Rocket Spanish - Speaka Da Lingo

Ok, let's face it I know three languages, English, German and bad! What's more I admit, I'm better at bad language than any of the other 2. So, with the summer holidays to Espana bearing down on me I decided to up the ante and learn the local lingo - at least if the natives were slagging me off I was determined to know what they were saying. As I only had 3 weeks to learn the basics I had no time to enrol in night school or hire a tutor, so I was basically left with a book, or audio courses. My other criteria was that, being a cheap ass, I didn't want to spend a fortune - hey I need some money for a Cervesa or five!

Anyway, after looking around it soon became clear that there were three main contenders, Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone and the new boy on the block - Rocket Spanish. My choice was quickly made for me when I read some reviews and saw the price - Rocket Spanish is almost a quarter of the other competitors price! At $99 it was a great bargain! It wasn't purely price that drew me in though, I had heard of the other two courses, and in fact have used the German version of Pimsleur in the past to brush up on my skills. Their quality was never in question. No, the other thing that made Rocket Spanish stand out was that it is aimed at duffers like me who really need a quick grounding in the basics and, more importantly , offers a range of lessons that deals with real life situations (like how to order a beer!). The other two were definitely more industrial grade products that could probably have me ordering a beer while asking the way to the museum and having a casual conversation about the works of Dali with a native speaker in some obscure Catalonian dialect, but let's face it - that would just be showing off.

As I said, I'm a bit of a cheap ass so it was an added bonus for me to find out that they good folks over at Rocket Spanish also like to give stuff away. I signed up for the free 6 day e-course on the website - this was better than some commercial packages I have tried in the past - and contains selected lessons from the full series to give you a flavour of what to expect. Well, I was sold.

When I signed up for the full package I had access to a wide range of material including a series of downloadable audio lessons, great for listening to on the bus, or in the car. (note to self - don't repeat the phrases out loud on the bus). I got 31 audio lessons of about 20 minutes each, which amounts to 12 hours continuous listening. I also got a 210 page document on formal grammar (maybe I'll read that on the plane), a word building game (the kids loved that one), and full e-mail backup and support from the courses creator, Mauricio Evlampieff. Mauricio also informs me that he consulted a university psychologist whose techniques are claimed to help people absorb this type of information faster. Using this expertise, the time required to learn a foreign language can be reduced by up to two thirds! The final clincher was the money back guarantee. Rocket Spanish offer a full 60 day money-back guarantee, which I'm happy to say I definitely didn't need.

Anyway, as I write this, the cases are packed, and bits of flesh that haven't seen sunlight in a very long time are getting ready for a roasting, and I've been using the course daily. I may not be as fluent as Ruben Dario (hes a poet apparently) but I certainly feel more confident speaking to the locals this year as we head off. Now, donde está la barra por favour - as they say in Spain!