A bit of Spanish

Honestly, Spanish is by far the most useful language I could end up learning, seeing as I live in the San Francisco Mission District.

I took Spanish in middle school and high school. Although I don't currently speak it, I can read and pronounce words (Spanish has regular pronunciation, unlike English). When I went to Mexico City in February 2024, I found that I was definitely able to communicate to some degree with people at cafes or on the street. I didn't understand much of what was spoken to me, but I could understand written text pretty well, and piece together phrases to convey what I wanted to convey.

In 2023 I signed up for Pimsleur Spanish. I did the first audio lesson (written lessons don't start until after the second lesson). I only stuck with it for like a week. Part of the problem is that the first couple of lessons are just way too basic for me. But honestly, I wish I could stick with it. Who doesn't want to learn another language? And I have a leg up on Spanish, so to speak.

I also downloaded a deck of Spanish phrases for the Anki flashcard system.

Actually, it's interesting that I'm using Pimsleur and Anki, because they both used the "spaced repetition" method for showing you something right when you were about to forget it, and thus helping you commit it to long term memory. Or at least that's the claim, and I know that definitely the Anki folks claim to have actual research to back it up.