# moving to mallorca with kids



## josephine (Jan 13, 2009)

i am considering moving to mallorca with my husband and two children (4&7). a friend has a house in soller that we can rent from her. 

our motivation in spending a year abroad is for the family to learn spanish- is mallorca the wrong choice? will i have to put my kids in private international schools for them to learn spanish?

are there opportunities to practice one's spanish in mallorca? 

is this a good place to live with kids?

thanks for any advice you can offer.


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## SteveHall (Oct 17, 2008)

Be aware that on Mallorca they speak Catalan, the local dialect (Mallorquí), English, German and occasionally castellano. (!) I am afraid that I can't give you info on exactly what schools teach what (surely your friend can) but what I know from dealings there that most of MY contacts speak castellano as their second choice. I wanted to set an exhibition up there and was told I would have to submit "un proyeto". When I asked the official whether it would need to be in Catalan, he laconically responded, "Only if you want it accepted". I got the picture! (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallorquín ) 

Ignore the snow there at the moment! The journey to Soller from Palma is one of the most beautiful train journeys I have ever made and every time I go to Mallorca I try to make it again.


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## josephine (Jan 13, 2009)

Hi Steve,
thanks so much for your reply. I am aware that Catalan is the preferred language, but is it a viable place to go to learn to speak Spanish (if i took courses)? Also do you have a sense of what the cost of living is like? 
Thanks
Josephine


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## SteveHall (Oct 17, 2008)

Sure, plenty of Spanish courses there but it is not the language "de la calle" 

Cost of Living? Probably highest in whole of Spain - on a par with Barcelona certainly

Not a place i would go to learn Spanish or to save money but if you have a good deal on the house it might balance out. 

¡Os deseo mucha suerte! ¡Molt sort!


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## josephine (Jan 13, 2009)

what part of spain would you go to learn spanish?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

josephine said:


> what part of spain would you go to learn spanish?



What part of england would you go to learn English, from what I can gather (and I could be wrong, but I'm allowed cos its my birthday lol) Going to Mallorca would be like going to Wales and learning welsh??? There is also a huge difference between the language you learn when having a Spansih lesson and the language the locals speak - that one is doing my head in, cos I'm having lessons!!!!

I know a lot of totally bilingual people here and they struggle to understand some of the languages/dialects from other parts of Spain and I'm sure vice versa

Jo


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