Speaking Russian is way different than the text book Russian. I tried to teach myself new words after I got done with school but it didn't work too well because I'd try to use it in speech with friends and they would teach me the 'normal' version of the word and the correct way to say it. Luckily there isn't as many silent letters or anything. Sure there are 33 letters/symbols but they make sense! Like in English, there are a few letters that are useless because they can be made with other letters if that makes sense. Like 'x' or 'z' or even 'c', none make their own sound or there are others that make a similar sound. I can go on and on with a language rant but I will stop here for now.
My suggestion on Spanish is what I did for Russian. Just find a local store and ask the cashiers how to say stuff. We have a few Russian stores here that I venture into and ask them to say something "po Ruski" (in Russian) and they are always glad to help and teach me new things. Not sure if Mexican folks are the same way but it seems like most Russian folks are stoked that someone is trying to learn their language
Oh wow, I'm sure my DH would love to get together with you and discuss language, rules of different languages, etc. He is fascinated with language and has taught himself many including Russian, Mandarin, some Spanish, some German, some Japanese and a few others. He picks up foreign languages easily, and has a much easier time connecting with other people in their countries than he does with people here. He'd take the Berlitz courses, then travel to the countries and spend a few months traveling alone and starting up conversations with the locals. His favorite was traveling to China. He's 6"3" and had long blonde hair at the time and brought his motorcycle with him. (He had that bike shipped all over the world!) I love his photo album from that trip. He has mobs of locals following him through the countryside. They were just tickled pink that is big blonde American biker knew how to speak their language! They took him to see many special places, beautiful, beautiful landscapes, temples, shrines, places to eat ....
just don't ask him what he ate. I wouldn't kiss him for a month when he told me some of the foods he tried! Yuck! The most exotic foods I have eaten are Kangaroo, crocodile, Emu (all those in Australia as I hate mutton - the only other meat I'd ever see on their menus). When I was a friefighter with the US Forest Service in the 80's. I had rattlesnake, and on my honeymoon we traveled to Palau and Yap for Scuba Diving. While there my diving buddy was Lauren Hutton! She was traveling alone and Don was too into his new re-breather and underwater camera to be any fun to dive with, but Lauren is a very nice lady, real fun. She had no problems meeting people either. One of our last evenings in Palau we all went to a restaurant (not many of them on the islands - the police station, clothing store and where they sell wood carvings is all in one room, each set up on a different table; the clothing store part is all the most stained/damaged clothing donated to U.S. charities dumped and piled high all mixed up on a table! Most people lived in old shipping crates or had 3 blue tarps strung between the trees - one overheaed, and the other 2 they'd move to whichever side would block the prevailing winds) Anyways, back to the restaurant - It had some unusual offerings, and nothing like a cheeseburger. One of the offerings was fruit bat! There were 6 of us at the dinner table and we each ordered something different to share. I would not try the bat nor the turtle. I think I ordered one of those land crabs that live in the coconut trees. Ate a lot of those giant spiders on that trip - that and lots of fish including barracuda.
Don just told me he only took the bike to Taiwan as it was too difficult to get a driving permit on the mainland, but it is on the mainland where he has all the great photos. He's always wearing a great big backpack with crowds of smiling locals posing with him in front of all these special places. He said he would always meet the kids of the villages first because as he would walk through each town, the kids would sneak up behind him and pull his hair! When he'd turn and say something to them in their language they were just shocked, and the shop keepers and others around who would hear him would all come out to greet him.
