Spanish Lessons in Portland, Oregon

Berlitz Language Center, Portland:
Learn Spanish with Berlitz Portland! Spanish is the most widely spoken of the Romance languages, in terms of number of speakers and the number of countries in which it is the dominant language. In the United States there are more than 25 million speakers, living mainly in California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, New York and many other states. At our downtown Portland location on Fourth Avenue, Berlitz offers the Portland community the expertise from over 125 years of experience in language and cultural training. You'll discover how effective the renowned Berlitz Method® is and start speaking Spanish with students and instructors from all over the world. Our professional environment is designed to accommodate serious study, as well as conversations in your new language with friends who share your passion for language and culture. Whether you're a professional looking to advance your career, an adventurous traveler, or want to impress your new mother-in-law, you can count on Berlitz!

Spanish is the most widely spoken of the Romance languages, both in terms of number of speakers and the number of countries in which it is the dominant language. Besides being spoken in Spain, it is the official language of Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, of all the Central American countries except Belize, and of all of the South American countries except Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.

In the United States there are now more than 25 million speakers of Spanish, living mainly in California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, and New York, but also in many other states. Spanish is also spoken in the Balearic and Canary islands (which are part of Spain), in parts of Morocco, in Western Sahara, and in Equatorial Guinea. A variety of Spanish known as Ladino is spoken in Turkey and Israel by descendants of Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492. All told, there are about 375 million speakers of Spanish. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

Because it's personalized language learning that works! We place the focus where it belongs – on you. Our highly trained, native-fluent instructors are dedicated to your success and will always consider your personal learning style, interests, and goals.

Berlitz is the industry leader with a 130-year history of innovation. Our company’s rich historical tradition, combined with our innovative approach to instruction, has had a direct impact on revolutionizing the way languages are taught around the world. Maximilian Berlitz developed the Berlitz Method® in 1878. His effective, conversational approach to language learning has become the gold standard for language instruction and has remained at the heart of our company’s teaching approach ever since.

Because our techniques and approach are used as benchmarks within the language and cross-cultural training fields, it is our responsibility to continue to refine our products and services to anticipate the needs of our customers and advance the field. Our steadfast focus on innovation and improvement will result in our company continuing to be admired by our customers and employees as well as the local and global communities.

When you study with Berlitz, you learn a new language the same way you learned your native language—naturally. Our highly effective, conversational style of instruction immerses you in your new language and makes learning fast and easy. Our instructors are native-fluent speakers who focus on the practical grammar and vocabulary you’ll use in real-life situations.

Intensive Spanish; Spanish Total Immersion; Spanish Immerse and Converse; Business Spanish; Corporate Group Spanish; Executive Spanish; Spanish Private Instruction; Spanish Group Lessons, Online Spanish Instruction. We also offer Programs in English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic and other languages.

Pronunciation and usage of Spanish naturally vary between countries, but regional differences are not so great as to make the language unintelligible to speakers from different areas. The purest form of Spanish is known as Castilian, originally one of the dialects that developed from Latin after the Roman conquest of Hispania in the 3rd century AD.

Spanish vocabulary is basically of Latin origin, though many of the words differ markedly from their counterparts in French and Italian. Many words beginning with f in the other Romance languages begin with h in Spanish (e.g., hijo – son, hilo – thread). The Moorish influence may be seen in many words beginning with al- (algodón – cotton, alfombra – rug, almohada – pillow, alfiler – pin). As in British and American English, there are differences in vocabulary on the two sides of the ocean – patata (potato) is papa in Latin America, while melocotón (peach) is durazno.

Spanish spelling is based on generally consistent phonetic principles, and reflects better than most languages the way a word is pronounced. The consonants b and v are pronounced alike, the sound falling somewhere between the two sounds in English (boca – mouth, voz – voice). The letter z, and the letter c before e and i, are pronounced as a voiceless th in Castilian, but more like s in southern Spain and Latin America (zapato – shoe, ciudad – city). The letter j, and the letter g before e and i, are pronounced like the English h ( jardín – garden, general – general), though in Spain it is more guttural than in Latin America. The hard g sound is represented by g before a, o, and u (gato – cat), but gu before e and i (seguir – to follow). The h is always silent (hombre – man), and rr is a rolled r (correr – run).