commitment

It has taken me 40 years to commit to spanish lessions stumbling around trying to figure it out on my own and learning just enough to get me in trouble. In one week I am more at ease with the language than I have ever been Thank you so much Rocket Spanish This can only lead me to where I have wanted to go for years Glen

Great news! Muchas felicidades amigo!

Hi Glen, that's great to hear! I'm glad that you are enjoying the lessons. All the best for your Spanish learning!

For those who have done these lessons for a year or more, how do you maintain the motivation to keep going on? I read today that in households in the US, the most popular second language is Spanish with 36 million speakers. The next is Chinese with 3 million and the big surprise for me is Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines running third with 1.6 million.

There is a point where doing the lessons actually gets easier. I liken it to "getting over the hump". It's so much a part of my daily routine now that I would be quite bothered to miss it. I found that the toughest part comes awhile after starting the course, when you don't see much in the way of progress. The key is to keep to a regular (daily) schedule and to keep at it - especially when you don't feel like doing it.

I think you have to keep at it, day after day. That is one reason I think the dashboard is effective...it encourages you to do something every day to keep the streak going. Keep working at it even when you don't feel like doing anything. A little bit every day is better than nothing.

First, Glen, congratulations and welcome to our little group here. Participating in the forum is a great way to get questions answered and to practice reading and writing in Spanish. I like your comment about knowing enough to get in trouble. For years I said I knew enough Spanish to order beer in a bar and get slapped by the waitress. Second, for Aurora, motivation has never really been an issue with me. Like Glen, I have wanted to learn Spanish for a long time and just never found the right combination of time, money, and program until RS. I am determined to learn to speak Spanish, and although I have other faults, perseverance is not among them. When I make up my mind to do something, I do it. I have firmly integrated studying into my day, and I actually feel out of sorts if other things get in the way of studying when I want to or as much as I want to. The only time I have not felt like studying was for a few days this spring after I cut my finger and needed tendon reattachment surgery...I can see why oxycodone is such an abused drug. My finger still hurt but I didn't care. Didn't care to study, either!

I actually have been doing daily lessons since January of this year even when I went back to the Philippines in August. Fortunately internet is available in airports. The only time I skipped was during my two week cruise to Hawaii in April of this year when internet access in the cruise ship was not readily available. I am actually addicted to the lessons. I am so focused that it is easy for me to accumulate a thousand points or more. I think that's the reason why I am accumulating so many points. I just don't know how much of it I would retain several months later.

i hear Tagalog is based on Spanish ,, i guess it will be helpful if u r fluent in spanish

My dialect Ilongo is more Spanish than Tagalog. Ilongo counts in Spanish. Tagalog counts like this, isa for uno dalawa for dos, tatlo for tres, apat for cuatro, lima for cinco, anim for seis, pito f or seite, walo for ocho, siyam for nueve and sampu for diez, labing-isa for once, labing-dalawa for doce etc etc. I think Tagalog could be closer to the Pacific Islanders like Samoans. La cabeza for head is ulo. Mesa and silya for table and chair are closer to Spanish.

Hola Aurora, ¡Eso es muy interesante! Gracias por la información. Saludos, Ricardo