One of the most difficult things about moving to a new country and trying to integrate is of course the language. But language courses can be expensive, even studying the main language of the country you’re moving to – in this case Spanish or Castellano.
While it may be more difficult to find free Spanish courses in Spain, if you’re moving to an autonomous region that has its own co-official language, other than Spanish, then there are opportunities for you to learn without having to pay at all.
The regional governments in the regions of Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia and Valencia are actively trying to promote their local languages and as a result, there are often several free courses that you can sign up for.
Keep in mind that there are usually certain caveats involved, such as living in the region, age ranges and dates of classes.
Catalan
The Catalan government lists four different places where foreigners or Spanish speakers can learn Catalan for free. These are:
The Consortium for Linguistic Normalisation
They offer official Catalan courses for adults of all levels, both online and face-to-face. You can find classes in your area here and the dates of when each one starts. Usually, beginners and basic classes are free, while you may have a pay a small fee for higher levels.
Official Language Schools (EOI)
Some official language schools in Catalonia offer official government-sponsored Catalan courses for adults. Some of these are free, while others may charge.
Adult Training Centres
Training centres across the region offer Catalan classes so that adults can reach a minimum level of competence to communicate in the Catalan language (levels A1, A2 and B1). Contact your local ayuntamiento or town hall to find the nearest one to you and what they offer.
Catalan Universities
Some universities in the region offer short free courses in Catalan, but you’ll usually have to look up each one individually to see what they offer and when.
READ ALSO - READ MORE: Spanish vs Catalan - Which language should you learn if you live in Barcelona?
Basque
The Basque Government subsidies Basque or Euskera classes for foreigners and Spanish speakers and even provides some for free. There are however a few conditions you must meet to be able to benefit.
You must study a complete level either A1, A2, B1, B2 and C1. For C1, subsidies are only for people under 30 years of age and who have passed the other official exams. You must prove that you have attended at least 75 percent of the classes and pass the official Euskaltegi evaluation test.
The application for subsidies must be made online, on the HABE website. You can either fill out the forms, print them and physically take them to the associated offices or complete the form online.
The application submission period takes place every year from the beginning of September to the beginning of October.
In some cases, while the classes are free or subsidised, you may need to pay for the official exams.
READ ALSO: 14 unique Basque words that are very handy to know
Galician
The Galician government and the General Directorate of Vocational Training typically offer free Gallego lessons each year and will put a call out during the sign-up period. They are usually free preparatory courses for the Celga tests and are offered at four different levels.
There are both online and in-person courses distributed across the four provinces of the region in official language schools.
You can sign up for the courses and see when the next ones are due to take place here. More information and courses are available here.
The language courses for the 2023/24 academic year started in September 2023 and will finish in May 2024, so it’s likely that the next ones won’t start until autumn 2024.
The Xunta de Galicia has also launched a free online self-study course and the most recent course for Celga level three just started in February of this year.
READ ALSO: Five things to know about the Galician language
Valencian
You can study Valenciano – the co-official language of Valencia (similar to Catalan) at public training centres for adults dependent on the Department of Education and at Valencian public universities.
The centres provide free A1-level training courses with a minimum duration of 60 hours. The University of Valencia also offers free A1 and A2 courses in Valenciano of 40 hours each. You can find more info here.
The Valencia City Council, through the Department of Youth, also runs the Idiomes Joves, a programme to enable young people in Valencia to learn languages for free through training and conversation courses. Classes are held at different times throughout the year so you need to research and find out when the next ones near you are.
READ ALSO: Do I need to learn Valencian if I live in Spain’s Valencia region?
Not available in all regions
If want to study one of these regional or co-official languages, it may be much harder to find lessons for free outside of the autonomous communities where they are widely spoken, or at cost even.
According to data from the public registry of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, 80 percent of the Official Language Schools (EOI) in Spain do not offer any co-official languages such as Catalan, Basque, Galician or Valencian.
For example, if you want to learn Galician in Catalonia, you may have a hard time finding classes at official language schools. Or if you want to learn Catalan but live in the Canaries, it may hard to find a class and you may need a private teacher instead.
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