of language but I think you can find there the school you need. I saw there language schools in Cabarete, Puerto Plata and Sosua
I went to PUCMM as a foreign exchange student and had a great experience. It is a very traditional school setting, but I never felt like religion was being pushed upon anyone. I was able to pass out of the Spanish language classes because I had already been studying Spanish for several years in the US; I just enrolled in their regular courses, like Contemporary Dominican Lit, Afro-Caribbean History, etc. I learned a lot about the culture and really improved my Spanish. The school offered excellent integration into Dominican life. In 2008, I opened Cabarete Language Institute in Cabarete but recently moved to Europe. If you are seriously going to PUCMM (recommended!), you will need to have a foundation in the Spanish language to be able to enroll in courses. Check with the director of CLI to see what sort of program they can organize for you; they have experience with university prep. But if you want to go directly to PUCMM, you should check into a foreign student exchange program, like CIEE, for help with enrollment, host family arrangements, etc.