Learning Spanish in Argentina
I have heard it so many times in the last 4 years, and experienced it myself, studying in Buenos Aires is fun, yes, because you will meet other travelers like yourself and it's nightlife is unbeatable, but at the end of your 80 hours of group Spanish class, you realize you know how to say, "Hola, que tal, soy de los estados unidos, una cerveza por favor, muchas gracias, and perdon"
Regardless of how good the school, program, or tutor is, the problem begins when you leave the classroom. In BsAs, everyone seems to speak English and appears to want to practice their skills with every passing foreigner. What does this mean for you as a student? Well you are paying and studying as Argentine's say, "al pedo" because you aren't really implementing the knowledge you are acquiring.
Obviously this is not always the case, as there are always exceptions to the rule, but they are exactly that, exceptions. If your goal is really to acquire Spanish as your second, third, fourth, or fifth language, you might want to try any place BUT Buenos Aires. Try somewhere where the quantity of travelers is minimal and in being so minimal, it therefore forces you to put into action what you are learning.
Rosario is a small city just 4 hours from Buenos Aires. In 2006, when I first arrived, tourism had begun as a seedling of an idea, but most people had no clue about the industry, about what Rosario had to offer, and they surely didn't have a plethora of language skills to do so. However, with time, it seems to have made it's way onto the tourist destination map and has become a recommended 2-3 day lay over between the Northern and Southern regions of Argentina. What this means is there are other travelers, so you are not a complete soar thumb of a stand out, though there are few that stay longer than a handful of days, making for an ideal setting to learn Spanish.
There are several schools and language learning programs that have appeared on the market over the past few years and some seem to be more recommendable than others. Here is a list that municipal tourist entity posts on their site...http://rosarioturismo.com/servicios/agencias_y_guias.asp
