How do I find the right Spanish language course for me?

Asked by syz (35938

) March 14th, 2011

I had two years of Spanish in high school, and two semesters in college. When I travel to Spanish speaking countries (Mexico, Costa Rica), I’m usually following basic conversations fairly well by the end of my visit, then I return home and lose any small facility that I may have developed. I’d love to take a conversational Spanish course, but I’m having trouble finding anything that fits what I’m looking for (the local community college seems to have only traditional, for-credit classes).

What should I look for? Are there certain key words that I’m missing? Any organizations that you’re familiar with the are geared toward community/work communication? (I’m in Durham, NC, by the way.)

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4 Answers

Spanishdict.com is all you will need, 100% free.

12Oaks (4051

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When I lived in the triangle area I had basically no one to speak Spanish to. But, I never looked for a specific class, maybe you will get a great suggestion here. I know that a friend of my sister meets up with a Spanish club in NYC. They meet for drinks or dinner every so often. Maybe check to see if there is something like that in Durham? Also, you can always get a private tutor once a week? Or, even once a month?

JLeslie (65418

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Duke has continuing ed and adult learning centers. It’s mid-semester now. A phone call may tell you about something that they call Spanish for Traveler; elementary and intermediate.

919–684-6259

And several Spanish courses (all non-credit) at Durham Tech. I would verify that the instructor is a native speaker.

http://www.durhamtech.edu/html/current/noncredit/language.htm

gailcalled (54644

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Maybe you could try out self-study guides, such as Pimsleur Spanish Conversational course or Michel Thomas Spanish course. Both are great to be used to learn Spanish as it is spoken.

citizenearth (781

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