Summer study w/homestay in Santiago - opinions?

jabuti

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Mar 13, 2011
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Hi folks,

Lurker turned poster here. :)

Any reserves about doing a 5-week advanced Spanish study abroad in June at Pucamaima (Santiago) for foreigners, with a homestay. I'm considering it, but my friend from Bogota keeps insisting that it will corrupt my Spanish, that it will be boiling/dangerous/full of creeps ("ghetto" was her word :ermm:). I know there is a tendency to talk fast, drop letters, all that. Do you think I would encounter that in an academic setting? Anyone do anything similar? This would be my first DR experience.

Thanks for any tips...

Jabuti
la gringa confundida
 

Twix

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Feb 23, 2011
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lol corrupt your spanish? Your friend doesn't know what she's talking about. PUCMM is the best university in the DR and people are more educated here. Stay away from the ghetto and you will be fine. They actually don't really talk fast, it's just hard to understand at first if you're not used to it, they think that we talk fast in english but it's just that they don't understand what we are saying.
 

bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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Hi folks,

Lurker turned poster here. :)

Any reserves about doing a 5-week advanced Spanish study abroad in June at Pucamaima (Santiago) for foreigners, with a homestay. I'm considering it, but my friend from Bogota keeps insisting that it will corrupt my Spanish, that it will be boiling/dangerous/full of creeps ("ghetto" was her word :ermm:). I know there is a tendency to talk fast, drop letters, all that. Do you think I would encounter that in an academic setting? Anyone do anything similar? This would be my first DR experience.

Thanks for any tips...

Jabuti
la gringa confundida

Has your Colombian friend ever been to Santiago? Dangerous! compared to Bogota, I would think Santiago would be considered very safe. I assume that the Spanish being taught would be taught by Spanish professional teachers. My wife is Dominican and she has been mistaken by other Spanish speaking people of being from a dozen different countries. She spent more than a year in Colombia and they thought she was Colombian.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Most educated Colombians would consider our Caribbean Spanish to be corrupted! But, it is good Spanish if you pay attention and, of course, if you study.

I can tell you that the atmosphere at PUCMM can be very distractive because of all that is going on, but since you will be in a "total immersion" situation, you will find yourself picking up a lot of Spanish...

Go for it, it will really help you...and I am not kidding.

HB
 

jabuti

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Mar 13, 2011
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Has your Colombian friend ever been to Santiago? Dangerous! compared to Bogota, I would think Santiago would be considered very safe.

That's what got me worried. Plus she is an educated professional. For her to say 'ghetto' was kind of worrisome.

Thanks to all who are replying!

I guess I have a secret fear that all language immersion people do: that moment in time where you go from having 'advanced Spanish' on paper to catching every other word in practice. Add taking two classes (for foreigners, but still); the lottery of the home stay, etc...but Dominicans seem to be lovely so I think it would be worth it. It = my humiliation. :D

Santiago in June: Is it like 80s (F) + humid and rainy?
 

Juan_J

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Mar 6, 2011
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Something you need to be aware of: In all the northern regions, and especially in Santiago, people add an "i" to the pronunciation of many (most) words. They take pride in talking like that claiming it is part of the colonial Spaniard heritage.

On the southern parts you will noticed a stark "r" in the middle of the words. Santo Domingo and the eastern parts have a more neutral pronunciation.

Make sure to take some trips to the other regions of the country so you can appreciate and take notice of those pronunciations differences.
 

bob saunders

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Something you need to be aware of: In all the northern regions, and especially in Santiago, people add an "i" to the pronunciation of many (most) words. They take pride in talking like that claiming it is part of the colonial Spaniard heritage.

On the southern parts you will noticed a stark "r" in the middle of the words. Santo Domingo and the eastern parts have a more neutral pronunciation.

Make sure to take some trips to the other regions of the country so you can appreciate and take notice of those pronunciations differences.

Juan, could you give some examples(words) that they put i into.
 

bob saunders

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Something you need to be aware of: In all the northern regions, and especially in Santiago, people add an "i" to the pronunciation of many (most) words. They take pride in talking like that claiming it is part of the colonial Spaniard heritage.

On the southern parts you will noticed a stark "r" in the middle of the words. Santo Domingo and the eastern parts have a more neutral pronunciation.

Make sure to take some trips to the other regions of the country so you can appreciate and take notice of those pronunciations differences.

Juan, could you give some examples(words) that they put i into.
 
