Off to Learn the Lingo

Twenty years ago, you probably weren’t interested in learning Spanish abroad. But if you were, you almost certainly went to Spain. The language was born there, after all, and college towns such as Salamanca in the north and Malaga in the south had built language training into a minor industry. On weekdays you conjugated verbs in that pesky vosotros form; on weekends you gawked at the Prado in Madrid. Thousands of Americans still do so every year.

But these days, more Americans head south. In the generation since Jesuit priest Ivan Illich co-founded the Center for Intercultural Documentation (CIDOC) as a training ground for American missionaries in Cuernavaca, Mexico, Latin America has been sprouting language programs almost as fast as its jungles sprout flora.

Today, CIDOC is gone, but hundreds of secular Spanish language schools for foreigners have opened in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador and beyond--virtually every nation in Central and South America. The cities of Cuernavaca, Mexico, and Antigua, Guatemala, have emerged as language-school capitals, each home to at least 30 programs.

Overall figures are elusive, but experts say tens of thousands of U.S. citizens last year ventured south for live-in language training in Latin America, and recruiters agree that their numbers are growing by 15% a year or more. Though some intensive programs offer one-week stays, most international students settle in for two to four weeks.

Aside from being closer than Spain, most of Latin America’s live-in language schools are often cheaper. Because they usually involve living in a local household and participating in community events, the programs serve as courses in social studies too. Instead of settling into relative luxury like other vacationers, language students usually step into conditions that are slightly or dramatically more rustic than their own homes.

“You’ve never learned as fast as you learn in one of these immersion programs,” says John Slocum, a veteran language-school broker.

“The first week, you’re on sensory overload,” says Ginger Mazzapica of Lakewood, who last summer spent three weeks studying in Cuernavaca. “You can’t sleep, and you’re trying to think in Spanish, and there are just words running randomly through your mind.”

Mazzapica studied at the Center for Bilingual Multicultural Studies (telephone [800] 932-2068 or 011-52-73-17-10-87, fax 011-52-73-17-05-33, Web site https://www.bilingual-center.com), one of the largest schools of its kind in the Americas. With 27 classrooms and an executive program that has boomed since the 1994 implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the school draws an estimated 5,000 students yearly, and as many as 300 foreigners studying at a time during the peak month of July.

Though some language training consultants worry that the program is growing too big, the organization’s size gives it resources that most other schools can’t offer--day care for children ages 6 months to 12 years in the summer months, for instance. Cost for registration, tuition and room and board begins at about $375 weekly. For more information, call the center’s Los Angeles representative (tel. [800] 426-4660 or [213] 851-3403, fax [213] 851-3684), or contact an independent language-school broker.

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Clayton Hubbs, publisher of Transitions Abroad magazine, runs an article every May on these programs because they offer a grass-roots introduction to a new language and culture, and because “they’re so inexpensive. Guatemala is the cheapest of all, a real bargain, where people can still stay for a week, and have full room and board and four hours a day of one-to-one language instruction for around $200 a week. It’s kind of a shockingly low figure.”

A handful of high-end programs, mostly designed for executives on international assignments, ask as much as $2,000 per week and supply relatively cushy lodgings. But most Latin American language programs are priced from $200 to $500 per week, room and board included. Individuals paying the bottom price may share a bedroom and bathroom. Couples are usually able to get their own bedroom and bath. Here is a sampling of several popular Latin American language schools that have endured for a decade or more.

* In Cuernavaca, Mexico, the Cemanahuac Educational Community in Cuernavaca (tel. 011-52-73-18-64-07, fax 011-52-73-12-54-18, Web site https:// www.cemanahuac.com), founded in 1970, gets 1,500 to 2,000 students yearly. Admissions coordinator Charles Goff reports that the student body “has constantly been growing--every year, 15% or 20%.” Aside from such traditionally good customers as American teachers, social workers and students, Goff says the school is now seeing more medical professionals, and non-Latino Catholic clergy eager to communicate better with their immigrant parishioners.

* In Antigua, Guatemala, the 26-year-old Proyecto Linguistico Francisco Marroquin (tel. [800] 552-2051 or 011-502-8-322-886) teaches Spanish and works to preserve Mayan culture, offering courses in Mayan languages. Fees usually are $135 per week for six hours daily of one-on-one instruction, and another $65 weekly for a private bedroom, shared bath, and 18 meals a week in a local household. Pamela Hirst-Prins, the dean of students, estimates annual enrollment at about 3,500, about two-thirds Americans.

