It was a delight when I found out this site cos it has all the informations I'd like to know.
I am going to Madrid this late September at alcalingua. It is the department of The University of Alcal� in charge of Spanish Language and Culture Courses. Anyone there ??
Never learn Spanish before and I wonder how much time I may need to be able to speak fluently ~
Posts: 3 | Location: HongKong , China | Registered: 07 September 2004
As far as your question about how long it takes to develop fluency, I think it really depends from person to person on how good they are with languages and how much effort they put into it. To achieve 100% fluency takes years, but to be able to speak and understand at an intermediate level, I think, can be achieved in about six months if you really, really work hard at it and resist the temptation to fall back on Chinese or English. I�m assuming you know English; I�ve met a few Chinese students here from China who don�t speak English and they�re finding it pretty hard, just because the language structure and pronunciation are 100% different from Chinese. I think if you know English, Spanish is one of the easier European languages to pick up.
Sorry, don�t know much about Alcal�.
Good luck! 歡迎你.
Posts: 132 | Location: Manila | Registered: 28 February 2004
Alcala is a beautiful town, full of students. The only problem is that it's quite far from Madrid - the city centre. You'll have to take a train/bus and it's at least 40 minutes - that's by train.
Anyway, Alcala has a good night life and you'll love it!
Welcome to Spain
PS: jer, leave the boys out of this...
Posts: 648 | Location: Madrid Spain | Registered: 30 April 2004
WOW ~ Surprising for me to see Chinese here ! "Spanish is one of the easier European languages to pick up." IS it ?? hahah , i am trying to do some self-study recently and i find the GRAMMER extremely confusing and it kills tons of my brain cells to memorize all the differences. hahaha , but i love learning a new language and meeting new frds all the time. Thanks~
holaaaaaaaaaa~~
Thank you ! You know , I thought it's gonna take me around 20mins from Alcala to the Madrid downtown. Well , I guess another 20 more mins wont make a big difference . :m: Oh , and I assume the living expenses should be cheaper, huh ?
Posts: 3 | Location: HongKong , China | Registered: 07 September 2004
Hi anan, Welcome I live in Coslada which is quite close to Alcal�, only 3 more stations by train. I think you are right assuming that the expenses are lower outside the center. It has it�s good sides too, besides i think Alcal� is a very nice and old little town full of students and bars. I believe Cervantes was born there. The wors thing about living outside is that the last train leaves Atocha station at 23:15. But there are some night buses ("buhos") at least to Coslada there are, i guess there be some to Alcal� as well. So... Thats all for now, if you have any questions, just ask!
Greetings Flora
Posts: 12 | Location: Hungary -> Madrid | Registered: 10 September 2004
it has been a couple of months since my last post! i am now in Alcala !!!! it was true that alcala is full of bars and students and blah! we have buses 24 hours madrid-alcala so it is not a problem for fiestas at all. i like my sch so much i think i learnt a lot only in a short period of time. hahaha
Posts: 3 | Location: HongKong , China | Registered: 07 September 2004
- rent or buy a cell phone from me for your stay in spain, more info at 
- already have a cell phone, get a spanish SIM card for it at 
