Santa Cristobal Island
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SPANISH LESSONS
If you are going to be spending a certain amount of time living in San Cristobal and want to learn the language then my first advice is just to ‘speak it’! The locals automatically presume that you can speak Spanish anyway and as soon as you enter any shop, restaurant or bar, you’re guaranteed to be hit by a tidal wave of words that may or may not make sense to you!
If you feel as though your brain might burst with incomprehension or that your ears are overflowing with nonsense then simply use the expression, “Por favour, puede habler mas despacio? Hablo Espanol pocito”. This is a nice way of telling someone that their tongue is warbling at the speed of light and that your knowledge of their lingo is a little less than average.
The response to this will nearly always be a warm smile and a whole lot of patience as they will speak more slowly and contain their laugh at your attempt to slaughter their beautiful language.
If you’d like to do a little better than this and try to make more sense of these strings of words, my advice is to get yourself some Spanish Lessons. They are cheap and well worth the investment. So where should you look?
Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is a small place so the best thing really is just to ask around. Perhaps the organization you are working for will have some advice on where to look and will more than likely be able to put you in contact with someone who can help you.
With people earning minimal wages here, it shouldn’t be hard at all to find someone who is willing to help you out with a few lessons. People normally charge around $5 per hour for private lessons. If you don’t really like asking around, then maybe it’s worth putting up an advertisement in an internet cafe, restaurant or at the University.
If your timing is right, you can take a six week Spanish course for only $40, nine hours a week at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, which is situated opposite Playaman beach. Aimed mainly at the visiting students, these courses only take place between semesters.
Another idea is to find yourself an exchange partner who you can meet up with as you please to help each other with Spanish and English. The usual exchange is to spend two hours together speaking each of the languages for one hour at a time. Again, simply asking around will help you to find a willing partner. The University arranges exchange partners for students so it may be worth asking if they can help.
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