# Is the best way to learn a language by living among "the locals"?



## cathb (Sep 5, 2016)

Hello everyone,
My name is Cathy and I am coming to La Marina in October for 6 months. It will be the first visit to this part of Spain for my husband Donald and myself. We are looking forward to it so much. We have retired now and are looking forward to new experiences and language.

We don't speak Spanish. My husband firmly believes the best way to learn a language is to live among the locals and practice everyday words by using them. Is this true, in your experiences? What do you think is the best way to learn? Are Spanish people open to foreigners making mistakes?

Does anyone live in La Marina. If so, how do you find it?

Many thanks,

Cathy


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## Elyles (Aug 30, 2012)

*Welcome to SPAIN!!! Introduce yourself here!!*



cathb said:


> Hello everyone,
> My name is Cathy and I am coming to La Marina in October for 6 months. It will be the first visit to this part of Spain for my husband Donald and myself. We are looking forward to it so much. We have retired now and are looking forward to new experiences and language.
> 
> We don't speak Spanish. My husband firmly believes the best way to learn a language is to live among the locals and practice everyday words by using them. Is this true, in your experiences? What do you think is the best way to learn? Are Spanish people open to foreigners making mistakes?
> ...




We live in the Pyrenees. Don't know where your location is. As far as learning Spanish, that is an individual choice as there are many options available. I always looked for the free ones on the Internet and things like Dave Spencer's Spanish Survival Guide podcasts. I am retired too. I took a brief stint of Spanish in High School as well as in Undergraduate school but close to retirement I went back and took two years of Undergraduate Spanish. (Only helped with the basics) I also volunteered helping with Mexican students learning English. Upon arrival here my wife (who only knew a few words in Spanish) and I enrolled in free classes called Español Para Extranjeros (Spanish for Foreigners). That was four years ago. Although not fluent, we speak pretty good Spanish now. We also live in a community with few Brits and fewer Americans (This forced us to go into survival mode). You will discover many here in the same boat as you. There are also topics entirely devoted to this here in this forum. Good luck! 

The Spanish are very forgiving with foreigners making errors and will often help you with the correct thing to say. Just say (¿Cómo se dice eso in español? and point at what you are trying to say) English is spoken quite regularly in large cities and in British expat communities. 


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

cathb said:


> Hello everyone,
> My name is Cathy and I am coming to La Marina in October for 6 months. It will be the first visit to this part of Spain for my husband Donald and myself. We are looking forward to it so much. We have retired now and are looking forward to new experiences and language.
> 
> We don't speak Spanish. My husband firmly believes the best way to learn a language is to live among the locals and practice everyday words by using them. Is this true, in your experiences? What do you think is the best way to learn? Are Spanish people open to foreigners making mistakes?
> ...


Morning Cathy,
Have you ever learnt a foreign language before? To become proficient is hard work and requires determination and dedication. Immersion, for example going to live amongst the locals, is a well recognised way of learning, but I'm not sure that's what you will get where you are going and just living the language is not usually enough for most people, especially after, sorry to mention it, a certain age. I don't know La Marina, but it looks like a place that, although there are Spanish people there, caters for the foreign resident so I'm not sure how much exposure to Spanish you will have. Also immersion is usually most effective after you have gained a certain base. I t will never harm you to hear and try out a bit of Spanish though!

Classes can help and there are often free or cheap classes offered by the local town hall. There might be local people who offer classes too. A couple of classes a week will help, but you won't really learn unless you do stuff at home on your own too.
My advice is always revise, recycle and do it again = anything you learn look at again in a few hours, a few days and a few months.
There are many threads about learning Spanish on the forum.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Spending time in the company of Spanish speaking people, & making yourself speak Spanish will certainly help.

Complete immersion will make you learn more quickly.

I know a woman from the Ukraine who came here at about the same time as I did. Although we, as a family, made a huge effort to learn Spanish (with success  ), she learned much more quickly.

Although we didn't watch British TV, didn't especially mix with the British community - we did have access to the English language on a daily basis. And in the early days, that helped us. I didn't have to learn Spanish. I could have lived here & not bothered. Many have been here 20+ years & can do little more than order a coffee (badly). I chose to & made a huge effort to. 