* In San Jose, Costa Rica, the Forester Instituto Internacional (tel. [800] 424-5522 or 011-506-225-3155), founded in 1979, teaches about 800 students yearly, about 80% of them Americans. Director Horacio Loprete says that most students stay for four weeks, paying about $250 per week for 20 hours of group instruction (no more than six students per group), two meals per day, private room, shared bath and laundry service in a local home. Instructors, Loprete said, all have university degrees.

* In Guadalajara and San Jose, Costa Rica, and Santiago, Chile, Berlitz Study Abroad (tel. [800] 257-9449, Ext. 3133) arranges home stays in conjunction with its well-known “total immersion” instructional program. Depending on the site, the number of students per class and the hours of daily instruction, weekly rates range $450 to $2,285, lodgings and two meals daily included.

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The trade-off for the generally low price of Latin American language study is variability. Beyond the normal risks associated with any travel abroad, academic programs, teachers’ credentials, facilities and living conditions vary widely from school to school, nation to nation. In part as a result of that unpredictability, a growing number of U.S.-based brokers (also known as “language agents”) have set up shop as intermediaries in the U.S. They visit schools abroad, adding and dropping affiliations depending on standards, then match American customers with programs that seem a good fit.

The brokers look for continuity among staff and facilities, and for reasonable conditions in the private homes where students stay. They like it when instructors have all finished college, or at least started it. But credentials alone, many agree, aren’t the best measure of a language teacher for beginning and intermediate students.

“What you need,” says veteran language-school broker Mike Wittig, “is somebody who has patience and a little bit of kindness, and the ability to encourage.”

Here, gleaned from school representatives, brokers and alumni, are a few more questions to consider in choosing a Latin American language school.

* Where to go? Americans need to remember that Mexico’s per-capita income is one-sixth of that of the U.S., with most of Latin American running considerably behind that. With that in mind, travelers should make an honest self-assessment of the amenities they’ll need in order to feel comfortable. As broker John Slocum of AmeriSpan Unlimited warns, “If you’re not going to be comfortable in the Third World, you’re not going to learn there.”

Among the Mexican cities with language schools: Cancun, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Mazatlan, Merida, Mexico City, Oaxaca, San Cristobal de las Casas, San Miguel de Allende, Taxco and the country’s language-study capital, Cuernavaca. One broker estimates Cuernavaca, a mile-high collegiate city of 500,000 about 50 miles south of Mexico City, has eight schools drawing at least 2,000 foreign students per year.

In Guatemala--where the per capita income is one-fourth of Mexico’s--the language trade and the international backpacker traffic are both focused on Antigua, a handsome colonial town where an estimated 50 schools do business and English is heard all over. Some operations are well-honed, notes broker Mike Wittig of the National Registration Center for Study Abroad, but others may not even have running water. Meanwhile, many other schools have set up in Quetzaltenango, which is Guatemala’s second-largest city, a mountain location with far less English heard on the street.

Information about schools in other countries is available through brokers (see sidebar), or in the Alternative Travel Directory, 1997 edition (published by Transitions Abroad Publishing; Amherst, MA; 393 pages, $19.95; tel. [800] 293-0373). Also, two sources on the Internet are https://www.worldwide.edu (an encyclopedic site that includes thousands of institutions that offer all sorts of study abroad for all ages) and https://www.studyabroad.com (which lists scores of language training “brokers” and programs).

How long should I stay? Two weeks or more. A one-week stay for a beginner, says veteran language broker Louise Harber of Foreign Language Study Abroad Service, is probably “a very expensive way to go around pointing at things.” Conversely, “if you study three weeks versus two, you probably learn twice as much,” says broker John Slocum of AmeriSpan Unlimited.

Should I book directly with a school, or use a broker? If you’re willing to do homework: finding a possible school, requesting a brochure, asking for names of recent students you can speak with--then you can do without a broker. Or if you have plenty of time, Clayton Hubbs of Transitions Abroad says, “it’s better to decide where you want to be, go there, then look around and decide for yourself” among the schools at that location. Except in busy summer and winter vacation seasons, most schools take sign-ups on the spot.

But most of us have limited time, and the expertise of brokers doesn’t cost a great deal. Although some charge registration fees of up to $150 on top of the school’s fees (others charge nothing extra), they make most of their money in commissions remitted to them by the language schools.

