I have studied Spanish off and on since high school. I remembered nothing from the 3 years of classes that I took. When I was in my 20s, I picked up a few books and tapes from the library, but my job kept me so busy that I didn't have enough time to study it seriously. Then in my 30s, I was a stay-at-home mom, and so I thought I'd try again. I bought some books and gave it a good effort...for a while. I had always been frustrated with the lack of intermediate Spanish lessons and I knew that I wasn't learning enough vocabulary and phrases. I tried again in my mid-40s, only to become quickly frustrated with my lack of knowledge after all these years. I quit studying for another 2 years.
It was about a year ago that I realized that I can't wait until I'm fluent in Spanish before I learn other languages. For so long I believed that lie. Since I was still frustrated with Spanish, I decided to start learning Russian. Because Russian is easier than Spanish, right? No, I knew that it wasn't, but I had heard it spoken on YouTube and fell in love with the sound of the language.
More recently, I started learning small amounts of Irish and Dutch because I was curious about them. For the time being, though, I am only serious about Russian and Spanish. In the past few weeks, I have come back to Spanish with a renewed passion, while acknowledging my lack of vocabulary. Also, fluency is no longer a goal. I simply enjoy the language.
Your post is really well written and I can't see a single mistake :) I hope Spanish goes well this time around, and it sounds like you are studying an interesting bunch of languages!
Thank you!
Hey Susan, really well written post! I'm Irish myself so thank you for taking an interest in my native language! In any case, you've clearly learnt English to a very high standard so I'm sure you'll have absolutely no problems with Spanish when you get back to it.
Thanks, Brady, but English is my native language. Even though I've studied Spanish for decades, I've never spent enough time with it. I've decided that it's OK to learn languages just for the enjoyment and not worry about becoming fluent, or even conversational. Lately, I have been fascinated with Ireland, its culture, and its language. It is a very beautiful country and I'd love to visit it someday. The language, too, is very beautiful.