Hola mis amigos!

Let me first off apologise for yet another thread asking which Spanish city is the best to live in, I?m aware there are many of them around and it probably gets a bit old giving people the same answers. However, a lot of the stuff I have read is quite old and despite all my reading I have still been left searching for answers. So here goes

I?m going on a one year exchange to Spain next year, my only choice of destinations are
Santiago de Compostela
Granada
Barcelona
Valencia

By the end of this year I will have completed two years of Spanish at university level here in Australia, which will be far from fluent, but enough to get me by when I first arrive. (hopefully 😛) Improving my language, communicating with the locals and achieving fluency is a big reason for taking this exchange. Infact, I can theoretically choose any country in the world but picking Spain and improving my skills actually gives it more of a purpose and makes it seem more worthwhile/rewarding. So I want to return from my exchange not necessarily being 100% fluent, but at least feeling pretty close.

Having said this, at the end of the day I also have to live in the city for 12 months. I don?t want to return home being fluent in Spanish but also having spent 6 months being really bored. Another factor is that my fianc? will be accompanying me, and her Spanish is, at this point, non-existent haha.  (She does want to learn the language and will take some courses over here before we go, and continue them over there) so a bigger city with more to do may keep her entertained while she learns rather than being in a smaller town and feeling completely isolated and homesick.

Ideally neither of us will need to work, we?re not planning on it, but if the option was there it would be a plus, mainly for the reason that it would give my fianc? something to do. We don?t plan on buying a car while over there so for this reason we are hoping for accommodation no more than 1000Euro per month and as close to the city as possible. Decent public transport will probably save us a lot of stress haha and obviously a city where there?s always something for us to do! Somewhere that we can fall in love with and not get bored.

Barcelona
My initial choice was Barcelona, mainly because it offers some university courses in English which will be good for me when I first arrive. I have researched Barcelona more than the other cities and identified Gracia as a possible barrio to live. I am obviously aware that in Barcelona they speak Catalan however I have now come across so many different opinions that I?m very confused. I understand that everyone over there can speak Castellano as well as Catalan, but I?m concerned with how much I will be ?surrounded? by the language, i.e., how likely am I to achieve fluency??

Some people have said that locals would rather address me in English if they can tell I don?t speak Catalan and even if I try to speak Castellano, they will still speak English. Others have said it?s a terrible city to learn from scratch, but if you have some background knowledge then you can definitely improve your skills dramatically. I have read I won?t learn anything at all and will just be recycling what I already know. I have also read that nowadays Castellano is heard more and more, and that at university the other students will be speaking in Castellano, and when I walk down the street I will hear Castellano, the TVs and newspapers are in Castellano, etc. Are food labels and what not in Castellano? I have no problem learning a bit of Catalan but I really want to get to practice my Castellano and not feel like I?m forcing other people to speak it with me.

Apart from that main concern, what is the general opinion on living in Barcelona/Gracia for 12 months? Am I going to constantly be surrounded by tourists and English speaking people? I hear that there are a lot of international students and I thought that this might be really good for my fianc? in terms of making new friends? She might ?settle? in a little better in a city like Barcelona? Again though, I don?t want to be there for 6 months and feel like I could have been living in any other European city for all this time because I know nothing more about Spain.

Valencia
I have heard lots of good things about Valencia, and that it?s almost like a smaller version of Barcelona ? lots to do, on the coast, but less touristy. This may not be the case nowadays I?m not sure. Obviously with Valencia the concern is again that they speak their own dialect of Catalan, so my questions about Catalan in Barcelona all apply here as well. Will I be somewhat surrounded by Castellano ? the TV, newspapers, restaurants, supermarkets etc.  and will I return after 12 months with dramatically improved language? Valencia has only just opened up as an option for me, and thinking about it also made me wonder if I should consider the other options as well and not jump so quickly onto Barcelona. I initially ruled out everywhere else because they didn?t offer English courses at uni, but I now think I could probably struggle through a few courses early and after a few months be much more comfortable studying in Castellano. Theoretically I would study Spanish, Italian and then just have to get through one other course taught in Castellano. I have also read that when Valencians do speak Castellano that it is pretty clear.

Granada and Santiago
I don?t know much about these cities, but my concerns are that they are a little small, I may get bored after a few months and my fianc? may find it harder to make friends and settle in. But at the same time it seems a little rash to immediately rule them out without trying to find out more. Whilst I?m sure I would probably get better language skills a lot faster, I can?t help but think that maybe I would return from my 12 months and be like ?I really should have gone and stayed Barcelona?. Almost as if I?ll have less of an experience by choosing these smaller cities? Again I think I also read that Santiago has its own dialect and that the accent there is particularly hard to understand? But perhaps these cities would be much cheaper than Barcelona and Valencia?

Ideally I would be able to visit each city before I made my choice, but as that?s not possible I have to base my decision largely based on the opinions of others. So just trying to get as many as I can basically! I?ve picked Spain because I know some Spanish and want to get better, but I also really like the idea of just living in another country for a year and having a great time, making new friends etc. Most people seem to say ?don?t pick Barcelona if you want to get better at Spanish? and I guess I?m just wondering if that?s still the case today. I?m aware that my language would improve a lot more in a city like Granada but I?m willing to sacrifice a little bit of improvement in order to live somewhere that I?m going to love.

Sorry for the wall of text, longer than I anticipated :p

Muchas gracias!

If you want to focus more on learning Spanish I’d say Granada. If you want to have fun and want your fiance to enjoy herself, go to Barcelona. And indeed, Gracia is probably the place to be. 1000? will get you a sweet flat. See our thread here on where to live in Barcelona. The Catalan is not so bad and once you pick up a few words (and use them as greetings instead of Castellano) then you can freely switch to Castellano and 99% of the folks will respond in kind (having appreciated that you tried to use a bit of Catalan). All of the foreigners speak English and Spanish and you’ll find that in mixed company (which you’ll probably be in 90% of the time) everything will be in Castellano and everyone will be very happy to help you and your partner improve it.

12 months is plenty to be fluent if you really push yourself. Your fiance will probably be moderately conversational in that amount of time too. I highly suggest intensive Spanish lessons for her at International House. Get her doing 2 hours per day, 5 days per week and she’ll be just fine.

Granada does seem to be the best place in terms of immersion but I’m a little concerned it’s a bit isolated? Also, although I don’t NEED to be near the coast, it certainly makes the other cities a bit more attractive.

Do you think Valencia is a good compromise between Barcelona and Granada? It seems like I will be more immersed in Castellano than in Barcelona, but be in a city that’s a bit bigger than Granada and near the coast. It also means I could get a train up to Barcelona when we want to visit.

Valencia is pretty nice, but I’d say it’s main advantage is its nice beaches. They’re a bit better than BCN’s with warmer water. For me it’s too small and doesn’t have the same charm that some smaller Spanish cities like Granada, Sevilla, Santiago (or especially Segovia), etc have. I only spent a couple days there though. Have you considered Palma de Mallorca?

I lived in Valencia for one year and found it to be perfect for me. The beach in Valencia isn’t the best but there are some very nice beaches just outside the city. The language wasn’t really an issue, it isn’t spoken as much as Catalan in Barcelona and most people speak Spanish when out and about. El Carmen (the old town) is very interesting and has a lot to offer.

I live in Granada.  The city has a vibrant student community with students from all over the World as well as many Spanish, and is actually a fair bit larger and with much more going on than the average day trip suggests. Around the city itself and in the suburbs the transportation is good, just like in any major city, but in surrounding areas not so good.

You would definitely get immersion in the Spanish language, as English is rarely spoken at any level, so your girlfriend would need to take a pretty intense course in Spanish to be able to communicate and make Spanish friends. Add to this the Andalucian dialect, and even someone with a good understanding of Castellano will struggle for a while.

However, If I were you, I would choose Barcelona.  Bigger, busier, and I’m pretty sure you would find it very difficult to get bored there!  😊