She didn't have any access to her native language. She had moved here alone, & there are very few who speak it here. so if she wanted to speak to anyone she had to learn Spanish. And she did. Much more quickly than I did, as I said.


From what I know of La Marina, it's very much set up for the British residents, with everything available in English. You could still learn Spanish there. But it will be very easy not to, because you simply won't_ need_ it.


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## Evilbungle (Jul 8, 2016)

I have only just arrived and I agree with what the longer term residents have said. I think immersion is a good way to learn but is much harder to do than you realise.

To explain what I mean using myself as an example. I work in an office with many Spanish people and when on a coffee break I make an effort to Speak Spanish and they are very forgiving of my mistakes, but it takes time and is slow. When conducting business I have to do it in English as I do not have the time to spend time translating what I need to say, also I can not have the risk of there being a misunderstanding. 

At the weekends I live in a town with a sizeable expat community (about 20% of the language you hear in the Street is English.) where nearly all shop keepers I encounter speak good English, therefore when I start my (Bad) Spanish they will often respond in English, again I can persist with my very slow Spanish but that is unfair to them as they have a queue out the door and are there to sell fruit not teach Spanish to foreigners. So despite living and working in Spain I probably speak Spanish about 3 times a day at most. 

In between I spend a lot of time listening to podcasts, Reading Spanish newspapers, taking lessons (I am lucky in that I have one to one tuition once a week) and listening to conversations that are going on around me but immersion is something that you would need to work at and be committed to. Which I simply can't do (Ironically because I am working over here.) 

Anyway, Coffee break is coming up - Today I am planning on telling them how crowded Ikea is - it's the small things!


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## Madliz (Feb 4, 2011)

To imagine that you can arrive in a foreign country and pick up the language just by living there is a pipe dream. You have to put work into it. How can you use everyday words if you haven't learnt them beforehand? Could you imagine someone arriving in your area with no English and expecting to have a conversation with you or a shopkeeper?

I've lived here over 20 years and still wouldn't call myself fluent. It is a lot harder than people (who have never done it) think. Did you have foreign language lessons at school? Can you recall the horrors of verb conjugation? Could you have a conversation with a native or make your needs understood in a shop after those countless hours of tuition? Most people can't!

Living among the locals is certainly the best way to practice and expand your vocabulary, but you need to put the legwork in to start with. With only weeks to go, I would at least recommend finding a local Spanish teacher to go through the basics with you, or you really will be in at the deep end.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Anybody who moved to where I live and relied on "living amongst the locals" to learn Spanish would end up speaking broad Andaluz dialect with an impenetrable accent!

It bears very little resemblance to Castellano Spanish which is taught in lessons.

It helps to have regular contact with Spanish people, access to Spanish TV, etc,, as others have said, but personally I don't believe that I would have learned Spanish without a solid foundation gained from doing lessons with a qualified teacher. When you have that foundation you can build on it by practicing speaking with people you come into contact with, and better still an intercambio arrangement with a Spaniard who is learning English.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Evilbungle said:


> Anyway, Coffee break is coming up - Today I am planning on telling them how crowded Ikea is - it's the small things!


Love it!
You have a little plan of what you're going to say. It's a good idea. That way you kind of "force" yourself to make some contribution to the conversation, and I know that sometimes it's a bit of an effort.
Of course you can't prepare for their answers!


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

cathb said:


> Hello everyone,
> My name is Cathy and I am coming to La Marina in October for 6 months. It will be the first visit to this part of Spain for my husband Donald and myself. We are looking forward to it so much. We have retired now and are looking forward to new experiences and language.
> 
> We don't speak Spanish. My husband firmly believes the best way to learn a language is to live among the locals and practice everyday words by using them. Is this true, in your experiences? What do you think is the best way to learn? Are Spanish people open to foreigners making mistakes?
> ...


In your situation I think the best way to learn Spanish is to make sure you enjoy it and stay motivated, because it will be an ongoing process with no clearly defined end. Immersing yourself with the locals will certainly help (especially if you can distinguish between Valenciano and Spanish!) but on its own it will most likely lead to frustration. You really need to take classes as well in order to complement and make sense of what you hear going on around you.


