Some have advised me to purchase Rosetta Stone, a software which can be bought online which can be downloaded into my computer and teach me Spanish in a flash. My niece said that it was what she used before she moved to Spain and she learned the language in less than two weeks.

Then another advice was to go and register in an online tutorial in learning Spanish websites. These have real virtual teachers who speak fluent Spanish and could interact with their students. It is a little expensive but they are good programs. The Rocket Spanish scam is not a scam as it is the rapid and efficient way to learn the language.

Everyone who advised me on learning Spanish a long time ago were right, there are benefits to the language because it can actually open more doors in terms of business relationships. My being transferred to Spain was based on my heritage and nothing more, but whatever little Spanish I know has served its purpose.

Getting to Spain and talking to the natives there really scare me, but I like it more like a baptism of fire, where I get to speak the language and interact with the people, absorb the culture better and actually grow as a person.

Career wise, speaking a foreign language, any foreign language, is a big plus on the resume. Those who want to get on with their lives and careers should make an effort to speak another language as the benefits of being able to communicate better with other companies from Spain is a great way to make a living.

Spanish speaking people are only too happy to give anyone aid when they see that the person is trying to speak the language. Once that someone speaks the language, they will immediately repeat the same sentence with the necessary corrections so that the learner can learn through listening. It is an automatic thing for Spanish speakers.

Going to a Spanish restaurant the other week I decided to test out that advice. The waitresses were all Spanish speakers and they were very patient in explaining what the Spanish menu said. I started speaking in Spanish to them in what basic words I knew. Instantly these women spoke in Spanish and encouraged me to read and order straight from the menu. They spoke only Spanish to make sure that I could connect the words written and the words coming out of my mouth.

Once the owner found out what was going on, she immediately joined the conversation and made sure that our table was served the best food that the restaurant could offer. Their hospitality and their help was natural, there was no fakeness to it.

In the end, of course, we had the best time eating the delicious cuisine that we successfully ordered in Spanish and we were also given a complimentary plate of tapas and a bottle of wine.

It was a wonderful experience and when I thanked the owner and the waitresses they said that they really appreciated my efforts in speaking their language and they were just showing it through their hospitality.

I guess it is really true, if you attempt to speak the language, no matter how bad the grammar and the pronunciation is, you can communicate.

A general perception is that the Spaniards are indolent and lazy which is not true. Life is comparatively much relaxed and slower in south of Spain, but it does not mean that people living there are sluggish. In reality the fact is that Spanish people are very hard working. They work six days a week. Moreover, they know how to get pleasure in free time and relax. For that purpose, people of every age visit bars, clubs, cafes and restaurants at night to get entertained. Spanish people are very proud of their culture, traditions and history. You will see them fully taking part in all sorts of festivals and occasions. If a tourist takes interest in getting to know about their culture they will be very happy to guide him.

Another major trait of Spanish people is that family life is very important to them. They are so family-oriented. You will see people visiting in large number with their families to parks and play-places. No matter how hectic a person’s life is, he will for sure give time to his family and children. They also love to eat and are very passionate when it comes to cuisine. They love meeting people and that is the reason get together and night parties are so common among them.

Spanish people are not very technology oriented. In fact they are behind most of the European countries. But now world is witnessing a massive change in their behaviors and attitude towards technological advancement. Spaniards are now catching up fast because they have realized the importance of internet, cell phones etc. Time is not far when you are going to see them standing on the level of many European countries as they are very passionate. New technology is interesting them and they are giving it more importance than socialization.

Progressive enhancement is a layered approach to interface development that helps ensure all users can navigate and read the content on a website regardless of browser or device limitations.— Aarron Walter, Building Findable Websites

The key to the success of progressive enhancement lies in the way you create and keep the structure, presentation, and behavior separate from one another.

If you keep the structure (HTML), presentation (CSS), and behavior (JavaScript) separate when you build websites, content remains accessible to everyone including search engine spiders.

You want to think of progressive enhancement as layering a cake. If you started with the frosting and worked your way back, you’d end up with a pretty terrible cake — most likely. You instead would want to start with the cake ingredients, then the baking, and finally the frosting on top. The same is true of progressive enhancement.

The Ingredients (Structure)

Begin with a semantically meaningful HTML file that communicates the information hierarchy of your page. By using heading, strong emphasis, emphasis, lists, and other semantic tags to mark up your document you’ll achieve a much better foundation from which to build upon when creating your cake — ahem — website.

Baking (Presentation)

Next, you’ll be adding the presentation layer using external CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) files that create the design of the document without altering the structure (HTML). Using CSS to control the presentation of your documents will make modifying them much less time-consuming. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to have to edit all the font tags of a hundred page website just to change the color. Ding! Cooking timer just went off.

The Frosting on Top (Behavior)

The final layer of our website cake is the behavior layer using JavaScript. This layer will enhance the interactions of the page. The JavaScript is also kept external in a separate file, and can easily take control of elements in the page without mixing in with the HTML structure.

Conclusion

Building your websites with this additive approach keeps them functional during each step. With CSS and JavaScript disabled, the user can still see all of the content and understand the information within as it’s communicated through your semantic markup. When CSS is enabled, the user is presented with an interface design that enhanced the look of the site. And finally, when JavaScript is enabled, the interactions add an extra bit of flair to the overall user experience.

When search engines encounter a site built using progressive enhancement they’ll be able to index all of the content because JavaScript will no longer be a roadblock. By making the presentation and behavior layers external, you also increase the speed with which search engine spiders can index your pages. Keeping everything separate improves overall maintenance as well.