Learning a language is a great hobby, an awesome pass time and a motivating way to drive to and from wherever you’re going.

Just stick a language course into your CD player or download to your ipod and off you go!

I find that with the technology available today, its never been easier to become bi or multi-ligual.

The programme I first started using for spanish is called Rosetta Stone  www.rosettastone.com
It’s interactive, it works in a way like no other language course you’ve ever experienced.
As an adult, its much harder to absorb new information. We are mostly visual learners past the age of 18.
So what’s the best way to expand your foreign language vocab? With pretty pictures and not a word of translation.
Suddenly you are immersed in the world of images and colour and remembering new words has never been easier.

Just plug in your headphones, connect a microphone and the programme recognises your pronunciation and  works at your own pace. I encourage anyone who is starting to learn a new language to try this programme. It will revolutionise the way we learn foreign languages.

Once I got my vocab up to speed, however I needed more sentence structure learnings and more conversational phrases useful to a tourist.

So I got hooked onto another language course called the Pimsleur method. I got started on a couple of CDs which are now permanently in my car stereo and ipod.

The lessons start off with a brief conversation and go on to interact with you with new words in the conversation and then useful phrases.

After having gone through a few lessons, you’ll feel confident enough to book your ticket to Peru or Argentina. I am dying to practice my learning already!
In the first few lessons there is a lot of “beer” talk. “How much does a beer cost?” “Do you like beer?” ” I want to buy a beer” etc. followed by “Where is the bathroom?” – very useful conversational language for a tourist!

Still, since I am so impatient, I feel the need to mix the methods up a little. So off on a quest with my good friend youtube I go…

Type in ” spanish language cartoon” and lots of clips of Spanish cartoons will come up in your search.
Pick your best one. I quite like the short series of El Pero Y El Gato ( the dog and the cat)

Its useful watching cartoons which teach you the language of your choice, as that is how we used to learn when we were kids. This method still works with me! I guess that means that I am one big kid on the inside. One of my good friends used to say “Getting old is compulsory, growing up is a choice”

Hope this gets you started on the language learning endeavour of your choice!

The brain needs exercise, and there is no better way to achieve this than to learn something new.

So, mi amigos, you have nothing to lose!