Im thinking of moving to DR...

[Maggie0517]

KK.. Now that we all know where we stand (and I totally know where i made my mistake) we should move on and get back on topic..
Is there some sort of centers in D.R for new comers ie: somewhere where you can learn the language or culture or somewhere where you can meet othre fellow new comers?

 

[Maggie0517]

I always feel that someone who is asking about moving to the DR who has zero or few posts is not a real person at all. Perhaps an attempt to generate more posts for the site. Using the phrase "The Dominican" guarantees even more replies.

There should be a way to verify posters, then they can have a special icon next to their user name.

Having said that.. I love DR1!

I really am a true person. I just singned up about 3 days ago so im just getting used to this site. Im reading all the posts to get the idea of what its all about and trying to get the feel of it. I did realize that most people on it are little older than me and i can see how i could possibly offend someone by not using the right wording. Which i already appologized for. I do appreciate the correction though. I came across this site as i was doing my research on D.R. I am glad i did becouse i am getting a lot of info and tons of helpful links.

 

[SKing]

KK.. Now that we all know where we stand (and I totally know where i made my mistake) we should move on and get back on topic..
Is there some sort of centers in D.R for new comers ie: somewhere where you can learn the language or culture or somewhere where you can meet othre fellow new comers?

You stayed 3 weeks with your "friend" and his family. How did you communicte with them?

SHALENA

 

[Chuck T]

You stayed 3 weeks with your "friend" and his family. How did you communicte with them?

SHALENA

shalena shalena , that is not what she asked, perhaps it is you that can't read english ?

 

[Chuck T]

KK.. Now that we all know where we stand (and I totally know where i made my mistake) we should move on and get back on topic..
Is there some sort of centers in D.R for new comers ie: somewhere where you can learn the language or culture or somewhere where you can meet othre fellow new comers?

Maggie , I purchased the Pimsleur method ( on CD's) for trying to learn spaniish, the program is effective and reasonable...........I am just too lazy to get busy with it. lol.........no, seriously it is a fairly simple and comprehesive way to learn enough spanish to get by with.

 

[gonzo two]

I dont recall anyone saying they didnt speak any English , the original poster was asking where she could learn Spanish.
Some people are just so rude for no reason

 

[SKing]

Don't like it????

Too bad, I just asked a simple question. You assume they speak English, I assume they don't. What's the problem??? Geez

SHALENA

 

[PICHARDO]

Talk about a "welcoming party" here, more like a posse looking for a lynching!

Since when have our DR1 (Dominican Rep) members become so hostile to newbies?

Let's focus on providing the knowledge about the DR that comes from real living here, rather than what people imagine it to be! I can only begin to count the many members posting here, that can impart so much advice about this tiny piece of Eden (or Hell depending on your experience) on earth, that's worth its weight in Gold...


Let the flood begin! :cheeky:

 

[Chuck T]

Don't like it????

Too bad, I just asked a simple question. You assume they speak English, I assume they don't. What's the problem??? Geez

SHALENA

Shalena, perhaps your interrogation time would be better spent with aiding the newbee with some tips on surviving the RD experience ?

 

[Acira]

I am taking the Spanish lessons from Rosetta Stone, quite expensive but if I see how Belgiank has picked up the language very fast, I am more then determined now to really go ahead with it. Was a bit lazy at first but I had already two warnings of our cleaning lady that I should pick up with my Spanish because she wants to talk with me, ya know woman to woman lol, and me stumbling through a conversation has given me that extra kick to really get on with it. She only has to stop laughing when I sit there with the program up and she sees an apple appearing on the screen...manzana

 

[donP]

It is just not done.