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## cathb (Sep 5, 2016)

Thank you for all your replies and good advice. I'll certainly look into some of your suggestions.

Cathy.


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## webmarcos (Dec 25, 2012)

Madliz said:


> To imagine that you can arrive in a foreign country and pick up the language just by living there is a pipe dream. You have to put work into it. How can you use everyday words if you haven't learnt them beforehand? Could you imagine someone arriving in your area with no English and expecting to have a conversation with you or a shopkeeper?
> 
> I've lived here over 20 years and still wouldn't call myself fluent. It is a lot harder than people (who have never done it) think. Did you have foreign language lessons at school? Can you recall the horrors of verb conjugation? Could you have a conversation with a native or make your needs understood in a shop after those countless hours of tuition? Most people can't!
> 
> Living among the locals is certainly the best way to practice and expand your vocabulary, but you need to put the legwork in to start with. With only weeks to go, I would at least recommend finding a local Spanish teacher to go through the basics with you, or you really will be in at the deep end.


Good points. Joining a class with other learners may be more to your taste than individual lessons - which will cost more (in terms of money and effort) - but you'll work out which benefits you more.
One thing that holds back the native English speakers I feel, is they refuse to listen to Spanish music and/or Spanish television. As mentioned already, repitition is required when learning a language, so listening to repeated Spanish pop on a daily basis can help. Even if like too many Brits you assume that British/American pop is superior.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

cathb said:


> Thank you for all your replies and good advice. I'll certainly look into some of your suggestions.
> 
> Cathy.


Basically you need to have some grounding in the language even if it is just knowing the numbers from 1 to 100, the days of the week and a few basic verbs such as_ llamarse, ser_ and _estar._ and when each of the latter should be used. You should know how to tell the time and at what times of the day to use certain greetings. A *good* phrase book will always come in handy. Buy a Spanish newspaper in UK and try to understand what the story is about - if it is an international news item, you probably know about it already which will be an even greater help.


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## Simon22 (May 22, 2015)

baldilocks said:


> Basically you need to have some grounding in the language even if it is just knowing the numbers from 1 to 100, the days of the week and a few basic verbs such as_ llamarse, ser_ and _estar._ and when each of the latter should be used. You should know how to tell the time and at what times of the day to use certain greetings. A *good* phrase book will always come in handy.


As was pointed out the other day, learning phrases can backfire if you can't understand the replies. It can be helpful when trying to find an item in the shop though! haha


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Simon22 said:


> As was pointed out the other day, learning phrases can backfire if you can't understand the replies. It can be helpful when trying to find an item in the shop though! haha


My favourite phrase when I was learning - & even now if the word for some item I've maybe never bought before escapes me - was '¿Tienes algo para........? followed by charades or some kind of description of what I want(ed) said item for


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Simon22 said:


> As was pointed out the other day, learning phrases can backfire if you can't understand the replies. It can be helpful when trying to find an item in the shop though! haha


The advantage of having a phrase book is you can point to the phrase that says what you want to say when you come to something about which you are uncertain. I wan't expecting someone to learn all the phrases


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## Madliz (Feb 4, 2011)

When I started learning Spanish, in London, I used to always buy a copy of _¡Hola!_. The language was never too complicated and it gave me a good grounding in Spanish culture. 

When I moved here, I at least had some idea about what everyone was gossiping about in the bars!


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Madliz said:


> When I started learning Spanish, in London, I used to always buy a copy of _¡Hola!_. The language was never too complicated and it gave me a good grounding in Spanish culture.
> 
> When I moved here, I at least had some idea about what everyone was gossiping about in the bars!


I used to get El Pais which was a bit harder but it was also reporting on matters that I knew about from the British media so I was better able to relate how the two languages worked.


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## cathb (Sep 5, 2016)

baldilocks said:


> Basically you need to have some grounding in the language even if it is just knowing the numbers from 1 to 100, the days of the week and a few basic verbs such as_ llamarse, ser_ and _estar._ and when each of the latter should be used. You should know how to tell the time and at what times of the day to use certain greetings. A *good* phrase book will always come in handy. Buy a Spanish newspaper in UK and try to understand what the story is about - if it is an international news item, you probably know about it already which will be an even greater help.



