Cactus Language Blog

Cactus Opinion: Learning Spanish in the Dominican Republic

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Learning a language, Spanish

Managing Director of Cactus in the US, Rich Ambler, tells us about his Spanish course in Sosua

It’s late Sunday morning and I am sitting at what passes for a bus station in Sosua, in the north of the Dominican Republic, waiting for the next bus to the capital Santo Domingo. My Spanish language holiday is nearly at an end with just two days in the new world’s oldest capital to go. With time to kill my mind is wandering back through the last 7 days.

I can honestly say that I have spent a good deal of my time trying to work this place out. It feels like a place where someone has thrown together all the ingredients that they think make up a good holiday, hoping that mixed together they will make the perfect place. Of course it doesn’t always work out like that. Locations, destinations and holidays can often mirror life. It’s never perfect, you never get 10 out of 10, there may be 4 great things and 1 average thing, that then gets obscured by all the good stuff, because the overall package is what counts.

In Sosua, those ingredients thrown together have not made the perfect place but it’s still pretty good. The beaches are good, and there are plenty of good hotels. The food is average (although that’s what I would expect for this part del mundo). If you are into diving there is plenty to see, although I found it a bit too regimented and busy for my liking. There is of course plenty to choose from nightlife-wise too. And if you like your water sports, nearby Cabarate is the perfect place for windsurfing or kite surfing (it is apparently the kite surfing capital of the world). It’s very ’surfie’ in feel and clientele, and there are also some great beachside restaurants and bars here.

In summary what you have is a holiday that is rarely, if ever, bad, but one that rarely gets better than good.

However let me say that the Spanish school and course scored definitely a 9. Located in an old Dominican house, which was once a holiday home for a rich family from Santiago, the school has managed to find the right balance between a school/course structure, whilst at the same time ensuring there is enough of that relaxed Latin/Caribbean culture to proceedings.

This was definitely important for me. I am definitely not a natural student of the classroom. A look at my CV to see a very average set of qualifications is testament to that. And it was 5 years since I last did a Spanish course, so I wanted and needed a course that was relaxed, not heavy on all those verbs, and with plenty of conversation time. After all, I am always happy to chew the fat whether it is in English or Spanish, even if my pronunciation leaves more than a bit to be desired!

The Spanish course was made better because there were only 3 of us in the class, which meant plenty of talking time. And this is definitely a plus about the school. It averages less than 20 students per week throughout the year, so Spanish classes are invariably small.

Tags:Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, Sosua, Spanish, Spanish course, Spanish language course