Posts Tagged ‘Spanish’

Learning Spanish Week 7

Monday, February 28th, 2011

This week was probably the most painful. We were revising what we have learnt. I often felt that I cannot take anymore and needed to get out of the room. It is sometimes depressing how much work and time it takes to learn a foreign language and how quickly you forget it without practice. The grammar is obviously the most depressing part; you keep on asking yourself and your poor teacher “WHY?” What is the point of this stupid rule? Eh, life, pura vida…

We also leant Imperfect Tense in Spanish which seems to be rather easy grammatically (only three exceptions!!!) but has very confusing usage. Practice makes perfect!

Learning Spanish Week 6

Monday, February 21st, 2011

This week was relatively easy, no more suffering from irregular verbs! YES!

We learned comparative sentences and the words and, of course, exceptions. Also we spent a considerable amount of time checking what we have learnt in the past. We should have an exam next week which is ought to reflect where are our week points. Let’s see how it goes!

Another big theme this week was dedicated to the usage of Spanish prepositions “por” and “para”. It is very confusing, to all the foreigners who are learning Spanish, to use correctly the above mentioned prepositions. We are not an exception and having difficulties using them.

Our teacher was very generous this whole week. She brought every new day some new typical Costa Rican food most of which we really enjoyed!

Learning Spanish Week 5

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

This week was interrupted by renting a car and driving all over Costa Rica. Therefore, we only had one lesson, which was devoted to understanding of how to use two verbs in a sentence like “ I want to go …” or “I have to dance”.

Oh NO! I feel that I will soon forget all Spanish I have learnt!!!

Learning Spanish Week 4

Monday, February 7th, 2011

The fourth week of the Spanish course went smoothly, we started by learning the possessive adjectives (my, yours, theirs) and the indicative adjectives (this, that, these). Then we continued with the never ending irregular verbs, in the past tense now. Finally had a break, learning Presente Progresivo or the so-called Present Continuous Tense in English; something like “I am walking”.  It was surprisingly easy. Phew!

We finished the week with learning reflexive verbs. Oh my, I still cannot believe that the verb “to explain” can actually be reflexive.

Find a teacher of Spanish in Tamarindo

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

Spending three months in a Spanish speaking country not knowing even how to ask for water is embarrassing. Promising to learn this language if Spanish football team win a World Cup and never even start doing it after Spain became a European and World champion is a shame.

How easy it may seem to find a teacher who would teach you a basic Spanish, it is a rash thought.  There are two schools in Tamarindo to learn Spanish.  They called Wayra and CSI and they situated opposite each other. Spanish lesson prices are well overvalued and are very similar in both schools. SCI appeared a little bit cheaper but, unfortunately, I cannot compare the academic component. Still $250 dollars for 20 hours of Spanish a week in a group seems well overpriced for a developing country.

It made more sense to get a private teacher also because we were not looking for more than 8-10 hours of Spanish per week.  But where to find this teacher? Looking in the internet was a complete waste of time. We were confused and concerned. Help came out of nowhere. Waiting for a bus in one of nearby towns (it is always good to explore the neighbourhood) we met a local who used to work in one of the language schools and he recommended us a teacher. The teacher firstly wanted a ridiculous amount of money, so it would be cheaper for us to take a private lesson at school. Although, a couple of minutes later we agreed on a price of $30 for 2 hour lesson.