Expats in Cali? Looking to practice Spanish

But the Spanish you learn from other expats may not be nearly as good or correct as Spanish you learn from a native speaker.

In a university environment (like Universidad del Valle and there are many others in Cali) can you not find students who would welcome a chance to practice their English and teach you some Spanish at the same time?

Right, I totally understand what you're saying. And I have some friends to practice with here, but because they are native, they can't explain to me why, which can get frustrating, especially since I'm not taking any Spanish classes right now.

So I was hoping to find someone at the same level as me to learn with

OsageArcher wrote:

But the Spanish you learn from other expats may not be nearly as good or correct as Spanish you learn from a native speaker.

I laughed a bit when you said native speakers use proper Spanish. Que Chimba!

What I mean is, I've seen a lot of expats that get it in their head that a word or phrase means something that it doesn't really mean, or whose meaning has wider application than the narrow sense in which they may have heard it.

Case in point:  Chimba is used exactly opposite from the meaning you apparently assign to it, according to this article about caleñidades in El País which is the local paper in Cali:
http://www.elpais.com.co/elpais/cali/no … -calenidad

Chimba: otra palabra muy usada para significar que algo es excelente.

See also
https://es.answers.yahoo.com/question/i … 321AAE2QCg

Especially in a university environment, he should be able to hear Spanish correctly spoken, more so than on the street.  Both types are worth learning of course.

I've heard some pretty rotten Spanish in South America. But I've also heard some rotten English in Memphis. Same thing.

Hi Mike,

I totally understand what you are saying.

I am Aussie and Married to a Colombian.

I learnt to speak Spanish on the streets in Cali and travelling throughout Colombia.

However, it is difficult to understand the reasoning behind "why" we speak the way that we do or "why" the rules apply in any language without formal training. Also it is much easier to grasp when the person teaching you can speak and explain the "why" in your language for example.

We are travelling to Cali in 3 weeks and will be there for 2 months.

I would be really happy to stay in touch and catch up. Come dancing with us! Yo hablo mejor despues de una or dos cervezas!

Sal:)