Jan 17, 2009
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I'm Hispanic, Uruguayan. I have lived in the DR for five years and been to Bogota numerous times.

You will find people in the DR who speak good Spanish, and like mentioned above, PUCMM is an excellent university. But you'll also find many Dominicans with terrible Spanish -- in terms of word usage, misspelling and grammatical errors whether spoken or written.

I've seen terrible misspelling and grammatical errors in Dominicans of all levels of education, including lawyers who, one would think, should have a good command of the written language.

In addition, Dominican street Spanish is quite corrupted with lots of words adapted from the English language.

If I had a choice between the DR or Colombia, I would definitely go to Colombia. It doesn't seem though that you have a choice. Stick to what you learn in school as much as you can.
 

jabuti

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Mar 13, 2011
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So there seems to be a split down the middle between my final two:

one of the nameless dozens of language schools in Monteverde, Costa Rica
pros: cooler weather; ecotourism; their Spanish seems universally approved
cons: full of gringos, instructors are sometimes people from the village with no credentials; classes are very very general

PUCMM in Santiago
pros: actually at a university, a good one at that; would be different; would be less gringos; I could take the class I NEED to graduate; program is super organized from the US end
cons: a bit toastier; ??

Hangups: people -hispanos- telling me DR is not safe for gringas/ DR Spanish is 'ghetto'. But its 6 ONLY weeks is that enough time to even worry about?

:eek:As long as I wouldn't be getting a host mom like this, right?
 
Jan 17, 2009
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Hangups: people -hispanos- telling me DR is not safe for gringas/ DR Spanish is 'ghetto'. But its 6 ONLY weeks is that enough time to even worry about?

:eek:As long as I wouldn't be getting a host mom like this, right?

You didn't get hear on this forum that the DR is not safe for gringas, did you? I would disagree with that statement.

I wouldn't describe DR Spanish as 'ghetto' but simply not the best for a foreigner to learn and practice. As mentioned to you previously, PUCMM is an excellent university and you should learn well there. If I confused you with my previous post, my message was regarding your chances to practice outside of school with others who have a good command of the language in terms of good vocabulary use and grammar.
 

Juan_J

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Unfortunately, I have to agree with Expat-in-Cabarete. We, Dominican town's people, have a tendency to butcher the Language. Sometimes I'm reading stuff people write on informal settings and the spelling errors make me want to cry.

By the way, Santiago's weather is even toastier than Santo Domingo.
 

La Rubia

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Jan 1, 2010
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As long as I wouldn't be getting a host mom like this, right?

Hilarious! Yes, you probably will, but she'll be sweet as pie to you. It's probably the stress of living in NY that's turned her that way!

Santiago is a nice place, the university a good one. Good for it!
 

La Rubia

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Hangups: people -hispanos- telling me DR is not safe for gringas/ DR Spanish is 'ghetto'. But its 6 ONLY weeks is that enough time to even worry about?
QUOTE]

DR Spanish is ghetto--cultural superiority get's old after a while. You are still going to have a gringo accent. BUT, You'll be able to bachata and/or merengue better after six weeks in the DR than they will in their lifetime. If you want to impress them with your perfect Spanish, go to Spain.

Hispanos telling me DR is not safe for gringas?--My Mexican friends tell me where it's not safe to go in Mexico, and I believe them. Unless they are Dominican or have lived there for years, I'd take that with a grain of salt. The program you're with will watch out for you.

The biggest danger for a gringa in the DR is loving it so much that six weeks won't be enough.
 

jabuti

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Mar 13, 2011
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ok fine

If my greatest 'issue' is that some of the locals don't speak proper castellano, I'll do it. Hopefully they sound like my Venezuelan coworker. /s/ and /d/ do not exist for her, and I can usually decode what she is saying.

Besides, I'm living in the Carolinas. Y'all ever herd inny of us tawk?

gracias a todos por su ayuda...
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Yeah, I done hud all y'all tawkin'....Ah kin barely unnerdahnd it, m'self...

Kidding aside:
That DR "mom" is a low-class creature without any "couth"...not to worry, you home stay will not be like that.

Santiago is much cooler and dryer than Santo Domingo.

Traffic is nicer, somewhat, and you do not spend all your time trying to go from one place to another.

Besides, you already have contact with people in Santiago.

As for Costa Rica there is a language school there www.coversa.net in San Jose...I am sure they are very good, since I know the people who run it. Check it out anyway...The director's name is David and tell him the HB sent you...He is from NY...

Cordially,

HB (who serves excellent tea and coffee)