How do I choose among schools? Ask about instruction materials and academic structure. Ask how long the school has been in operation, how many students it has, and what kind of facilities. Don’t let longevity alone win you over, since staff turnover can change an institution’s character substantially. And in this minimally regulated field, don’t assume that every self-proclaimed nonprofit organization brings more benefits to the community than a for-profit enterprise. The key is how much the instructors are paid, and how much of your room-and-board payments remains with your host family.

Keep in mind that large schools are likely to deliver more creature comforts, while smaller schools may involve more “roughing it” (and more simple beans-and-rice meals) but sometimes deliver a more profound cultural experience. Some schools have a strong social agenda and count on students to participate in community service chores; others are connected to religious groups, which may or may not affect the instructional agenda. To avoid surprises, ask in advance.

Should I talk to program alumni? Yes. Any good school should be able to provide alumni references, and a few of the larger brokers make it especially easy by maintaining Web sites that include remarks from past students and e-mail addresses.

Should I really stay in a family’s home? Almost certainly. The vast majority of language students do so, and report that the home experience forced them to put their book-learning to immediate practical use.

Be sure to ask how many students will be boarded in your home, what their native languages are, whether you’ll have your own bedroom, and how far the home is from school. (If you’re in the same house with other English speakers, you’ll probably spend less time confronting Spanish.) In many cases, students are given the option of paying extra for a private room or a private bath, which might well be worth your while.

How many hours of instruction per day should I sign up for, and how many students per teacher? That depends on how hard you want to work. Most programs offer three to six hours per day of instruction, mostly in groups of eight or less.

“Going to a foreign country and spending eight hours a day in a classroom is counterproductive,” Louise Harber says. “The maximum number of hours most people should take is six.” A general minimum for someone who wants to make substantial progress, she says, is three class hours per day.

Most experts are in agreement on class size: “Once the groups get more than about six students, we hate that,” says AmeriSpan’s Slocum. But many brokers say one-on-one instruction all day isn’t necessarily the best possible setup.

“Learning to communicate is about having confidence, and in a group situation, you’re going to gain confidence because there are going to be people above you and below you,” Slocum says.

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GUIDEBOOK

School Trips

AmeriSpan Unlimited, based in Philadelphia (telephone [215] 751-1100 or [800] 879-6640; fax: [215] 751-1986), works with about 40 schools in 31 cities in 13 Latin American countries and Puerto Rico. (Those figures will rise by one in a few months, when Bolivia, comes aboard. AmeriSpan President John Slocum, who started the company in 1993 with co-founder Dorioara Pinku, estimates that the company yearly sends 2,000 students from the U.S. to Latin America. AmeriSpan also makes placements for volunteer work and internships.

Language Link (tel. [800] 552-2051 or [309] 692-2961) based in Peoria, Ill., and run by Kay Rafool. Works with seven schools in Latin America and one in Spain. (Students usually pay no registration fee, but put down a 20% deposit in the U.S. before paying the balance to the school on arrival in the host country.) The program works with about 1,000 students yearly, and Rafool makes regular visits to participating schools, which are in Cuernavaca and Antigua along with Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru.

Foreign Language Study Abroad Service (tel. [800] 282-1090 or [305] 662-1090), run in South Miami, Fla., by veteran broker Louise Harber. Handles programs in more than 30 countries, including Latin America and Europe. Works with programs in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

The Milwaukee-based National Registration Center for Study Abroad (tel. [414] 224-3464) has been in business since 1968. It works with about 90 schools in 22 countries worldwide, half of them Spanish-speaking, including Spain and most of Latin America. (They only consider schools that have been open five years.) By the estimate of director Mike Wittig, the company sent about 2,000 students abroad last year, about 55% of them to Spanish-speaking countries. In addition to the weekly fee that is passed to the language program, the NRCSA charges a $40 registration fee and $1-$14 weekly for insurance to cover medical evacuation or other crises.

Language Liaison, in Miami. (tel. [800] 284-4448 or [954] 455-3411, fax: [954] 455-3413) is the creation of Nancy Forman, a French foreign-study program alumna who founded the company in 1987. She prides herself in doing a lot of customized programs and “hand-holding.” With registration fees of $150, the firm charges a little more than operations that handle larger volumes. In 1998, Forman expects to send about 400 students to programs around the world. In Latin America, Language Liaison works with about 20 schools in eight countries: Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. Language Studies Abroad (tel. [800] 424-5522 or [760] 943-0204), based in Solana Beach, is 12 years old. Run by Charlene Biddulph, the company sends about 600 students to three schools in Mexico, one each in Costa Rica and Ecuador, along with several European programs. Registration fee is $50.