You stayed 3 weeks with your "friend" and his family. SHALENA

If that really was the case, it was done with very little knowledge of the culture.
The whole neighbourhood/barrio would know/talk about the reputation of the visiting woman...

donP

 

[MaineGirl]

Maggie immersion is the best method IMHO, for better or for worse Dominican Spanish is quite unique, and you will want to find some people who speak good Spanish to emulate. Nothing more grating than a non Spanish speaking person who speaks nothing but street Spanish trying to have a decent conversation, in Dominican society this instantly classifies you. Interestingly enough my friend took her daughter to DR last year for first time (ten years old) and the child came back with a few words she picked up right away. I asked her what she had learned for Spanish and she said "I heard "ai co*o" a lot!" which if you don't know is not what a ten year old should be saying but clearly she heard it enough to say it from memory. Anyway those programs are interesting, but cannot be done in isolation for full effect. Acira for example has someone with whom to practice her Spanish which clearly will augment the program. Also no offense to oldies but the younger you are the easier it is to learn. Once you have picked up Spanish through the ears, you can start asking a lot more questions about how it works on paper. I learned to function in multiple tenses after seven months of immersion. If you know other Romance languages this also helps.

 

[gilligan]

From what i experianced speaking spanish makes your life whole lot easier. They speak sooo fast tho.....)

"Mas despacio por favor"/"more slowly please" always works. And sometimes when they speak more slowly they stop changing their r's into l's.

 

[Chuck T]

Maggie immersion is the best method IMHO, for better or for worse Dominican Spanish is quite unique, and you will want to find some people who speak good Spanish to emulate. Nothing more grating than a non Spanish speaking person who speaks nothing but street Spanish trying to have a decent conversation, in Dominican society this instantly classifies you. Interestingly enough my friend took her daughter to DR last year for first time (ten years old) and the child came back with a few words she picked up right away. I asked her what she had learned for Spanish and she said "I heard "ai co*o" a lot!" which if you don't know is not what a ten year old should be saying but clearly she heard it enough to say it from memory. Anyway those programs are interesting, but cannot be done in isolation for full effect. Acira for example has someone with whom to practice her Spanish which clearly will augment the program. Also no offense to oldies but the younger you are the easier it is to learn. Once you have picked up Spanish through the ears, you can start asking a lot more questions about how it works on paper. I learned to function in multiple tenses after seven months of immersion. If you know other Romance languages this also helps.

very true about emerging but it appears to me Maggie would have trouble emerging in Canada. The course I suggested is just one of many available but at least it would allow her an introduction and the combination of both is the key. (IMO)

 

[Chuck T]

i always feel that someone who is asking about moving to the dr who has zero or few posts is not a real person at all. Perhaps an attempt to generate more posts for the site. Using the phrase "the dominican" guarantees even more replies.

There should be a way to verify posters, then they can have a special icon next to their user name.

Having said that.. I love dr1!

wtf ?

 

[Acira]

Maggie immersion is the best method IMHO, for better or for worse Dominican Spanish is quite unique, and you will want to find some people who speak good Spanish to emulate. Nothing more grating than a non Spanish speaking person who speaks nothing but street Spanish trying to have a decent conversation, in Dominican society this instantly classifies you. Interestingly enough my friend took her daughter to DR last year for first time (ten years old) and the child came back with a few words she picked up right away. I asked her what she had learned for Spanish and she said "I heard "ai co*o" a lot!" which if you don't know is not what a ten year old should be saying but clearly she heard it enough to say it from memory. Anyway those programs are interesting, but cannot be done in isolation for full effect. Acira for example has someone with whom to practice her Spanish which clearly will augment the program. Also no offense to oldies but the younger you are the easier it is to learn. Once you have picked up Spanish through the ears, you can start asking a lot more questions about how it works on paper. I learned to function in multiple tenses after seven months of immersion. If you know other Romance languages this also helps.

Yes, getting older doesn't help, I discovered that but its getting compensated because I was brought up bi-langual with French being the second language. What my experience here is that few Dominicans will correct your sentence or give you the correct word for something, if they do not know you very well, they are just to polite to do that. Once they know you very well...its a continuous correction and that's why Belgiank has improved the last two months enormously, all Dominicans he know here are constantly correcting him on words and grammar. The fact that we lived in Jarabacoa for a year also helped, that dialect must be one of the worst in chopping off letters of words and our interaction there was mostly with Dominicans. Luckely there were a few who didn't do it and spoke descent Dominican Spanish. Our biggest teacher is a friend from Santo Domingo, the fireman. He starts to talk, sees our faces, put his finger up, takes a deep breath and starts again...very very slowly lol. But he is used to speak in public so his prononciation is very good.

