Advice on studying Spanish in BA?

[vanessa]

I second Vos Spanish School (http://www.vosbuenosaires.com/en/)

In addition to classes they have (free) extracurricular activities like picadas, movie night, tango classes, etc...

Plus, Maggie is a gem.

 

[Chaz]

Yes a girlfriend will help. It will be easier if she does not speak English.

 

[Davidglen77]

I personally would avoid coming to Argentina if your main objective is to learn spanish. There are many great things here, quasi european culture, arts, wine, some foods, tango, etc to enjoy. If you learn Argentine spanish as your baseline you will spend the rest of your life trying to undo learning a mix of lunfardo and butchered spanish from your memory bank.

 

[ReemsterCARP]

I personally would avoid coming to Argentina if your main objective is to learn spanish. There are many great things here, quasi european culture, arts, wine, some foods, tango, etc to enjoy. If you learn Argentine spanish as your baseline you will spend the rest of your life trying to undo learning a mix of lunfardo and butchered spanish from your memory bank.

I think you're grossly exaggerating. They do not teach you a lot of lunfardo in class, and non-argentines perfectly understand the voseo. I've never had any problems in other Spanish-speaking countries as diverse as Venezuela, Chile and Spain.

 

[Saraires]

I studied at www.lvstudioweb.com in Palermo and had an overall good experience. Did a one-month group intensive course: they have small group (4 people in mine) and only 2 hours per day. So if that's what you're looking for they're the best choice as not many other schools offer the shorter day option and the groups are too big.

 

[Wisconsin]

My spanish tutor is amazing! I highly recommend her!! Check this out http://buenosairesspanishlessons.blogspot.com/2011/08/classes.html

 

[DontMindMe]

I personally would avoid coming to Argentina if your main objective is to learn spanish. There are many great things here, quasi european culture, arts, wine, some foods, tango, etc to enjoy. If you learn Argentine spanish as your baseline you will spend the rest of your life trying to undo learning a mix of lunfardo and butchered spanish from your memory bank.

This is not necessarily true. I took a monthlong class at UBE through Expanish back in 2008 as a mini study abroad and the teacher was fantastic. She taught reviewed proper grammar, even the future tense and present perfect, which no one uses here, and had a separate class at the end for porteño Spanish. It was M-F from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. and very intense. I don't know if Expanish still offers this, but I highly recommend it. I got college credit for it, too. Then again, I'd been studying Spanish in school for three years before going.

I do agree with Davidglen77 that the dialect here is quite unique. If you leave here with great porteño Spanish but still with traces of your accent (English, American, whatever), people in other Spanish speaking countries will likely think you have bad grammar. (Unless you are very, very, good, in which case they will assume you lived in Argentina for a while). Whereas if a porteño is traveling, they will know it is the dialect that the person grew up with. I never could get myself to stop using the present perfect here. It just adds an extra layer of meaning that I'd rather not leave out, although it is tempting sometimes to get lazy and just use the past tense for everything.

 

[barrymiguel]

Hey, when I went to BA I went to this school LVstudio in Palermo for spanish lessons. I did a month long group course and it was pretty good value, and the people in my group were pretty cool too, which was good cause I didnt know anyone. They also organised little events for us, like dancing nights, dinners and drinks.

The website is http://lvstudioclassesinpalermobuenosaires.wordpress.com/

and the address is Darregueyra 2394