Sarah Gooding

Editor

Cactus Worldwide Ltd

Subscribe to my blog

Tumbit Approved Partner

If you’re living in Edinburgh and learning Spanish there are a number of places you can go and events you can attend in order to practise and improve your Spanish.

A group called Español en Edimburgo meets regularly to speak Spanish – the next meeting is on 21st January at the Vat and Fiddle on Lothian Street between Castle Terrace and the Usher Hall. The group has over 100 members, who include learners at all levels, as well as native speakers, and in addition to the conversation evenings, they also arrange other events such as film nights, flamenco and salsa dancing, and Spanish cooking.

Watching film in Spanish is a good way to improve your listening comprehension, and also gives you insights into the culture of Spain or other Spanish-speaking countries. The Filmhouse cinema on Lothian Street sometimes shows Spanish language films.

The Edinburgh Spanish Circle (El Círculo Español de Edimburgo), a group for Spanish people, Scots of Spanish descent and Spanish learners founded in 1932, is a possible place to practise your Spanish. They organise lectures, talks, debates and other events on subjects related to Spanish-speaking countries, and meet at the English Speaking Union, 23 Atholl Crescent at 7.30pm on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month.

The Yakety Yak Language Café is a new group that will aim to give people opportunities to practise Spanish and other languages, to share cultural interests and to socialise. The groups will apparently meet in different cafés and bars in Edinburgh, consist of people with a roughly the same level of fluency, and will be supported by an instructor. However it’s not clear from their website when these language cafés will start.

You could practise your Spanish via language exchange with native speakers. You might find such people willing to do this at local universities, colleges or English language schools, or in hostels and other places visitors to Edinburgh might spend time. Gumtree, an online bulletin board, is another place you can find language exchange partners, and you might also find other Spanish-related events advertised there.

Another way to practise your Spanish is at a Spanish restaurant where you could try ordering in Spanish as the staff are usually from Spain, and chatting in Spanish to your dining companions. There are quite a few such restaurants to choose from in Edinburgh.

Please get in touch via the link, above, if you have any other suggestions on how to practise your Spanish in Edinburgh!