Spanish is a very useful language to learn as it is the worlds second most popular language.

Outside of the popular coastal tourist resorts a basic information of Spanish is invaluable. Even in the tourist resorts you will find the Spanish will not go out of their way to speak English to you. If you try a few words and get stuck you tend to find they suddenly may speak a bit of English!

The bottom line is that if you are moving to Spain and looking for work you might as well not bother if you do not learn the language. If you are a tourist then obviously you do not have to learn the language, you will get by, but learning a few basic words or expressions will actually add to the enjoyment of your holiday as you delight the locals (and yourself).

I dont think it is fair to describe learning any language as effortless but if its any consolation, there are hundreds of English words that are virtually identical in Spanish - so you already understand a lot of Spanish vocabulary!

TIPS ON LEARNING SPANISH

* Get motivated. The best way to do this is to imagine your ideal outcome. If you dont do this you will most likely fail when you start hitting a few inevitable hurdles. We all go though this stage but if you have burned into your mind the positive results that will follow then you will be successful where thousands have failed. Imagine something like getting a job in your dream destination or having a relationship with a handsome Spaniard or meeting a pretty Senorita!

* Take baby steps to make your confidence. Remember that the first objective is to master a few basic words like hello, goodbye, thank you etc. This will give you confidence to go forward - DO NOT beginning learning long and complex words.

* Buy a nice book or better still a great tape series where you can hear the language and how it sounds. Obviously you positive need to buy this but there are books that you will waste many years on and get nowhere and there are books where you will beginning to be able to speak and learn Spanish very quickly.

* Dont be afraid. Fear is a terrible emotion. You have to try and speak Spanish to everybody otherwise you wont know how you are progressing. It really doesnt matter that you will make mistakes, it is only by creating mistakes that you will learn. The worst that can happen is that the human who are talking to will not understand you, yes its frustrating but dont beat yourself up about it.

* Go to Spain. Visiting Spain itself is a great motivator to learn the language. If you dont keep practising what you have learned then you will be surprised at how quickly it is forgotten.

* As much as you want to learn Spanish, there must be other all the people who are equally keen to learn English - place an ad and try finding someone who you may trade with.

* Spanish grammar is different to English - leave it at that. Do not keep trying to generate sense of it in English terms - just concentrate on being able to communicate with people - otherwise you will end up confusing yourself.

* There can be thousands of Spanish words but you only absolutely need to learn a fraction of them. If you analysed your own vocabulary during the day you would be surprised to find that you are not speaking like a dictionary but instead utilize a very limited amount of words. Spanish is the identical , you just positive need to understand the most generally used words.

* Turn wasted time into valuable instant. Learning Spanish is effective when you are doing things like driving, jogging, waiting for someone, ironing, cooking the dinner etc. The more time you practice the quicker you will accelerate your learning.

Mark Eastwood is one of the thousands who are fleeing their homeland of England to go live in sunny Spain. If you want to understand what life in Spain is REALLY like with lots of to-the-point and brutally honest information then go to his site at http://www.costablancauncovered.com