As of my train journey...

...this morning, I now understand the difference between está and están... So I can now correctly ask the way to "los servicios" in an emergency... ;)

Trying to learn French first (as a second language) really put me off, you know...if it had been Spanish they had taught us in schools it would have been a huge boost to morale quite how close much of it is to English...I'm actually quite upset about that, I may have taken a much greater interest in languages otherwise...I understand the reason though - proximity - hence why so many Americans know a bit of Español...

30 minutes is all I have invested into listening to the audio course (astonishing when I think of all those hours spent chanting "Je suis, Tu es...etc.") I can say "Hello", "Good Morning", "Yes", "No", "What is that"/"I want that", "What is that in English?", "What is that in Spanish", "How are you", "How much is that?", "What time is it?", "Where is the bus/train/taxi/toilet/etc." (wouldn't have a clue about what answer I was being given though, admittedly...)

I know it is a bit of a false economy, as I only have about 6 nouns (at least one of which is the word for a small cake), but armed with "¿qué es ése en Español?" I really think that even these simple phrases could be of real value... :)