What are the fees of Spanish learning classes in India?

The Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin, which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War, beginning in 210 BC. Previously, several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages)—some related to Latin via Indo-European, and some that are not related at all—were spoken in the Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Basque (still spoken today), Iberian, Celtiberian and Gallaecian. Spanish is spoken as a first language by some 360 million people worldwide. Spanish is the (or an) official language of 18 American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela) as well as of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, along with Spain in Europe and Equatorial Guinea in Africa. Although many South and Central Americans use native Indian languages as their first language, Spanish is continuing to spread there. Estimated numbers of speakers (both as a first language and as a second language) are as follows, in order of numerical importance: Mexico, 110 million; Colombia, 41 million; Argentina, about 40 million; Spain, more than 38 million; Venezuela, some 27 million; Peru, 26 million; Chile, more than 16 million; Ecuador, more than 14 million; Cuba, some 11 million; Guatemala, almost 10 million; Bolivia, more than 8 million; the Dominican Republic, more than 8 million; El Salvador, some 6 million; Honduras, 6 million; Nicaragua, almost 6 million; Paraguay, more than 4 million; Costa Rica, about 4 million; Puerto Rico, more than 3 million; Uruguay, more than 3 million; Panama, 3 million; Equatorial Guinea, 627,000 (mostly second language). There are 100,000 to 200,000 speakers of Judeo-Spanish (Ladino), mostly in Israel.

Well, the fees for learning Spanish varies from place to place and from institute to institute. The two main ways of learning Spanish or any other languages either regional language or a foreign language are: online or offline. The new trends of learning online have taken the learners by storms due to the present pandemic and the facilities provided by the online educational platforms are also excellent. Yes, there are enough materials that can be found whether you search offline or online, but the question is who about the fees? Has this thought ever crossed your mind?

Offline learning

Many colleges and universities have foreign language departments. You can easily enrol in a college that offers the Spanish language. Most of the colleges have three-year undergraduate full-time courses and three-year part-time courses. The part-time has divided into 1+1+1 year i.e certificate, diploma and advanced diploma. After completing this three-year course you will be considered a graduate of the Spanish language. The fees structure of the courses for one year is between ten thousand rupees to twenty thousand rupees. A learner can get the best guidance here and also have certain other benefits. If you have the time, enrolling yourself in a proper institute to learn the language is the best and most recommended form of learning.  

Other than the government institute, many private institutes also offer Spanish language courses, the fees differ from one institute to another. Majorities of the private educational institute fees are on an hourly basis. The duration of a course is 3 months to 6 months, one hour class a day. The rate of the classes differs from one course to another. Most of the institute starts from 14000 INR and increases according to your level and the duration of the course. You can also opt for home tutors to learn Spanish. You can either call a tutor at home at your convenient time or you can visit the tutor’s place. The average fee is ₹500-₹2000 per hour for the first option and ₹500-₹1000 per hour for the latter.

Online learning

Due to the pandemic, having said that the benefits of offline institutes, online learning is preferable to the present scenario. There are many online platforms for language learning, one of them is Multibhashi. Multibhashi offers a wide range of online language learning programs. The average fee is ₹4500 for 30 classes. The duration of the class is 30min. Here the trainer will guide and interact with the learners virtually in a webinar group class. And the other option is one to one class. The fee for this class is higher than the other one. But you will need a computer or a smartphone as well as good internet service in order to learn it online. So it will be the course fee as well as the internet bill. You can choose from either of the two according to your preference and convenience.  

There are also ways to learn Spanish free of cost. You can download a free application on your smartphone and practice anytime what the app offers you to learn and improve. Another way is to watch and learn from the YouTube tutorials that you can watch and learn for free. While these free resources offer limited learning in the free mode, there’s more you can gain by buying their subscriptions. Check out Memrise, Duolingo, Edx etc.

Lastly, there are many choices in the market for you. But do not be blinded by the lights. What you need to do is to find the reason for your decision and stick to that decision. If your motive is to go as a tourist then a crash course can be recommended. Other than this the decision is yours. So, grab the opportunity while you can!