By Renato Romero

My experience learning a second language was not easy and it took me a while to become fluent in English. I first took English classes when I was a little boy during my first year of elementary school in my hometown, Arequipa. From that moment and until the day I graduated from high school, English was one of those subjects where I made enough to just pass the year. I must say that by the time I finished high school, I knew the meaning of hundreds of words, but I was not able to put a complex sentence together. When I started to study law in Peru, I realized that I had to learn English to have better opportunities in life. Thus, during my college years I tried to learn English a few times, but the classes I took at a local English school and with a couple of private English teachers didn’t work either.

Later on and while I was studying a Master in Business Law and working at the Supreme Court in Lima, Peru, I decided that I had to learn English for good, and the first step to achieve that goal was to enroll in an English local school that was going to help me meet my goal. I ended up choosing Euroidiomas, a school located right in front of “La Universidad de Lima” where I was working to complete my Master degree. My first English teacher was amazing and she helped me understand how English works. After two years at Euroidiomas with three Peruvian teachers and one German teacher I was able to read and write well, but my speaking and listening skills were not good. This made me understood that the only way for me to become fluent was by immersing myself in a country where English was spoken as the first language.   

In February 2004, I was taking my first English classes at College of the Canyons in California, and one year and a half later, I was teaching my first Spanish class at the same community college. By the end of these three college semesters, my English skills improved tremendously and I ended passing English 101 with no trouble. This immersion experience also brought me one of the best opportunities I have been given in life. Teaching Spanish has been an amazing experience and it has allowed me to teach hundreds of students of all ages and levels. It has also helped me realized that anyone who is committed to learn Spanish or any other language must take classes at a local school to understand how the language works and then enroll in an immersion program in any respectable foreign school where the practice of the foreign language can be practiced on a daily basis.

As a Spanish teacher I can say with all confidence that whomever wants to learn a new language, can do it, but this endeavor requires many sacrifices (mainly related to time and money). The good thing about it is that everyone I know who has become fluent in a second language can see the immense benefits gained by mastering such an important skill. In my case, many doors were opened to me in the United States. An example of this is that it gave me the opportunity to work at Directv, in the Software Engineering department, for more than ten years. Learning about technology, software development, and the corporate entertainment world has been priceless.

My suggestion to anybody in the United States or any other English speaking country who wants to learn Spanish for real is to complete Spanish 101 and Spanish 102 at the college level, and then look for a Spanish immersion program keeping in mind that the longer the stay, there will be better chances of becoming fluent at speaking a new language. When looking for a Spanish immersion school, I think it is important to know the academic curricula offered by the school in advance, the total cost of the program and the cost of living for the entire duration of the stay among some other expenses related to this long lasting investment.

Why to look for a Spanish immersion School in Arequipa, Peru

• Phonetics: There are twenty one countries in the world where Spanish is spoken as first language, and these countries are distributed among South America, Central America, North America, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa. Even though the citizens of each of these countries can talk to each other and understand each other, there are many words and accents only spoken in a country that can make the learning process very hard. For this reason it is better to learn Spanish in a country where the accent and grammatical uses are considered neutral as stated by Richard Barrutia and Armin Schwegler in their book “Fonética y Fonología Españolas”, 2nd edition (pages 200, 201 and 202.) Thus, some regions of Spain, Peru, Colombia and Mexico favor the learning of the most neutral Spanish. In the case of Peru the best Spanish is spoken in Lima, Arequipa, Cusco and some other coastal regions.

•  Programs and cost: The regions of Lima, Arequipa and Cusco are usually chosen to learn Spanish in Peru, and the programs offered can be quite similar in all three cases. However, the cost of these programs is usually cheaper in the city of Arequipa since this is the least tourist region out of these three. Also, when looking for a program, it is important to determine the amount of time that can be spent in Peru to learn the language, and for this students need to keep in mind their current level of Spanish (three to six months of daily classes are ideal for a student without previous knowledge of Spanish.) If students have previous knowledge of Spanish, the school should test them beforehand so the right program can be chosen. Finally, once a program has been suggested, students should ask for the curricula in advance to analyze if the classes offered will meet expectations.  

• Where to stay: In Arequipa students can stay at local hostels or hotels, apartment rentals and home stays. In my opinion the best option for a student is the home stay since the hosts will force students to practice Spanish on a daily basis. This option is also the cheapest one and hosts usually provide 3 meals a day. 

• Cost of living: Arequipa is the second largest city of Peru, but the cost of living is not as high as Lima and Cusco. For example, the cost of buying food, eating out or going out at night is less expensive. Also, Arequipa is a small city where distances to get from downtown to Yanahuara, Cayma, Vallecito or Umacollo are quite short; therefor, the cost of moving around the city is cheap. 

• Cultural and outdoor activities: The city of Arequipa offers several attractions, sites and outdoor activities. Downtown Arequipa is a world heritage city and students will find several museums, colonial buildings, and cultural activities to learn more about Peru and Spanish. For the students who also enjoy outdoor activities, Arequipa has several options to choose from such as hiking, rafting, mountain biking, climbing, surfing, among many others. Also, Arequipa has a big bio-diversity due to the varied ecological steps that can be found in the region which goes from 0 m.a.s.l to over 4,000 m.a.s.l. with mountains and volcanoes that surpasses the 5000 m.a.s.l. 

• Safety: Arequipa is one of the safest cities in Peru; however, it is important to be cautious and avoid walking at night alone. When taking a cab, it is better to use the service of a well stablished business instead of just taking a cab from the streets.