Spanish lessons

One of my life goals is to learn and become fluent in a foreign language.  Whenever I meet new people from other countries I try to learn how to say “hello” and “how are you doing” in their native tongue.  This has been a great way to break the ice as I can now great people from Israel, Russia, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and China.  Everyone loves when you make the effort to learn something about their culture. 

My passion began after returning from Italy in 1992 and I knew that Italian was the language for me.  At that time it was far less about a life dream and much more about identifying the language that would impress a woman enough to want to sleep with me.  Alas, my dedication waned when it became apparent that a could find no correlation between languages spoken and physical attractiveness. 

Then, in 2004 wife and I spent our honeymoon in Paris.  After 10 days I returned with a passion to learn French.  I believe I was in love with the romantic nature of the language and desire to relive our amazing trip.  I bought Rosetta Stone French and dived into learning the language.  If you are ever looking to learn a language, and are willing to pay the rather high price tag, I highly recommend Rosetta Stone.  It is incredibly easy and a fun way to learn and comprehend.  Unfortunately, after a cross-country move my excitement diminished as I dove into our new life.

Now as we plan for our global adventure I have renewed my passion for this dream and have started to learn Spanish.  Given that the first continent we will visit is South America it seems logical that we learn how to communicate in order to get the most of our experience.  Every morning on my commute into work I listen to podcasts from Coffee Break Spanish which allows me to learn basic grammar and vocabulary.  In addition, I found Spanish Dict which has some excellent lessons to learn by listening, writing, and speaking.  Finally, we are watching Spanish language programs on cable to help us listen to the language and accent.  Ultimately we both know that the only way to really learn a language is to be immersed in the culture but our goal is to have a great foundation before we get there.  Additionally, learning a language is yet another great way for us to share a new experience together as a couple.