This mostly applies to the older generations, but it's a logical conclusion to a country that once ruled the world and everybody else had to speak English to get on in the Empire. There was never any need for Brits to learn other languages because everybody else spoke English. I think this metality is now changing with younger people who do make an effort to learn other languages.

I'm referring to Spain here and not Latin America. I've worked in a number of European countries and also in South America and I can tell you the working conditions and pay in Spain has to be one of the worst in Western Europe and therefore most people here in Europe that think about learning Spanish for work probably have the idea of working in Spain. Whereas on the other hand, working conditions in German speaking European countries are probably the best all round in Europe. Therefore if somebody is learning a language for work in Europe I'd recommend German over Spanish every day of the week.

The English are no different to the Spanish and French in this respect. They expect immigrants to speak their language as well.

So has anyone improved their language skills?

Check my profile, had a conversation in Spanish with Black Francis the other day.

Music Banter - Conversation Between Black Francis and Fluffy Kittens

It's going well. Can understand a lot of what I read but sometimes I get frustrated not being able to explain things in Spanish.

I do about an hour a day. Aim for 10 hours a week.

I know some very, very basic Spanish, I can carry on a conversation in ASL, and at this point I can read and write some biblical Hebrew (I can speak some but I stumble over words). I plan to continue studying Hebrew, and eventually learn both Greek and Latin.

This one is the main difference, actually. But you don't have to worry about it. They will understand you anyway. And if you feel more comfortable speaking with the American-Spanish accent, it's OK too (keep in mind that seseo also exists in southern Spain and the Canary Islands). In other words, you don't have to talk like Nick Clegg, if you don't want to. :)

:wave: Yep. But through a hard way: translating song lyrics. It's often a headache.

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Try the "musical way". I mean, listening to songs and all that. It could be helpful. And then you can even go beyond. For instance, this English blogger has improved his skills by translating Spanish pop songs into English (that is, the same thing I do, but, in this case, with the aim of learning Spanish). And now he's a virtuoso!

I never found any problems speaking Castellano in Latin America and most of what I said they understood. There were some expressions that they didn't know and vice-versa. I've always found that Spanish speakers in Latin America speaking Castellano were easily understood while Latin American speakers in Spain faced more problems. Andalusian Spanish is definitely the most difficult to understand, in fact it's where I first learnt Spanish and soon got used to them shortening words.

Been trying this. It's quite hard but it is getting phrases stuck in my head and I find myself singing along. It's quite fun tbh.

Thank you for the blog, definitely going to give this a read :)

Well I've improved my Serbian swears, lol. And I need to start speaking more French as it will benefit me when I'm looking for teaching positions (prospects are bad now thanks to this government. And the unions.)

What are job prospects like if you can speak another language? In a country that speaks it btw not your home country.