I have forever been interested in the Spanish culture. It’s been something that has always fascinated me. The music, the people, the way of life. I decided at the bitter old age of 32 that I’d finally get my act together and learn Spanish in the hopes that I can move there in the future.

I had tried to learn Spanish in many random ways. I had read an article in a magazine suggesting to buy a cheap and cheerful Spanish dictionary and to take words for household items in it.

With the words it advised that I label those household items in my home, i.e. stick “puerta” on the door, “mesa” on the table. It was a quirky idea that in theory I would start associating these words with the item itself rather like a child would when learning to talk.

This brought me on to discover “submersion” technique. I began my search for lessons that I could try. I was bought a nice Christmas gift from my niece. It was a Spanish disc by Berlitz. It was quite fun and cute but relatively easy as once the games are over there’s not much else to go by.

I tried a CD set by Michele Thomas which I must say was fairly good as it did go in depth with the grammar and I found that I was picking up quite a bit. The only downside I must say is that you defiantly lack the one on one benefits i.e. pronunciation etc.

I had been watching the TV when a commercial for Rosetta Stone came on. It sounded really good so I took my 300 bucks and tried it out. It was a lot of money for me at the time but was defiantly an investment. It uses voice recognition and gives you a smack on the wrist when your accent slips up!

I’m now trying to listen more to Spanish music and watch some movies in Spanish as I think that this may help.

Best thing to do would be to move there and jump in the deep end as they say but I hope that with more research I shall improve. I’m sure I’ll be the 1st to report when I do!