Vosotros-¿Es necesario?
I am in finishing my second semester of Spanish at a small university. From the beginning my professor has told us not to worry about the "vosotros" form of verbs because they are only used in Spain. My thought is, "What if I want to travel to Spain?" Does anyone know how handicapped I would really be if I traveled to Spain without this knowledge? Secondly, is the vosotros form easy to pick up once I have become fluent in Spanish without it?
I apreciate all your help. 
Tony
6 Answers
My Spanish teacher in high school had exactly the same approach. Unfortunately, it's not all about traveling anymore. We now have global communications, and access to millions of pieces of literature, videos, and news in Spanish, and quite a bit of it includes the vosotros form.
I'm using the Bible to supplement my Spanish learning, and it is written in that form too. (All versions of the Bible, including La Bíblia de Las Américas)
At this stage, any Spanish education that omits the vosotros form is poorly done.
I'd learn it anyway. There are plenty of Peninsular-Spanish texts, songs, stories, etc. You may want to watch a Spanish film one day. It's just like with learning British and American English. You can use either "coffin" or "casket", "pavement" or "sidewalk", open your car's "boot" or "trunk", but to fully understand the language, it's good to know the other forms as well.
And, to tell you the truth, in my "teacher's oppinion", it's a bit strange that a professor should tell you this. He should encourage his students to broaden their knowledge, not to limit it only to some aspects. And once you learn the conjugation of Spanish verbs, it's a piece of cake remembering one more, "vosotros" form 
In Mexico, and probably other countries in the Americas, Vosotros is taught in primary school. Children grow up there at least knowing the conjugation of Vosotros even though they don't use it. Later on in life some obviously forget. So I suppose you have to ask yourself, "Do I want to learn Spanish like a native learns it, or like a foreigner?"
If you ever go to Spain, you will be able to get on fine without this form, but you might miss out on a complete cultural experience.
In high school (many moons ago), I remember my teacher mentioning some similar absurdity regarding the use of vostotros, and I chalked it up to the fact that the course must have been geared more towards the way it might be encountered in America. It was similar to the way that I was initially taught French in high school; in that, it was taught more towards the way that a French Canadian might use the language rather than how a Frenchman might.
Now that I am on my second go-round with attempting to learn Spanish, I find the logic behind this somewhat strange; in that, many teachers here in North America will mention and even teach the use (or lack thereof) of vosotros, but do not even make mention of the use of the personal pronoun "vos" which is actually used on the continent. Strange.
Peninsular-Spanish
Peninsular to describe Spain is not used anymore.
Lazarus wrote why Peninsular to describe Spain is not used anymore.But I was unable to find it in Spanish dict. He corrected me because, I used it. I was trying to show off my great ...............
It is not needed. I can hold a conversation without ever using the voseo, or write a letter or what have you without it.Ok ,Ok it might be needed but is it worth the effort to learn it?There are so many others thing to learn.
