Chloe Glover (Reporter)
ANDALUCIA is the most popular place to study Spanish in Spain.
This is despite the frequent criticism from language ‘purists’ that Andalusians swallow their word endings and speak a dialect unintelligible to some.
However, almost one third of the 153 Cervantes-accredited centres are based in the region due to its appeal to foreign students.
Malaga is the most popular province in Andalucia to study the language, with 23 Cervantes-accredited centres – almost half of the region’s 48 centre total.
Hot on its heels are Sevilla, Granada and Cadiz, which also welcomed many of the 25,000 language students who flocked to Andalucia last year.
Most came from Great Britain, Scandinavian countries, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Provincial governments have recently launched new bids to attract even more foreign students to the region, who spend an average of €1,200 over a several week learning stay.
While Malaga is currently the fourth most popular city in Spain to study Spanish, Julio Andrade, Malaga Council’s tourism councillor, hopes it will claim first place by 2020.
Cadiz councillors hope to make their province more attractive to students from new countries such as Poland, where they recently unveiled a huge promotional campaign.