But I really do have to catch up now, I don't get any slack anymore (rightfully) from our Dominican friends to "hide behind the back of my partner" . They want me to speak Spanish as well as Belgiank does and I also want to take part of the conversations. Ok, off to another session with Rosetta whilst the cleaning lady is not here, its about cars and airplanes again, repetitions from previous lessons, sometimes very boring in Rosetta but it pays off at the end.

 

[Maggie0517]

To answer your question: I comunicated with a friend of mine in English mostly becouse he spoke english since he was little. And when it comes to his family i only know few words in spanish so i spoke what i could. We had few laughs but i this is how you learn i guess..
Im Polish (born and raised) lived in Canada for 13 years (still learning english) but its time to move on and learn Spanish. Since Polish and English are so different and spanish in DR is so unique All i want really is learn the proper way (slang will come eventualy im sure.)

 

[Maggie0517]

Maggie immersion is the best method IMHO, for better or for worse Dominican Spanish is quite unique, and you will want to find some people who speak good Spanish to emulate. Nothing more grating than a non Spanish speaking person who speaks nothing but street Spanish trying to have a decent conversation, in Dominican society this instantly classifies you. Interestingly enough my friend took her daughter to DR last year for first time (ten years old) and the child came back with a few words she picked up right away. I asked her what she had learned for Spanish and she said "I heard "ai co*o" a lot!" which if you don't know is not what a ten year old should be saying but clearly she heard it enough to say it from memory. Anyway those programs are interesting, but cannot be done in isolation for full effect. Acira for example has someone with whom to practice her Spanish which clearly will augment the program. Also no offense to oldies but the younger you are the easier it is to learn. Once you have picked up Spanish through the ears, you can start asking a lot more questions about how it works on paper. I learned to function in multiple tenses after seven months of immersion. If you know other Romance languages this also helps.

Emmersion here would be impossible.. Becouse as multicultural as we are in canada we only have English and French..
All i can do at this point is take classes here and do my best to learn as much as i can. I guess it really would a matter of surrounding myself with people that are not affraid to correct me when i say something wrong.

 

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Do your research

Maggie0517,
You have been fortunate in the advice you have received yet one thing I would like to add: The best motto for there is to remember, you see nothing, you hear nothing and you say nothing. People can get very angry if you try to get involved in their business and can be dangerous. For anyone that says it is not unsafe, depends on where you are living exactly. Some people in some areas survive on scamming and stealing while others work hard earning an honest living to support their families. Culture shock is a good thing to read up on and as a fellow Canadian, I would recommend you not live there full time as it can get very tiring during slow seasons. I loved my experience there, the culture, the people(some like everywhere), the music, the food, the beaches, the relaxation.
However, the grass is not always greener on the other side, just keep that in mind. Living in a place is not like visiting there, life can be very hard and very great all at the same time. I lived there for several months but the danger forced me to leave, so just really watch yourself if you decide to go. I could speak and understand Spanish when I went but my own "friends" permanently borrowed many of my things from there. I recommend if you go, get connected with the Canadian consolate, and use the site nicepeoplenetworking.com If you want more info, dont hesitate to ask about my experience in Dominican Republic earlier this year.
All the best

 

[RonEvane]

Hellooo everyone! I have been enjoying the dr1 forum for quite some time but did'nt really have anything of importance to add untill ms. Maggie's post prompted me to join and ask pretty much the same questions as she has.
I've dreaming about retiring to a tropical setting for some time. Here's hoping that by late 2012 I may be ready to do so.
Other than ms Maggie's worries, I have a few also. I wonder what would be the three most challenging obstacles to making a permanent move for a Spanish-speaking 62yo. guy with a fixed income? Can you help me please?