Studying Spanish in Guatemala

I raised this in another thread- but I don't want to derail that thread.

In November, I went to San Pedro la Laguna in Guatemala, on the shores of the beautiful Lake Atitlan, to try to improve my Spanish. I previously spoke some Spanish, enough to get me by in restaurants and taxis, but I wanted to be able to converse with my wife's family in Mexico.

San Pedro is a little village, one of a number around this stunningly gorgeous lake. There are a number of places in Guatemala where Spanish can be studied- most notably in the lovely colonial city of Antigua, and in several of Lake Atitlan's villages. Spanish schools have become an industry in the town- there are quite a number there. They are in fact keeping the town alive- much of the employment in the town is due to the Spanish schools.

I chose to go to Casa Rosario, the oldest school in the town, and one with a good reputation. Classes were outdoors, next to the lake- which was sometimes distracting.

I also stayed with a local family who spoke no English, which really helped the immersion experience. The people are mostly Maya, and speak the local Maya language, but learn Spanish from the beginning of primary school. It was a big advantage speaking some Spanish- it would have made communication extremely difficult for a beginning Spanish speaker.

The village is extremely poor. Unemployment is high- and those who are employed often have to work long hours for little pay. Hotel workers might get around $1 per hour.

Being poor, the standard of accommodation and building is well below what we in the west have come to expect.

Homes don't generally gave internet, but there's good wi fi available in cafes, restaurants, and internet shops.

The classes cost $US80pw for 20 hours one on one instruction (most people choose 8-12, but there are afternoon classes available). Lodging with the local family, which included meals for 6 days, cost an additional $US60pw.

I found the classes well worth while. I learnt something in the way of vocabulary and conjugation- but a lot more in being able to understand much more rapidly, and in expressing myself.

When I went to my wife's family, I found I was able to understand a lot of what was going on around me- understanding perhaps 80% of the conversations- and I was able to express myself. It was really great being a part of the family, and not an outsider looking in.

There are schools which offer Skype lessons for around $US10-15 per hour. I'm working with Casa Rosario to enable them to offer Skype lessons themselves. I feel it would offer some extra employment to people who are desperately in need of support, as well as offering excellent value to people wishing to practice their Spanish conversation and expression.

Casa Rosario actually started through the sale of Maya Art.






 
Great way to learn.

Interested to know what the food was like at place you stayed.

Quality, style, variety etc? Did you learn any cooking techniques you would want to copy?
 
Geoff,
Were your daughters raised speaking Spanish and English in your home?
Only English unfortunately. My wife had trouble with her first job in England so we decided for her sake to speak English at home.

Both daughters have been back though- one for seven months when she was 14. Both have worked in Mexico and travelled extensively in Latin America.
 
Great way to learn.

Interested to know what the food was like at place you stayed.

Quality, style, variety etc? Did you learn any cooking techniques you would want to copy?

Where I stayed it was always rice, beans and eggs for the evening meal. Breakfast varied between fruit, cooked breakfast, and cereal. Lunch was a larger meal with a little more variety- but always with beans, mostly black beans the same way my wife cooks for the Mexican food stall, and rice, served with tortillas. The lady in the picture above is making tortillas by hand.

I didn't learn any cooking techniques with my host family. The kitchen there was very small, and they tended to buy things and reheat.

Food standards are well below what we are used to. Chicken and meat is bought from the markets- where it is sold uncovered and at room temperature.
 
When I went to my wife's family, I found I was able to understand a lot of what was going on around me- understanding perhaps 80% of the conversations- and I was able to express myself. It was really great being a part of the family, and not an outsider looking in.

Geoffw, you would have been like Frank Costanza at the nail shop. Were they saying good things?
 
Looks good Geoff.

joeEx, what do you believe is the best way to learn?
This has been my approach to learning Spanish in Spain:
There?s only one way to learn a language, and that is to speak it. Obviously you can?t do this from the beginning so these are the tools I have used:


1. Language classes, textbooks: good to start with to get a grip on the grammer basics, but I dropped the classes after beginner level. In reality you only might get 5 minutes talking per hour of a group class, not enough. You need to know the grammer though so you can work out conjugations on the fly.

2. Spaced repetition, ANKIDROID is very good, I have over 10,000 phrases in 15 decks (shared and self made). Every day I have to review 300-400, takes about 40 minutes. Duolingo is also popular but I prefer Ankidroid, more comprehensive and doesn?t waste time with stuff I already know.

3. Conversation groups.
I am in 2 conversation groups, they are pretty good. Meetup.com is where I found them.

4. Online teachers. italki.com: You can get a 1-1 online native teacher for US$10 an hour.

5. Online language exchanges. italki.com: Good, need intermediate speaking level though.
Many more Spanish speakers want to improve English than vice versa so you will be inundated.

6. Books. I read kids books. I think I am about age 6-7. My age 9 books are a little difficult but getting there.

7. TV with subtitles.

8. Everyday interaction. I try to talk with parent and teachers.

9. Loads of online resources. Youtube, etc.


It helps to be an extrovert and blurt it out without fear of mistakes. I am not so much, so this was a hurdle. When you are embarrassed about a mistake it is a very powerful force to remember it next time, you don?t make the same mistake much again.

I find Spanish harder than German, maybe because my native language is English which is much closer to German. The amount of Spanish conjugations are insane, even locals don?t have their head around them.
For example "To Be" in English has 8 conjugations (am, are, is, was, were, will be, have been, has been)
In Spanish there are 87. Of course you don?t need to know them all, but you will need at least 20 of them to avoid confusion since the pronouns are often inferred in the verb.
 
I chose to go to Casa Rosario, the oldest school in the town, and one with a good reputation. Classes were outdoors, next to the lake- which was sometimes distracting.

Beautiful part of the world. The hike to the top of the volcano at San Pedro is a great trip, but pretty taxing on the legs!

Other Spanish schools in the area are in Antigua (colonial town) and there used to be one in the village of San Andres on the Lake Peten Itza, but the website doesn't work anymore so I'm not sure if it still exists.
 
geoff,
Is your wife home now?
Couldn't she only speak to you in Spanish until you learned it?



My son's girlfriend is french canadian, and until about 5 years ago, didn't speak english...you certainly wouldn't know it, except for the accent.
 
?Hola!

Geoff and Joe, regards for your replies.

We have a lot of learning to do. I guess we will start by learning as much Spanish as we can, and once we go, I guess immersion will be the key.

I'm guessing Kona will pick it up the quickest in the school yard. We will have to just adapt best we can

pinkboy
 
Thanks for sharing such wonderful pictures, love it.


Spanish and italian language very similar, found when I was in Spain I could speak Italian we understood each other.
 
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