One of my new year resolutions is to improve my Spanish.

It is not essential to know Spanish if you live in Manilva.  And I know several people who have lived here for many years who know little more than hola, buenas dias and adios.  However if you do make the effort it will be worth it as it will enrich your life in so many ways and make living in Spain easier.

5 Great Benefits of Learning Spanish

1.    You make new friends – those learning with you and Spanish speaking friends once you have learnt the basics.

2.    It helps you understand special offers and official letters you receive if you rent or own a property here which can save you money, worry and stress later on if you had ignored them.

3.    Whether holidaying, living here permanently or part-time, it makes day to day life easier and more enjoyable as you can communicate better when shopping or dealing with utility companies such as Telefonica and you can join in in more of the wonderful activities that are available here in Manilva.

4.    It gives you the confidence to explore Spain and discover the fantastic places off the main tourist routes.  We have had our best holidays venturing further afield within Andalucia and have discovered some amazing places.

5.    It opens up a whole new world to discover – the Spanish speaking world – which not only includes Spain but many of the South American countries such as Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cuba,Peru, Panama, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina etc.

Manilva Town Hall (Ayuntamiento de Manilva) actively encourages their non spanish speaking residents to learn Spanish.

They do this by providing a very reasonably priced Spanish course twice a week for residents and non-residents and by organizing “inter cambio” coffee mornings.

Manilva Town Hall Foreigners Department offers a “Spanish for foreign residents” program which currently costs just  €70  for  1 hour lesson twice a week for 12 weeks (24 hours of lessons equivalent to about €3 per lesson!).  This is a great course and is available at three levels, beginners, intermediate and advanced depending on your level.  If you are interested in this course call 952 89 35 48.

The “inter cambio” coffee mornings are where foreign residents can meet local Spanish residents in a supervised environment and practice the Spanish that they have learnt.  It is also good for the Spanish locals interested in learning another language and it fosters great  inter cultural relations and is a great opportunity to make new friends.

This Friday 18th January the “inter cambio” coffee morning is being held at Kinsales in Puerto de La Duquesa from 10.30am.

If you don’t currently live in Manilva but are interested in learning Spanish, I will be posting some lessons over the next few weeks to get you started.

Please email me at lucy@barringtonhomes.eu or leave a comment at the end of this blog if there are any scenarios or expressions that you would like to know how to say in Spanish.