Spent many, many hours in our A & E and they always insisted that I was in the room with Graham because the stress of the situation stopped him from responding satisfactorily. So I guess really it depends on the hospital and depends on the situation.

Rosemary

Sometimes, some people make up stuff to make a point.

I never make up anything. Perhaps I just see things differently Surely some of you have noticed one or two posters (at least) mentioning their "Spanish friends", that they have been in Spain 5 or whatever years and then do a post asking the Spanish for a handbrake or a sirloin steak (whatever)

BTW I have never critcised anyone for not speaking Spanish. You pays your money and takes your choice and bring lots of money into the country. I do think being proficient enhanes your life and makes things easier. I learnt it the easy way but recently went back to learning Latin again and it's not easy. Why should it be expected that 65+ retirees should become fluent

That's what most of the people I meet seem to have done - they tell me they really tried to learn Spanish but it was just too difficult, and it transpires they went to about 3 lessons and gave up. It's hard work and you have to expect it to take years not weeks, and the less of a natural bent for learning languages you have, the harder work it will be.

We got a Christmas card a couple of days ago from an elderly lady, a good friend, who returned home last year. She had lived in Spain for 30 years with her husband and stayed on for some years after he died.

She never learned a word of Spanish during her many years in Spain, and lived in a total English expat environment, with many friends and an extremely active social life, being involved in many charities.

Last year she unfortunately became ill and had to be admitted to a local Spanish care home, one of the best in the area. Three weeks after her admission she phoned my wife in a totally distressed state and asked to be picked up and taken home.

We picked her up the following day and she was in a flood of tears relating her experiences in the care home. None of the staff spoke English and she couldn't communicate with them. She had barely eaten for weeks as the Spanish staff couldn't understand her diet needs and she didn't even know how to use the telephone until a kind Spanish care home worker dialled my wife's number for her.

She asked to be driven to a travel agent and booked her flight home. She now lives in sheltered accommodation in Bournemouth, where she comes from and again sounds her old cheerful self.

My wife had put the phone on talk through because we were both good friends of the lady and I heard her ask her if she would return to Spain for a holiday, offering to put her up during her stay.

There was a short silence, and a change of voice before the old lady answered.

She said, 'Never, never, never.'

Yet she had lived here for 30 happy years.

I don't know if this has been said before but I am learning (and have been for 6+ years) my Spanish with Marcus Santamaria's lessons. They are not cheap but boy are they easy to learn! So although I have spent a lot of money, and could still not claim to be anywhere near fluent, I do at least know what is being said around me and to me (when they actually speak Spanish and not Andaluz) and am able to have a darn good stab at responding.

The courses are audio - with transcripts (which I hardly ever refer to). I have progressed from Synergy Spanish, through Bola de Nieve, Advanced Concepts and am now on Advanced Concepts Intensive.

My only gripe could be that one has to go through the formal stuff to get to the informal, which for most of us ancients, is all that's needed these days.

If you want to learn, check it out there is a lot of free stuff available within the courses and it really is so easy. Plug yourself into your iPod, mobile or whatever and get on the the housework, playing golf, walking, running, at the gym - you don't have to say it out loud (although its best to) just internalising is fine.

I have so much more confidence when out and about and shopping etc., and am making more Spanish friends, most of whom have a little bit of English (they hate to admit it) so we have fun just mixing languages.

And another bonus, because you are hearing Spanish spoken in the lessons, your pronunciation is far more accurate than when trying to learn from books. It is South American Spanish so a few words may be different, but essentially it is very good Castilliano Spanish and should be understood by any Spanish person.

Latin American Spanish isnt very good Castillano at all

There are lots of vocab differences and even a few grammar differences. And of course the pronunciation if different too

It doesnt make much sense to me. If you are listening to a Colombian or Argentinian speaking then it will be very difficult to understand an Andalucian

I've lived in Andalucia for 13 years and I still have difficulty understanding them. Strangely I find it much easier to understand a Madrileño or my Colombian neighbour than someone from this village. I wouldn't recommend learning one's Spanish in Andalucia.

But if you are going to live in Andalucia then surely you should?

I learnt in Andalucia and don't worry, in the lessons they pronounce everything in a more standard way, but still, it was much better when I had the Andalucian teacher than the Canarian one as it bore relation to what I heard on the street

Not to be pedantic, but as you are learning Spanish and looking to improve, it's "castellano", and if writing in Spanish, unlike English, no capital letter required. Personally, unless you have plans to visit Spanish countries outside of Spain, I'd advise learning "Peninsular Spanish" every time.

Well I have no trouble at all in spotting the vocab differences and in any event they are understood in Spain, just not as commonly used.

In my area some of the locals speak a form of Spanish which is incomprehensible to Spanish people from other parts of the country. However, though they don't speak it, they still understand correct Spanish, even South American Spanish.

At the end of the day, it may not be perfect but its so much easier to learn with this guy's method. Poor Spanish is still a million times better than no Spanish and once the basics of the language are grasped, one could always go to books to improve if required. We are not taking exams here, we just need to communicate effectively.

I spent two years in the UK learning Spanish before moving here. We concentrated on the grammar and rules of the language so that I had a thorough understanding of why certain forms and word orders existed. I arrived in Spain with very little practical experience of day to day conversation. I quickly adapted as I knew why all of these unfamiliar word orders were necessary.

I have a good command of Spanish now but often struggle with the colloquial ways but I am informed by many Spaniards not to be disheartened by that as it is the equivalent of moving to somewhere like Newcastle or South Yorkshire in terms of comparison.

I derive a lot of pleasure from speaking the language of the country I now live in and feel that those who prefer to use the excuse that they are too old to learn or do not see the point as most of 'them' speak English anyway, are missing out on so much. It is like watching a film with the sound turned down.

Agree, Andalucia is probably the worst place to learn. I remember years ago asking an old guy just outside of Árchez for directions, he understood me no problem and then rattled on for some time. I thanked him and went back to the car, "What did he say?" says the missus, "Not a ******** clue!" says I. Had a couple of weeks in a language school in Nerja once, and the three teachers we had were from Málaga, Cádiz and Granada (or Córdoba?). In the school they all spoke with fairly neutral accents, as you'd expect, but in a bar in the evening they'd often revert to their normal, local accents, very, very difficult to understand, especially "el gaditano".

But that really isnt much help is it. You say something to a Spaniard, and they reply to you, but you don't understand anything they say

Completely pointless unless you just want to order your bread every morning

And no Spanish regional accent is incomprehensable. Yes parts of Andalucia are very difficult to understand, but you get used to it quickly. The more you mix, the more you learn and get used to it.

Saying that, sice I've moved to Asturias, I now understand every single word all of the time, when before every now and then I would have to "fill in the blanks" and guess parts of sentences, with certain people of course. Like in the UK, well educated Andalucians are much easier to understand than other ones. People from Malaga city are very easy to understand

But if you live in Spain I just think it's complicating an already difficult job by learning South American Spanish. Why bother with the problems of "vos", or learning verbs like "coger" which is very different and can get you into trouble, the difference use of loísmo, laísmo, leísmo etc? Yes, you'll probably be understood, but it's easy to avoid those pitfalls by learning the Spanish of the country you are living in.