Back to "school," language learning

¡hola!

In December we started using some podcasts to learn some Spanish.  I really like them!!

I am so not a good language student!!  It could partly be that the first foreign language I studied was one of the most difficult.....Russian.  We had 16 hours of class a week and I was getting there, but not like Jerry.  He's such the student!  Loves studying....what is wrong with him?! =P

I was not a good language student the first time, or really the second time for that matter.  I didn't get very far in Czech.  I could get ya around a restaurant and about 80% of the products in a grocery store and that is about it!  Forget about saying much about me or my family.  Oh, I can say that I have 3 children, but we wouldn't get very far after that!  We've been so spoiled that Prague is such an international city and so many people speak English.

Well, that's ALL about to change.  From our experience in October, very few Spanish speak English.  Even at our beloved Starbucks!!  Well, later on in our visit I did have a barista who spoke English to me.  But seriously, I was in a language culture shock when we first arrived in Madrid!  That slowly eased and I made my way around, but we will definitely need to learn the language.  And I'm ok with that.  If we are going to go full fledged into a language, I am glad it's Spanish.  If we ever find ourselves returning permanently to the US (not in our plan, of course) this will be a big plus for us and our kiddos.  I'm excited for them to learn the language.

Everyone tells me that Spanish is so easy and from the few lessons that I've listened to I can see why people would say that when you compare it to a Slavic language.  But there is still a whole lotta work that has to go into learning ANY language.

For me it is just going to be a matter of listening to those lessons over, and over, and probably over a few more times.  My head was spinning yesterday from trying to keep straight the words for mother, father, sister, brother, wife, husband.  I can't even recall!  But, I look forward to the day when I can say that I have conquered a language.  It's the getting there that I'm not really looking forward to.

¡adiós!