[SunnySide]

" might be time to invest in Spanish lessons."

I kick myself for ignoring my parents advice to take Spanish classes during high school. I took another language with intentions on partaking in a college foreign exhange program which never materialized. Oh well, the best laid plans.

[driftless]

Learn Spanish the way I'm doing it...the lazy way. Many dvds have Spanish subtitles and/or audio tracks in Spanish. I'm a big fan of "Seinfeld", and all of their seasons on dvd have Spanish subtitles and audio tracks. I frequently watch the show with the audio set on English with Spanish subtitles and then rewatch the same episode with Spanish audio and subtitles. (One word of caution, I know enough Spanish to know that the Spanish audio and subtitles do not match identically. In fact, amazingly, they can be very different. But they are usually close enough to understand what the characters mean).

Also many movies have Spanish audio and subtitles, and I reflexively check the jackets of prospective dvds to see if it has them. Probably not the best way to learn Spanish, but I am learning at a respectable rate. I should add that I took four semesters of Spanish in college and also subscribe to Tiempos del Mundo a Spanish-language weekly newsmagazine. At this rate, I figure I should be able to speak Spanish fluently within five years. Hopefully only five years that is.