Info on spanish courses in Costa Rica?

[4th yr Fellow]

I am planning a trip to Costa Rica to take one of those intensive spanish courses. Being a doc in CA is almost impossible if you don't know spanish. But there are so many programs to choose from. Does anyone know anything about the programs? Do you know anyone who has gone, and what did they think?

I would appreciate any info on this topic.

Thanks

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[Stephen Ewen]

There are a literal plethora of such programs out there, and the best option is to just get on the Net and start searching. They will turn up in abundance. Criteria you should look for include:

1. That it is a home-stay program.

2. That it is whole-language based. You do not need to go to CR to take a typical Spanish college course. WLB is to get you to speak and understand ASAP.

3. That there is a good history to the program.

Also, you should get hold of the coat pocket sized book called Que Pasa?, which teaches one quite rapdly how to do physical diagnoses by asking questions to which there are only "si" or "no" replies. Hope this helps.

 

[IRON_DUKE]

I am in Costa Rica ................what are you looking for specificlly ?

Price
Duration
ETC.......................


mOX

 

[4th yr Fellow]

mox-

specifically i am looking for a 3 week course, staying with a family. learning intensive spanish during the day/morning, and then hopefully spending some time in a hospital inthe afternoons/weekends to practice what i learn. i've been hearing that it's too easy to speck english in costa rica, and therefore harder to learn spanish...is that true?

thanks, 4th yr fellow

 

[Stephen Ewen]

Yes, it is, esp. in the hospitals with the docs. They will want to practice their English as much as you want to practice your Spanish!

 

[Peeshee]

I would highly recommend studying Spanish (or any other language for that matter) in a place where it is very difficult to find people who speak your native language. For your case, you might have to go to a more rural area because nowadays, a lot more city people are speaking English throughout Latin America. For example, in Mexico, I would highly recommend the state of Oaxaca. There are people who speak English within the Oaxaca City, but just go a little outside the city, and you must speak Spanish. A homestay with people who can speak only Spanish to you would be excellent. Sometimes, you can learn more Spanish by talking to people on the street or the people you are living with.
I think Guatemala or Honduras would be good options for studying Spanish, too.