Language Barriers: El regreso?

I spent January re-doing the entire second season of my Spanish course. All 40 episodes of it. But now I've finally moved on from the beginner lessons to the intermediate level. Hurrah!

It feels like quite a big step between the two levels. The course I'm following has jumped from using short conversations and a lot of explanation of grammar and vocabulary to having much longer conversations, although retaining the explanations afterwards.

Which is great for increasing my listening skills but I keep finding myself having a minor panic partway through the conversation sections. It goes something like this: get it, get it, get it, AAARGH A PHRASE I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!, oh, get it, get it, get it.

So, I'm going to stick at it, but I'm at least getting more confident with the basics. I'm pretty sure I can get round the Spanish speaking bits of my round-the-world trip without too many language problems now. I'll just have to remember that pronunciation and vocabulary in Peru and Chile is a bit different to the Castillian Spanish I'm learning. And I'm sure I'll end up saying something wrong and make a fool of myself at some point, but isn't that half the fun?

Besides, at least I'm making the effort to learn some of the local language. Admittedly, this is as much because I have a fascination with languages as for its actual practical use, but given that the usual British idea of communicating with the locals seems to be speaking loudly and/or slowly, I figure I'm doing better than most.

DO...YOU...SPEAK...ENGLISH?

So, the plan is to complete the intermediate level of the course before I depart in June and then to complete the advanced level (as far as possible) between then and October when I plan to be in South America. Then will come the real test of my learning - whether I can actually talk to native speakers. I'm guessing the answer will be "sort of".

I've come to that conclusion because during the lessons, if my brain draws a blank on something or can't think how to say it in Spanish, it decides to try it not in English but in German. I haven't spoken much German since I finished my GCSE nearly a decade ago, so this is just a little bit ridiculous. For example, when trying to work out how to say that I only speak a little Spanish, my brain helpfully pointed out that in German that would be "nur ein bisschen." Not great.

Solo un poco

We'll get there in the end!

Do you learn some local phrases when you go travelling? Any tips for learning a new language? Why not share in the comments below.