Is there anywhere other than the Academy in Costa Teguise where me and my friend can go to learn Spanish. We are complete novices to the language and would like an intense training course for about a month to start with, just looking around but cant see much other than that
We are moving over in April 2012 but saving firstly to do a course if anybody knows of one we would much appreciate it - thanks

There's definitely somewhere in Arrecife where you can get lessons for free, sorry don't know much more

someone in the gazette is advertising spanish lessons at 20€hr for 2 people,based near biosfera in pdc.there will be loads more.my old spanish tutor told me it take around 250 hours roughly on average to learn spanish. dont know your circumstances but if you are moving here and need to work you may want to save your money as you dont need to speak a word of spanish to live here.the travel snobs may disagree but any money you use on lessons would be better spent on cost of living while you try to find those hard to come by jobs?

And how many of those hard to come by jobs do you rule yourself out of by not speaking a word of the local language?

Foodie is right, not only at finding jobs but also just living on the Island. The better I am getting at Spanish the more I am getting out of living here.

I learnt the basic structure of the language before I moved over. Michelle Thomas Cds are good you can pick them up for next to nothing on Ebay.

Then mixing with the local community has allowed me to adapt that structure to what is actually spoken. Once you reach a certain level the Spanish and Canarians start to respect you and help in many ways.

Buena suerte.

Ray

I have bought the Rosetta Stone Spanish for beginners so looking forward to getting started with that but ideally i would like to speak at least basic Spanish as it would widen my job opportunitis i would of thought.
Anyway thanks fo all your input thus far

hardly any foodie..spanish employers pick spanish people as a general rule.
i would have thought it was much more important to save your time and money on actually surviving here,paying the rent on time till that english speaking kitchen or bar job comes up.
by the way i took spanish lessons here and can get by speaking spanish,yes its nice to speak another language but my point is its not critical to your way of life here.

I guess the spanish only choose the spanish becasue they know the majority of brits won't speak spanish nor make the effort.....

2 other points - I wouldn't be emigrating for a bar job - the point of moving is for quality of life right?

And not speaking the language is just one more thing that is likely to tip the balance against successfully settling.

THe cost of learning a foreign language is minimal. Tried ebay for books and cds? Plus loads of groups meet for free to improve everyones conversational skills.

my spanish teacher told me it takes 250 hours on average to learn the lingo..thats using qualified experts.
think how long its going to take using books and cassettes, of dubious quality in many cases.i personally wouldnt work behind a bar unless i absolutely had to,to pay the bills,but the fact is thats where most of the few job opportunities are here.