Learning Spanish
I had been thinking about brushing up my Spanish for a while now, but I’ve finally decided to give it a go. For real. When I say brushing up, it’s more like starting over, since I haven’t studied it since my college days, which is more than 10 years ago.
I can read some, and if it’s within the context of an IBM service request, I usually understand most of it. But mastering it to the level where I can hold a conversation is quite different.
So as of today, I’m officially registered with the Tele-Universite, which is the Distance Learning arm of the Universite du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM). Since my mother tongue is French, I’m sure I’ll be a quick learner. But not wanting to leave anything to chance, I’ve already:
- Borrowed a few fiction novels (Jules Vernes) from a friend
- Borrowed my dad’s spanish learning material from his Spanish class
- Subscribed to a bunch of Spanish podcasts through iTunes
- Got assigned a mentor in IBM Latin America to practice talking in an IBM context (ie. Tecnologia, and not just every stuff)
I plan to make learning Spanish my top priority for the 2nd half of 2006. Of course, it’s not my only priority, but as I started 2006, one of my resolution at work was to do less things, and the things I’d do should have a bigger impact. So this is, I believe, very a propos.
Now, if I could only get to travel a bit in that area, everything would be just perfecto.
ps. Yes, I may start including some Spanish into my postings.
pps. For that matter, I will start including some French as well, so buyer beware.