Am I madder!

Wow, thank you all for your lovely and positive comments, it is very kind of you and great to hear of your experiences too! We have just finished week 13 of the 23 week term, I have to say some days when I go in to college I think to myself 'why on earth are you doing this', but then I come home with my head buzzing but a spring in my step. I have even asked our tutor when the next stage session will start! I am going to Barcelona in March with my SinL, we are going to scatter my beloved brother's ashes in Parc Guell, and I feel confident at least to call for a taxi, use the bus or metro, ask for food and drink even if I have to ask the locals to speak 'mas despacio', saying that they will all probably want to or speak English or Catalan. ?

My computer is playing up so I will make this short, I am learning Spanish in an online course. Try Marcos Santamaria for details. You learn as an individual; the words and phrases are on the screen and somebody says them in Spanish and you just repeat after them. In a few days you can say masses of things. Its only a few minutes a day. Spanish is an important language and very useful. I used it in Ecuador where few people speak English, and in Spain where they all do. NEVER LET SOMEBODY TELL YOU YOU ARE TOO OLD.

Brilliant idea Sweetpea, good luck to you. I went back to college in my late forties and did 4 'O' levels and 2 'A' levels.

Although uncomfortable sometimes I think it is really good to do things that takes you out of your comfort zone. Particularly as we get older we can go through life with no challenges at all and lead a very “safe “ existence. It is good to feel scared, nervous and frightened and end up feeling that we have achieved by attempting something new. I think it is good to remind ourselves how our little grandchildren feel with all their new experiences.

Not at all mad, learning a language is a great way to keep the brain supple. I too have Spanish lessons. I have been going several years I can't say I can converse well but that is my fault really because I don't do enough homework I am improving though and I love going. Our lessons are very informal, in a coffee shop with a native Spanish speaker. It is a small very friendly group so I never feel intimidated. I am 62, most are a similar age, a couple younger, one lady who came a couple of times was 80, she was excellent, she only stopped coming because it wasn't the right location for her.

A few years ago I embarked on an Italian course and was at least 25 years older than the others. After hard work I was the only one to achieve an A*, so go for it girl.

Just come back from a group conversing in (terrible) Spanish. I started learning Spanish at 55. Still pretty terrible after some years, but enjoy the classes and made good friends. Go for it. (Enjoyed speaking it in Argentina, Spain, etc., however badly.)

Ps. Am in my 70s

God for you I think you should be proud

Annaram1
Not only the oldest but the richest by the sound of it.
6 escorted tours in 2 years, 3 if which are fairly far flung andcescirted tours are much more expensive than the DIY kind.
Glad you enjoyed yourself but tell me...did any younger men in those far flung countries, make overtures towards you?
I'd hate you to be fleeced.

Good for you! I was in the staff room at work and the headbof department was moaning about her FIL being too old to do the job he was trying to fix for her. Someone asked how old he was and she said 67! When I said he was probably younger than me there was a deadly silence! I am probably at least 10 yrs older than the next oldest team member and certainly old enough to be the young woman's mum! Sometimes others are not aware of our age as much as we are!

Sorry, typing at speed
3 of, not if.
and escorted.
I'll put myself in the corner till lunchtime.

Good for you- I speak reasonable Spanish & French but took on Greek 3 years ago. Great while classes going on but since they stopped I have had to rely on holidays to practise it.
See if you can find a conversation class.
Learning a new language is really good for you.

Todas somos mujeres maravillosas cada una a nuestra manera única. ??

Gabriella, when my husband died 3 years ago I discovered he had been saving £50 a month in a Virgin ISA without telling me. I inherited it and decided to spend it all on travel. I now have nothing left of his secret stash.
Unfortunately no men younger or older made any overtures towards me.

¡Eso es muy cierto!

When my gd was at school she had Spanish lessons. She is quite good and enjoys it, so much so our dd, gd aunt has started to do a course on line.
Good for you go for it sweet Pea.

Good for you. Age is no barrier to learning something new. I was the eldest student when I enrolled on a Dutch language course some years ago. I was inspired to do this as my maiden surname has Dutch origins, yet no-one in my family could shed any light on it. I started to research my family tree and found the connection, so learned a lot about my ancestors as well, and then decided to try and learn the language they spoke. I am fascinated by different languages, and love to hear them spoken. Love the way on some TV gardening programmes they reel off the names of various plants by their Latin names.....now that is a language I would have loved to have understood if I had had the opportunity and education to do so, but probably not now.

JanaNana, if you could learn Dutch you can learn Latin! It is so useful to know some Latin, and I’m grateful that I was made to learn it at school. I wasn’t very good at it, gave it up in first year sixth form, but it helps with the meanings and spelling of words in English and many other European languages.

JanaNana
Latin is far easier to learn than Dutch!
I got the chance to learn Latin in what is now year 8, as one of our English teachers started a Latin club during lunchtimes. It's been very useful over the years, and honestly, it's really, really easy! Go for it!

Gabriella
Nos certe sumus!

I agree, Juggernaut. Latin is much easier than Dutch. I’ve done both in my time.

My great aunt in the early 1900s, having left school at 12, decided she wanted to learn a foreign language.
Unfortunately, at the time, there were no teachers in her remote Yorkshire village. Relevant books were few and far between and, of course, no computers to aid her.
She took the only book she knew would have been translated into different languages...... the Bible and instructed herself by comparing the English with the French version. When I first met her, some 20 years later she , on learning that I had just started French at the local grammar school, said' 'Please read it to me. I can now read the bible with ease but have no idea about its sound'
I did my best and learnt later that she had both a French and an Esperanto penfriend, having learnt Esperanto from a bible, too. Greek had followed by the same method and latin and Italian followed. I do not begin to understand how she had managed to interpret the Greek script
i wish I had had her guts. She continued learning thus until the end of her life in her late seventies'
Keep it up I find the U3A an excellent substitute

Ssh, Juggernaut, don’t let people know how easy Latin is! It’s the one thing I studied to O-level that DH didn’t and I’ve always let him think it’s a very superior skill.

I agree about how useful it’s been.

Gabriella
As 'Nos Certe Sumus' can be translated in two different ways, for the sake of clarity......
Nos maxime definite sunt!