Learning Spanish

Apparently, in 2 months we will be in Spain! There is so much that needs to happen during that time! Luckily I have been able to take advantage of the fact that my husband has been in school for 2 weeks, and I am doing a little schooling on my own. It's time to learn Spanish! I have never had a Spanish class in my life... But I had 16 years of French classes, including being a French minor in college and living in Paris for 6 months. So I used to be pretty fluent in French. (A bit rusty now though, since I haven't had anyone to talk to for 8 years!) I got the Rosetta Stone Spanish package, and so far I am very impressed. I didn't know if "Level 1" would just be colors and food, but it's an amazing program that combines verbs, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation into each lesson. I have been doing it for 1 week now, and am almost 1/4 of the way through Level 1. It's amazing how much I have picked up! I can read new words correctly because of the pronunciation drills, and I can speak whole sentences describing pictures. I cannot carry on any conversation -- unless you really want to say things like "The black cat is small, the running boy is wearing a shirt, and I have three yellow bicycles." :-) But still, it definitely gives you confidence to approach new situations and try to understand native speakers. I am very excited to stick with it so I won't be lost and overwhelmed when we get there.

Note to military: Rosetta Stone courses are supposed to be free to military spouses. However, after asking my husband, contacting the base education center, and searching the Rosetta Stone website, I could not get any information about how to sign up for the free program. So, I just went out and bought it so I wouldn't waste anymore time. It's $180 for Level 1, or $400 for the package with Levels 1-3. Each "Level" is similar to a college course, and by Level 5 you would be considered a fluent speaker. So, I am going to see how Level 1 goes, and find out what kind of classes and programs are offered on base when we get there, but it would certainly be worth it to find out how to take advantage of the military benefit!

As for the kiddos, so far I am having fun teaching them words here and there as I learn them. We have a picture book with Spanish words, and just got a dvd for them. They really like it, and think it is a game to learn how to say things in Spanish. So far they have figured out gracias, manzana (apple), blanco (white) nino and nina (boy and girl) and cama (bed). They like to ask questions and quiz me-- how do you say this? what is that in Spanish? so I am trying to keep it fun and look words up in their picture book.

I forgot how exhausting it is speaking in another language though! I can literally feel the cobwebs coming off some parts of my brain, and it hurts! Haha, so it's off to bed for me.