Bar-the-lona

I've been attempting to refresh my very far removed high school Spanish in anticipation of my trip to Barcelona next week. Yes, I realize that growing up in Southern California, I learned Latin American Spanish, which is very different from Spain-Spanish. And Barcelona is its own beast with "Catalan" or Castillian Spanish thrown in... which, by my amateur observation, is a unique combination of French-like Spanish... "buenos dias" is "bon dia," and the like. Not to mention all "c" sounds being pronounced as a "th"-- so phrases like "como se dice" sounds like "thomo se dee-th-ay." Huh?! I may be fighting a losing battle... but my guidebooks assure that most Barcelonians are bilingual and speak both versions of Spanish... as though that is going to help me.

But in effort to try to trigger something resembling Spanish from the depths of my tired brain, I downloaded a podcast from iTunes entitled "Coffee Break Spanish" that has about 20 lessons that teaches you basic conversation such as ordering in a restaurant and asking directions-- plus it goes over "Spain" pronunciation vs. "Latin American" pronunciation.

The best thing about the podcast? It's from Scotland, so the teachers have a very thick brogue. I can't understand their English half the time, which sends me into fits of giggles, so I'm not really retaining much... but I'm enjoying myself immensely. I do however, understand their Spanish better than the English (even funnier), so maybe it is helping...