I’ve written a post about my intent to be a DNV in some small city in Spain, but my Spanish is not even 5-year old level. To solve that, I’m currrently looking for language schools in my country, so I can at least have some basic understanding of Spanish/Catalan and maybe not appear like a tourist the whole first year in such a beautiful country.
Anyone else who wanted to learn the language of the country they’re going to? For those who didn’t, what was the experience like? Did you eventually learn their native language?
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I don’t think you need to learn catalán. People in Cataluña speak Spanish as well so you should be fine speaking just Spanish.
The best way to learn a language is living in a country that speaks it but you could learn Spanish for a couple months before you go so you can at least say basic things and then go.
Spanish is a very useful language as a traveller. And remember Spanish is not the same everywhere, the Spanish we speak in Spain is not like the one spoken in Argentina. We do understand each other but the accent and words we use are not always the same so be flexible.
I learned Portuguese for 2 months before moving to Brazil, where I am right now. And I am learning more by living here cause I am forced to hear it all the time, read it and speak it. Brazilians don’t really speak foreign languages so it is a great country to practice Portuguese.
Almost all the world speaks english, and if not there are translator apps and whatnot in todays day and age, so i dont see it as necessary
Takes too long to learn the language of a place you’re just going to be in for a few months. For all intents and purposes, you’re a tourist. If you’re planning to become a permanent resident, sure, go ahead, since it’s not great to live in a place where you don’t understand what people say.
I see you’re Filipino. If you’re moving to Spain, already knowing Philippine languages is an advantage as you already have a good chunk of the vocabulary down. What you need to master is more the grammar of the language, which formal instruction will help. Also, you will need to learn Spanish if you eventually intend to apply for Spanish citizenship.
That said, when you move here your Spanish will improve, especially as Spaniards are notoriously bad at foreign languages (case and point: one of the trainers at my gym is my age, meaning of the generation of Spaniards that learn foreign languages in school, and he admits his English is so bad he can barely speak it). This is regardless of how fluent in the language you are, as I moved to Spain with a fairly strong command of Spanish yet I still learned a lot after two years of living here.
Consider joining Facebook groups like Spanish for Filipinos or even the sub I admin, r/IslasFilipinas, if you want to find other Filipinos to speak Spanish with.