On learning Spanish...

Something's happened to my Spanish. It's like it's had a growth spurt and gotten quite good Maybe a week in London speaking only English and Urdu benefitted my Spanish too! I had Spanish class this morning and managed to say quite a lot and explain quite a lot in Spanish so that was good. And last week I conducted an impromptu meeting in Spanish and actually did okay. We had French to fall back on but when I tried speaking in French, I kept mixing it up with Spanish or having my brain freeze when I was searching for an expression in French so we stuck to Spanish.

My Spanish studying can only be described as haphazard. I've studied properly since July and before that I'd sit down from time to time and study myself. Even with lessons twice a week, I haven't got into a good routine of learning all the vocabulary from each lesson and doing all the homework - apart from half an hour before the class. A lot has happened in the last few months so at times it can be difficult finding the time but feeling that I'd made progress in the last week or so has spurred me on to be more disciplined with the language studying. I know I don't want to be like one of those foreigners who can barely say three words in Spanish although they've lived here for five years. Anyway, I speak Japanese so I have no excuse for not being able to get my head round a new language. It does seem to require a bit more effort now though, maybe my brain cells are getting a little bit old....

When I was at Low Life, I realised that there were Spanish-speaking people at the party and I could understand them. I feel like I can listen in to other people's conversations now, it can be a useful trick to have!