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spanish immersion schools
The spoken spanish in the DR is substantially different from other countries; the use of idioms and slang greatly complicates learning spanish in this country. You'd perhaps be better off going to Costa Rica or Colombia to learn spanish.
Costa Rica is a great way to spend a couple of months immersing yourself in Spanish that utilizes usted vs tu . Then after that come to DR and enjoy yourself since you'll have a grasp of the language and a good foundation. I did 60 days at this school and highly recommend it.... CRLA Language Institute Learn Spanish in Costa Rica, study at CRLA Spanish school
That's right, same words in Spanish can mean different things in spanish, depends on the country of origin. For example, I'm told ahrita means "later" in DR, & in my understanding it means "right now.". I learned that the hard way & thought I was stood up!
To the OP just to answer more specifically your question I also went to this school in Santo Domingo for 60 days and would rate it a 7 out of 10. Instituto Intercultural del Caribe: Learn Spanish in the Dominican Republic Sosua Santo Domingo Better than the school I attended in Guatemala and Nicaragua but no where close to the Costa Rica institution. I don't believe there are too many professional options in DR so this could qualify as best in DR.
Yup, the SPanish schol is called going to the DR and talking only spanish to people for a month. You can even pay a hot, jobless local woman or two from a barrio to come teach you everyday and eat lunch with you.
The letter "s" is often missing in Dominican speech. Not to worry. They don't disappear exactly as they're reinserted later where they don't belong by those from the Cibao when they're trying extra hard to be extra fi(s)no.
Thest best spanish immersion school in the dr can be found by arriving at an airport in the dr and listening and only talking spanish with a translator and people around you. Copy anything you hear with perfection like a parakeet. Do not speak english until you are on the way back from the coutnry in the airplane and most of the people speak english around you. That schol is great and has made me fluent and with an accent that can blend in the dr in many cases and can understand everything anyone says around me as well as I understand english. In short" treat the DR like a big spanish classroom. Go ahead and have fun with everything.
There are several good places. I do believe that the Dominico-Amercano Institute is one. Here in Santiago, there is a Berlitz, and ELI (which offers Spanish classes)
By not hanging out with anyone who speaks English and watching Spanish television stations you can pick up a lot to go with your formal classwork...
Spanish is easy to pronounce, difficult to master, because it has genders and lots of tenses: Present, Imperfect past, Past and so forth. Few conditional verbs, so there is a conditional tense...makes for complications. But you can get along well with a bit of practice.
Good Luck..
HB
And in Costa Rica there is Conversa--look up Conversa.com If you don;t find it give me PING and I will find it for you...They are over 40 years in the business of teaching languages...
By not hanging out with anyone who speaks English and watching Spanish television stations you can pick up a lot to go with your formal classwork...
Spanish is easy to pronounce, difficult to master, because it has genders and lots of tenses: Present, Imperfect past, Past and so forth. Few conditional verbs, so there is a conditional tense...makes for complications. But you can get along well with a bit of practice.
Good Luck..
HB
And in Costa Rica there is Conversa--look up Conversa.com If you don;t find it give me PING and I will find it for you...They are over 40 years in the business of teaching languages...