Face-to-face and Online Spanish courses: The pros of both

Nowadays there are a myriad of ways to learn a language, and recently many academies, including here at 우리는 말한다, have begun offering not only face-to-face classes but also the same courses online. Here we’ll talk about the pros of both options so you can make your mind up as to which might better suit your needs.

Contact with native speakers

If you’re actually going to speak Spanish to any degree, of course you need to interact with other speakers of that language. Not only should this be your Spanish teacher (professor de español), but also you need to get out and about and speaking with people in real life. What better way to do this than by coming to live and study in Madrid? From the moment you arrive you’ll need to buy food from the supermarket, navigate your way around the city and much more. I remember the first time I lived in Spain (yes, I’ve had more than one spell in Spain before making it my permanent home!), I needed to find a flat and had to call different people to ask to view places. It was a bit daunting at first, but practice makes perfect! At 우리는 말한다, we’ll help you find your feet (adaptarse) and make sure you get the most out of your experience.

Immersing yourself in the culture

Although we do love online courses at 우리는 말한다, they aren’t quite the same experience as being surrounded by the culture of the country whose language you’re trying to speak. If you’ve read any of our other blogs, you’ll already know that Madrid is filled to the brim (está a tope) with amazing cultural activities, museums, nightlife and more. The only way to enjoy all of this is to come and do a face-to-face course at 우리는 말한다 so that you can experience it all first-hand. Also, as Madrid is basically in the middle of Spain, it’s an amazing base from which to take excursions and visit all of the other wonderful towns and cities the country has to offer. Why just make do with looking at photos of Spain when you can see it all with your own eyes?

Making new friends (and possibly having a whirlwind romance!)

Just to be clear, I’m not advocating here that the best reason to come to study in Madrid is to meet the love of your life as I know a lot of you have probably already found “the one”. However, it is obvious that by actually coming to learn Spanish in Spain you’ll meet loads of cool new people and hopefully make some friends for life. Your classes at 우리는 말한다 will be full of people living the same adventure and they’ll be wanting to get out and explore just as much as you. That gives you a great basis for meeting other people who live in Madrid as you’ve got a ready-made group to get started with. Speaking of the romantic option, suffice it to say that I met the man of my dreams only a week after arriving in Madrid so you never know what might happen!

The chance to learn from your own living room

A massive bonus of the move to online education is that you can easily learn a language from the comfort of your own home. You’ll still get all the benefits of small groups, excellent teachers and contact with native speakers but if you’re reading this from halfway around the world, coming to live in Madrid might be a bit impractical. Online learning has come a long way since the days of simply doing endless repetitive exercises and no chance to speak. Now, we can provide you with the exact same interactive classes as you would expect from a face-to-face course. 

Fewer expenses

It’s undeniable that taking a course in another country can be a big investment, although there are many advantages which we’ve talked about above. While both face-to-face and online courses cost the same as the teaching and learning experience is of the same quality, you don’t need to worry about accommodation and other expenses when taking an online course. Obviously, we at 우리는 말한다 help you with organising your stay here in Madrid if you decide to come over, but we want to offer everyone (todo el mundo) the benefits of learning Spanish. That way, even if you can’t afford the cost (or time!) to come and live in Madrid, you still get to improve your Spanish skills, whatever you need the language for.

Personal preferences

Some of you probably don’t fancy commuting to a school every day. Others possibly like sitting around in pyjamas all day. Maybe you just want to be in your own space so there are fewer distractions when you’re in class. If you identify with any of these, an online Spanish course might be better for you.