Living in spain and then rio later on?

RIODEJ

:)Living in spain and then rio later on?
I'm not sure if this is in right section, am new to the site.

I'm thinking of spending a month or 2 in spain soon. Does anybody have experience of living there?

Barcelona or Madrid appeal to me, but i think they could be very expensive?

Dont have spanish but would like to learn some.
Plan is to maybe head to rio de janeiro later in the year but i think some spanish could be helpful and spain would help climitise to the heat. i know its not portuguese but they are somewhat similar i think and spanish is easier to pick up

HalloweenJack

I live in Madrid at the moment and love it.

Atm, the weather's a lot like Ireland (rainy, cold) and it'll probably stay this way for the next few weeks so you won't get to do much adapting for now. The summer's are roasting though.

For the most part, Madrid is cheaper than Ireland, except for going out which is about the same and, in some places, even more expensive. There's plenty to do here and it's a much more exciting city than Dublin.

If you want to learn Spanish, you'd be better off in Madrid, imo. In Barcelona, a lot of the people speak Catalan. They can speak Spanish too but I imagine it'd be easier to immerse yourself entirely in Spanish in Madrid, rather than going to Barcelona where there'd be two languages.

Spanish is similar to Portuguese but there are also some notable differences in grammar and dozens of false friends.

Good luck.

sjunger

I lived in Seville for 2 years with my Spanish ex.Very beautiful city,food/ drink not expensive and you can find Lidl and Aldi if you are on a shoestring:D.I learned my Spanish from a book and cd and got the hang of it very fast.This was before I moved there.Then the shock came :eek:,I had no idea what anyone was saying after I moved there,the local accent was impossible to understand and it was a nightmare.I can only say to you plan very carefully where you plan to stay.Make sure if you are travelling on your own that you have access to a Irish consulate so that if you have problems you can explain them in your own language.Spain and Portugal although they are neighbours,the languages somewhat look the same ,but sound very different when faced with a local you could be lost..But I do wish you well in your adventure..:cool:

RIODEJ

thanks alot for the advice

i heard catalan is in northern spain?
so it is actually a different language? would it be sort of a cross between french and spanish maybe?

also i looked at flights to barcelona but reus and girona are 1.5 hours from barcelona center which is mad
do you know if aer lingus fly to the airport near barcelona centre?

and regarding madrid which airport is best to head to from ireland do you know?

djcervi

Catalan is a different language. You could say it's a mix of French and Spanish, as there are similiarities. If you really want to be immersed in actual Spanish, Madrid is your answer. All street signs and county council signs are in catalan in Barcelona. Madrid's only Castilian (Spanish).

As for flights

Aer Lingus (and Iberia- I think) fly to the main airport in Barcelona.

For Madrid there are 3 flights from Dublin that you can get- Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Iberia.

Good Luck

Enore

Catalonia is on the east north of Spain. The south is awful if you want to learn spanish, I'm spanish and with some people from Andalucia is really difficult understanding them even if your a native.

I would recomend you any place from Madrid until the top north, is the originally region of Castellano (spanish). Madrid is a good option, but also Salamanca and Valladolid are the cities most known for its good spanish.

If you want to know some more things just ask .

Good luck!

Swing4

Hello, if you going to Rio J. speak Portuguese there. Galicia in northwest Spain as you could help Galician and Portuguese are very similar, but Brazilian Portuguese is certainly different and evolved, the work is now badly in Spain, but you decide, hope you have luck and good trip.

Excuse my translation, I´m from Spain.