Maybe my experience was unique, but I felt very safe in Colombia. Turns out that the soldier had wanted to prove to his friends that he could speak English. Lissette and I spoke to him for about 5 minutes while about 20 soldiers stood around us, curious with funny smiles on their faces. One of the soldiers politely asked, in English, “Sir, can I speak to you?”. That night, after the president left, we were at the restaurant when a bunch of soldiers walked by. When Lissette and I were in Parque Tayrona, the resort where we stayed was taken over one afternoon by the army because the President was there with some dignitaries. I took a picture of these two in the tunnels. “That’s where they’ll rob me”, I figured. In Cartagena, while walking around El Castillo de San Felipe, two very friendly soldiers with machine guns offered to show me the tunnels under the castle. I ended up walking with two soldiers who insisted on taking me there. In Rodadero, I stopped at the information office to ask the location of the bus station. Information offices were also manned by soldiers/police officers, all of who were very friendly and helpful. Firstly, there are many soldiers in Colombia, they seem to be everywhere. And as far as I know, his is the only course specifically designed around learning paisa Spanish.I was worried before leaving about security and how people would react to me. That’s a crazy good deal for a 12-week Spanish course. The regular price for the course is $299, which is a great deal when you consider the same amount only buys you a three-week course at EAFIT University.īut to make joining his course a real no-brainer, he’s set it up so subscribers to his blog, Pura Medellin, get a huge 67 percent discount off the regular price. We spoke via Skype, and as a result I’m completely comfortable recommending I Speak Paisa to Medellin Living’s readers. I wanted to get to know Vince a little better, to make sure him and his course are legit. Regular meetups to interact with the instructors and their paisa friends in person.Private Facebook group for further discussions and Q&A.Live weekly webinars to get your questions answered (plus MP3 recordings if you can’t make it).
Perfection is the antagonist of language learning. They only care that they can understand you.
ISPEAK COLOMBIA DRIVER
Trust me on this, no taxi driver is going to stop and correct you on your mistaken tenses. The course is designed to cut the BS grammatical formalities and vocab, and get you talking to people on the street and in the bars and discotecas as soon as possible. What’s genius about the approach taken by I Speak Paisa is the expediency. If I said certain Spanish words more commonly used in Medellin by paisas, they immediately began to speak back as though I was fluent, even though I was nowhere close to it! One of the biggest discoveries I made back then was that learning the local paisa dialect was a fast track toward establishing rapport with Colombians here. Without any money to spare on formal Spanish classes, I took the long and slow road to learning enough Spanish to get by in everyday situations. This is exactly the kind of course I would’ve jumped on back in 2009, when I was a new arrival in the city. Together with Monica Davila, a bilingual paisa Spanish Professor, their goal is to put their students on the fast-track to conversational fluency in the paisa dialect. I Speak Paisa is a new three-month course created by Vince Robson, an American expat with 20-year military background, and experience visiting over 40 countries around the world.
It’s a common question for those planning to spend any length of time in the city, from a few weeks, to a few months or even years. “Where’s the best place to learn Spanish in Medellin?” Outside the Museo de Arte Moderno, it's pretty clear: "I LOVE MEDELLIN"Įditor’s Note: As of 2015, this program is no longer available.
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