I was always one of those people that wanted to learn another language. I did a little French and German at school but nothing seemed to stick with me apart from the basics, going on holiday I was able to hold a polite conversation of "Hi, how are you? What's your name?" Needless to say, I didn't get far.
I started seeing this guy who was half Latino and one half of his family spoke Spanish, great what a perfect opportunity! After all our children would learn Spanish from their grandparents (not that we're that far along as a couple yet, but still, the thought was with me)
So, my mother in law speaks Spanish as her first language and I was a little embarrassed that her English was fantastic; she'd taken time out to learn a language because really it was the people around her that couldn't be bothered to learn her native tongue.
I decided to make a real go of learning Spanish but conversational style not just the hello, how are you type questions and answers. To my surprise there is a lot of help out there for learning a new language and the teaching is so different to that of the old school days.
When I was learning Spanish I used the same techniques as my parents used to teach me my first words, for example seeing a picture and learning the word to match and sounding the words out.
I'm so happy now and feel like I've really achieved something that was such a great obstacle- for years I wanted to be able to say I was bylingual and now I can truely say I am. Not to mention the new found respect my mother in law has for me, it's great to sit down with her for a cup of tea and a biscuit and be able to talk to her in her own language, and just think when the kids do come along they will already have a head start on a second language!
If you are interested in being fluent in spanish or learning a new language check out the site I used http://www.rocketlanguages.com/spanish/premium/index.php and see for yourself!
