Speaking Spanish

Knew very little - good day, good afternoon, good night  - not much more. I did a cheap basic Rosetta Stone course - pretty good. Having been here full time since only Feb and first visit in Oct a year ago, I speak just a little, understand a little, but can read and understand much more. I live with my wife in Moca, which is where she is from and it is about 90 minutes in land from Cabarete/Sosua area and the Puerto Plato airport...I learn more each week and although I am planning on returning to Canada to work to help pay for a vehicle and house build, I plan on more Rosetta Stone courses. Some spanish I started learning was during winters in Glendale AZ but Mexican spanish is different than that here. Understandable but that's only good to know or can be of any use when one is proficient in the language......

It doesn't much matter what are you're in, they have about the same weird Spanish, and weird slang words all over the place.   Here's a really important one to learn, that most teachers will never teach out, but it's what most people say.......klk?  But don't bother with  mexican words like; huaraches, cacahuate, huachinango, etc.

Enough to order a beer & find the bathroom. Now understand quite a bit & can get through a day without English. But, far from fluent, verb & grammar  sucks.  Live in Sosua, North shore.

AHH - SO TRUE - ALWAYS LEARNED HOW TO GET BEER NO MATTER WHERE IN THE WORLD I HAVE BEEN........AND YES BATHROOM WAS CLOSE BEHIND THAT...HAHAHA

I knew less than 5 words. And 15 years ago could not find a real teacher of Spanish. Lots of volunteers but no teachers.

Because I have always worked here,  I had no choice but to learn fast. I am now very good but hesitate to say fluent. I have a large vocabulary but my grammar is often off.

The Dominicanisms can make you nuts and regional accents are often tough to understand!

I've been taking Spanish for 6 months and was in Punta Cana for 11 days and had no problems.  I asked people to please speak slowly.  I use the free DUOLINGO online classes daily.  The locals were so impressed and happy that I was trying.  By the time I move there in January I will be even more confident.

That's awesome! We're planning a two week visit for next May. I'm considering retiring in the DR in a few years, but need to put some time in to see if it's going to work for us.
I'm going to check out duolingo - thanks for the tip!