Despite Ecuador being a Spanish country, we are asked if it’s necessary to . The short answer is: “No, you don’t have to learn before you move.” We didn’t and we got by fine. But if you do learn Spanish (even in a basic form) before you move, life will be much easier.
And certainly you’ll want to learn it once you arrive in Ecuador – or any other Spanish speaking country.
It not only shows respect for your new host country, but it also makes your life easier and much more interesting. To get started, you’ll want to learn .
Over the past 3 years, we’ve spent over $1000 on Spanish books, cd’s, software and classroom courses to learn Spanish.
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Really! Over $1000?! Just what did we spend all the money on? Aside from a Spanish course we took here in Cuenca, everything we purchased were materials that we could use at home.
Don’t discount these sing-a-long cd’s as just for kids. While we did buy them for Drew, we can still remember the words and tunes to many of them. Days of the week, months of the year, the alphabet and names for family members are all taught here. There are a number of different disks. We bought two of them. Price: $12 Bottom line: Worth it, whether you have kids or not. Where You Can Buy It: | |
This package includes 2 programs: 1) Learning Spanish The Basics and 2) Beyond the Basics. The actors can be a little over the top, but we found it actually helps us to remember the lessons better. Sometimes they are funny … other times just really corny. Price: $36 Bottom line: Its a great way to learn the rules. The result of the corny skits is that we remembered the lessons really well. Where You Can Buy It: | |
Verbs are the problem area for all gringos – right after pronunciation. A slightly different emphasis on a word can change the meaning from first-person present-tense to third-person past-tense. Believe me, that can really confuse a conversation! Price: $18 Bottom line: I’m a fan of the Standard Deviants series. We have 5 of their programs – certainly worth the money. Where You Can Buy It: | |
My favorite video Spanish course comes in a 4 dvd pack. A total of 330 minutes on 4 discs. We have all of these and they are worth it, especially if you prefer visual learning to books. Price: $63 Bottom line: These are some well produced training videos that make it easy to assimilate the Spanish lessons. Highly recommended. Where You Can Buy It: | |
Another real help to learning any new language is – it gives you the right mindset as you tackle vocabulary and verbs. Read our .
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What about you? What is your favorite book or course to learn Spanish? Please share your thoughts in the comments below: