Accredited Spanish school in South America - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**LostFarmboy** · 07-15-2008, 06:58 PM

Hi everyone,

Learning Spanish has been pretty high on my to-do list for a while now, but I honestly never thought that I would have the time, money, or motivation to do it. However, some things have changed, as they tend to do, and I now have the time and money to possibly take the plunge and learn me some Spanish.

So, what I would like to do is study Spanish full time for around 4 months in a Spanish speaking country. As some of you would know, I'm quite fond of South America, so I was thinking of heading over there for my schooling. For some reason I have it in my head that Argentina would have the best Spanish schools, but I really have nothing to back up this way of thinking.

I also thought it would be nice to be able to have my Spanish study recognised in an official capacity, so I would really like to find an internationally accredited Spanish school, if there is such a thing. I've found plenty of Spanish schools in South America online, but I can't find any information on whether or not studying at them will be recognised outside of the school. I have no idea how language qualifications work, or what accreditations a Spanish school must have in order to be internationally recognised, or if its even possible to have this study recognised, so I don't really know where to even start my search for such a school.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Nick

**maracle** · 07-15-2008, 10:57 PM

Hey Nick....I've been planning to travel quite a bit in SA in 1-2 yrs, and my thought for a while has been to study for 4-5 months in Buenos Aires since it seems to be a pretty badass city. From what I've heard there are great language schools throughout the continent though, so really you could do it anywhere.

As for accreditation, the Universidad de Buenos Aires offers a language program for foreigners called the GIC. Here's their website: http://www.gicarg.org/?tabid=85

The university itself seems to be large and well respected, so the course work is legit college credit that should be transferable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Buenos_Aires

I think it is a little more expensive than the informal schools, but not by a whole lot...maybe 20-50%? Not peanuts but I guess it all depends on your budget. It does include some extras like access to a health club and use of all the university computer labs and weekends trips, etc. I was trying to decide between GIC and Ibero Spanish which is an informal school that looked pretty cool. I always like the idea of real credit, but I figure the unofficial schools probably attract more of a backpacker crowd. Either way it probably works out well...

If you do this I need reviews on whatever you choose to do! :D

**TheJake** · 07-16-2008, 12:53 AM

I need reviews on it too!

**LostFarmboy** · 07-16-2008, 09:48 PM

Awesome dude, cheers for the links!! The program offered by GIC Argentina appears to be exactly what I was looking for.

I've attended an unofficial spanish school in Central America (Guatemala) before. I found their laid back approach to lessons didn't really work that well for me. I know that style of teaching works well for some people, it just didn't work for me. I need the structure and formality offered by an official school to have a serious chance at learning a foreign language. So, that program offered by GIC Argentina through the University of Buenos Aires sounds bloody perfect for me!

I've gotta look into it a bit more, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with the GIC Argentina course.

Thanks again for the info. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes