I have moved to Spain...

[EdwinV]

... and have now been here a week. I'm living in Benimamet and work as a service engineer for a company based in Madrid.

Does anyone have any experience of where in Valencia to go for Spanish lessons? Night classes ideally.

Also, where are the best places to go to meet Expats, until my Spanish improves?!

Thanks

[Alcalaina]

Welcome to Spain and to the forum Edwin, and how nice to hear of somebody who has actually got a job here! Do share your first impressions of Spain with us.

Plenty of forum members live in Valencia and I´m sure they will be able to give you some advice.

[EdwinV]

Originally Posted by Alcalaina

Welcome to Spain and to the forum Edwin, and how nice to hear of somebody who has actually got a job here! Do share your first impressions of Spain with us.

Plenty of forum members live in Valencia and I´m sure they will be able to give you some advice.

My first impressions, well, it looks a great place. Valencia is beautiful, but I've not had much time to look around properly yet.

The biggest difficulty I have is understanding of the language. One thing I was concious of doing was learning the language, so here goes..

[Alcalaina]

Originally Posted by EdwinV

My first impressions, well, it looks a great place. Valencia is beautiful, but I've not had much time to look around properly yet.

The biggest difficulty I have is understanding of the language. One thing I was concious of doing was learning the language, so here goes..

Yes, it is hard work especially when you have a full time job. I did evening classes back in the UK before I moved here, and it was really hard to keep the motivation going, but well worth it in the end.

There are lots of good online resources like Learn Spanish with Notes in Spanish Podcasts! : Notes in Spanish – Learn Spanish with Podcast Audio Conversation from Spain. and if you get yourself a Spanish "intercambio" who is learning English, you can help each other along (and meet people!).

[EdwinV]

It's a full time job, but I don't have an office to go to every day. My job is to service / repair electronic equipment on board ships, mainly VLC port but there is travel involved if required. If there are no ships coming into VLC port with problems then the time is my own, which gives an ideal opportunity for learning!

[Pesky Wesky]

Originally Posted by EdwinV

... and have now been here a week. I'm living in Benimamet and work as a service engineer for a company based in Madrid.

Does anyone have any experience of where in Valencia to go for Spanish lessons? Night classes ideally.

Also, where are the best places to go to meet Expats, until my Spanish improves?!

Thanks

Hi Edwin,
Hope you're enjoying life in Spain. I went to Valencia last year, just for a long weekend and liked it very much, but it was HOT and HUMID. Coming from bone dry Madrid it took it out of us a bit.

Meeting other expats - I think Irish pubs are always a good bet
Finnegans of Dublin
St Patrick's Iris Pub, Valencia, Gran Vía Marqués del Túria 69 (Cánovas) 46004. VALENCIA / SPAIN
And in a language class you've got to meet other English speakers. Ask for the yellow pages at work and look up Academias de Idiomas (in Spanish that is - don't know in Valenciano, but something similar I guess)
Then there are "intercambios" (swaps) like this meetup. Don't worry, the only thing you swap is language, not clothes or wives! There are more here
Intercambio de idiomas en Valencia

Doesn't your company arrange classes for you? Better in a group if you can so you make more contacts.

[EdwinV]

Thanks for the reply, I will look into it. I'm the only one in the company based in Valencia, I'm sure they'll fund the lessons as part of my relocation allowance!

[DunWorkin]

As you probably know, in Valencia there are 2 languages - Spanish and Valenciano.

Most people can speak and understand Spanish but Valenciano is used a lot.

If you are going to be dealing with your Madrid office you will need Spanish.

[horses]

good luck, its a lovely place to live