Students who wish to learn Spanish as a foreign language often forget to evaluate what is perhaps the best educational source in this regard: The University of Costa Rica (UCR). Each year, UCR welcomes more than 400 students who wish to learn Spanish in an institution of higher learning that is ranked among the 30 best universities in Latin America and among the best 500 in the world.

UCR’s Spanish as a Foreign Language Program (SFLP) has been around since 1988. It is in charge of coordinating, organizing, and administrating all the courses of Spanish for foreigners offered by Universidad de Costa Rica in its headquarters. Its fundamental purpose is to provide non-Spanish speaking students a competent level of Spanish that allows them to satisfy, promptly and effectively, their communication needs when speaking as well as when writing.

One of the most outstanding factors of the SFLP in Costa Rica is the extensive knowledge and experience of the academic staff, which is made up of a team of native-speaking university professors with degrees in either Spanish Philology, Linguistics or Spanish as a Second Language. It utilizes suitable didactic materials and technological facilities. Instructors who specialize in Linguistics are often considered to be the best choice for students who wish to learn foreign languages because linguists tend to approach language as a highly scientific and socio-cultural discipline.

About 80 percent of students who enroll in the SFLP are from the United States, although many students have come from as far as Israel, Lithuania, Taiwan, Angola, South Korea, and China. The current registration period ends on January 30^th, and the placement test takes place on that date. There are three major levels of instruction: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced, each one has two sub-levels of language proficiency. The courses that augment learning include: Latin American Culture, Costa Rican Literature, the Generation of 1998, English-Spanish translation, and many others.

Considering the high cost of intensive Spanish courses in Costa Rica, the UCR monthly tuition is extremely reasonable, and it offers very enticing and convenient benefits such as housing in San Jose, academic facilities, cultural outreach, and more.