Language Immersion Programs in Barcelona

Hi!

I am looking to do a language immersion program in Barcelona this July. I'm a complete beginner, but at the same time, I've always wanted to go to Barcelona. Would it be possible for me to learn the language in 4 weeks? Or would it be too touristy, that it kinda defeats the purpose? I don't need to be fluent (but that would also be nice!), I just want to be able to get by in a Spanish speaking place, if I need to. And also, for my own personal growth.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions as far as schools, preferably a program that they actually enrolled in. I did my research online and there are so many choices, it can be overwhelming. I did speak to someone at amerispan.com. Does anyone have any experience dealing with them?

Since i'm planning to go in July, should I be worried about the heat? Do I need to worry whether the places that I stay at has air condition or is it fairly standard in Barcelona? I was thinking of staying with a host family while taking classes.

I apologize if I have too many questions.

Thanks.

Well, I suppose it might be useful for you to know that Barcelona is part of the Catalunya region of Spain and the official language there is Catalan, NOT Spanish. Yes, people in Barcelona speak Spanish for sure. Quite well for the most part, but the Catalunyan government is strongly against the use of Spanish in the region. In fact, the last time I looked, their official government website was in 2 languages - English and Catalan. Some of the strong feelings against the Spanish language stem from the official repression of Catalan under Franco, but he's been dead for about 33 years now and they are still angry about it.

Why did I mention this? Well, I'm not sure that Barcelona is really the best place to go to learn Spanish because its in Catalunya. I think you'd do better to learn in Andalusia somewhere. The costs would be less and Andalusian Spanish is a bit closer to Latin American Spanish (if you care about that sort of thing) than other regional dialects. I was in Valencia, which is also in Catlunya but quite a bit south of Barcelona, and the local accents there were horrible. I guess it was from the strong influence of Catalan, but I had tremendous difficulties understanding people I talked to who were natives of the area. So as long as you don't pick up some kind of weird Catalan accent from studying in Barcelona, I guess it would be OK, but Andalusia would be better in my opinion. Barcelona is a very expensive city to live in, so I hope you are prepared for that.

Can you learn enough in 4 weeks to get by? Quite possibly, if you work hard at it. The good news for you is that Spanish is one of the easiest languages on the planet to learn. That's actually a good thing. The grammar is very very simple and exceptions are rare. Words are pronounced exactly like they are spelled. The only difficulty is that speakers of Spanish typically speak very fast, but eventually you can come to grips with it. People in Spain pronounce their words correctly, which will help you, unlike certain Latin American groups who always drop letters and sound like they have a potato in their mouths when they talk.

Thanks for the info. Do you recommend any cities in Andalusia? One thing I'm concerned with is the fact that I'm planning my trip in July. I'm afraid it will be way too hot around that time.