That seems to fit the bill from where I'm starting off.

Based on some replies, I may have given the impression that I think learning Spanish would be easy and quick...I don't. I already recognize that it can be much harder to learn if the person is older. However I also recognize the learning can be fun,:fingerscrossed:

Many thanks,

Cathy


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## Elyles (Aug 30, 2012)

cathb said:


> That seems to fit the bill from where I'm starting off.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




No matter what your age, learning is possible.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

cathb said:


> However I also recognize the learning can be fun,:fingerscrossed:
> 
> Many thanks,
> 
> Cathy


That's true.
The way I learnt most Spanish was by having a Colombian, non English speaking boyfiend.
I later married a Spaniard.
I wonder what your husband would think about that method of learning the language


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## cathb (Sep 5, 2016)

Pesky Wesky said:


> That's true.
> The way I learnt most Spanish was by having a Colombian, non English speaking boyfiend.
> I later married a Spaniard.
> I wonder what your husband would think about that method of learning the language


That one could be our little secret.


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## Simon22 (May 22, 2015)

cathb said:


> Hello everyone,
> My name is Cathy and I am coming to La Marina in October for 6 months. It will be the first visit to this part of Spain for my husband Donald and myself. We are looking forward to it so much. We have retired now and are looking forward to new experiences and language.
> 
> We don't speak Spanish. My husband firmly believes the best way to learn a language is to live among the locals and practice everyday words by using them. Is this true, in your experiences? What do you think is the best way to learn? Are Spanish people open to foreigners making mistakes?
> ...


We live on the Urb not in the village but they are not far apart. Anything I do to help just say, happy to answer questions.  Welcome to a lovely part of Spain!


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> That's true.
> The way I learnt most Spanish was by having a Colombian, non English speaking boyfiend.
> I later married a Spaniard.
> I wonder what your husband would think about that method of learning the language


My problem is the reverse. I married a Colombian who is fluent in three languages English, French and Spanish with the consequence that whenever Spanish or French is called for, she just steps in. However, not long after we were married and had moved to UK we went on a weekend coach trip to Antwerp to see/hear (more hear than see - the place was huge and the star was a dot in black and white way off in the distance) Pavarotti. On the way back, we arrived at the ferry terminal in Calais and had a 2 hour wait so were sent off to get refreshments. I was doing all the talking as I had been in Eindhoven where our hotel was. We collected our meal and sat down when she said "I've just realised. Why are you doing all the talking when I speak French?


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## cathb (Sep 5, 2016)

Simon22 said:


> We live on the Urb not in the village but they are not far apart. Anything I do to help just say, happy to answer questions.  Welcome to a lovely part of Spain!


Thank you so much. It's the Urb we are going to live for the six months.

Regards,

Cathy.


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## Simon22 (May 22, 2015)

cathb said:


> Thank you so much. It's the Urb we are going to live for the six months.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Cathy.


Which part are you going to? You'll quickly learn that people don't go by street names but local nick names. The main strip, the forest road, the music road etc.

This may help


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## ayrez (Sep 15, 2016)

We too live on the urb on on the part called Lo Grane. The town hall organise very cheap Spanish classes at the social centre near the Health Centre. I am due to enrol later this month and I know they have a beginners level. I am also considering a business in benijofar who have classes for Euro5 per hour at all levels. 
Do not worry too much, many people who live here do not speak Spanish and they manage very well.


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## cathb (Sep 5, 2016)

I think we will come under the main strip by the looks of your map Simon.

The Spanish lessons sound good. Also a way to meet people I would think.

Many thanks,

Cathy


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I know an English woman who spoke hardly any Spanish when she moved here but became fluent within a year. She and her partner deliberately avoided the company of other Brits, which caused a few snide remarks, but socialised every day with their Spanish neighbours. They accepted every invitation offered and have made many good friends. She also took classes twice a week as conversation isn't enough, you need a bit of grammar too.


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