Hablo Espanol (by Joe)

Of course it always helps to speak the language of countries you are visiting, but this is more the case in South American countries than anywhere else we've been: if you don't speak Spanish in South America, you're in trouble, because the locals rarely speak English.

To help tackle my lack of lingo, we listened to a 'Learn Spanish Phrases' CD around New Zealand. However, whilst this meant I was able to ask questions with a certain level of conviction, I remained entirely unable to understand any of the answers that come in response (and the better you ask the question, the faster the response!).

So, dependent on my interpreter-wife, I booked onto a 5-day Spanish course for our week in Buenos Aires.

Bright and enthusiastic on the first morning at school, I lined up alongside other 'freshers' for a brief introductory assessment test. I was in a hopeful mood, but merely a few mumbles later, found myself in a class all of my own and reading from photocopied sheets marked 'Spanish for beginners: Stage Zero - Level 1'.

The only way was up, however, and five days later I feel I was rolling irregular reflexive verbs off the tip of my tongue (even if I wasn't sure what half of them meant).

Nevertheless, it feels great to be able to speak even a little bit of the language. Keen to get practicing we're off to Brazil for a month now where they speak ... er, Portuguese, apparently.

Joe