Do you feel down? Not learning enough? Come to Encouragement Island/Isla de Apoyo!
I would like to introduce a new (continuing) thread. 
We have a beautiful International Cafe in the forum. We also have our famous "Dunce Corner". 
I would now like to welcome you to Encouragement Island or as the locals call it Isla de Apoya.
Do you feel down? Not learning enough? Come to Encouragment Island!
You are safe here. Are you ready to throw your grammar books in the trash? Are you doing cartwheels because you just spoke to a taxi driver in Spanish? Or, are you somewhere in between?
Well this is a relaxing tropical paradise where you can get away from it all. Unload your burdens and we will be here to encourage you. This also transforms into a party island where everyone is encouraged to join in the fun when you have a reason to celebrate learning a new language!
So, come to our little island getaway whenever you are in need of a hug to keep you going or if you are ready to dance until sunrise! There will always be someone here to greet you!
This is not a thread for grammar or vocabulary help, but rather a place for all of us to share in the trials and tribulations of language learning. Spanish and English natives welcome!
635 Answers
I was in the grocery store about a month ago when a young man spoke to me. He was alone, pushing a cart with only a few things in it. He asked, in Spanish, if I spoke Spanish.
I was so excited that even now I can't remember his words. Mine were un poquito. He was very happy to hear that and he repeated me, Un poquito. He was looking for the cooking oil so I told him veintitrés and looked up at the aisle number hanging from the ceiling so he would know what I meant. Off he went to aisle 23.
I just love a happy ending. 
Pesta said:
Enough vocabulary was in my head to start, but never enough to finish.
This is a great example for this thread. I think all of us know what it is like to have three or four words to express a thought, but fall short of having all of the words to complete a sentence.
Then you get to the point where you know all of the words but struggle with which order to put them in.
Normally for me, I can come up with what I wanted to say when I am thinking about it later and not under pressure. But actually, the pressure is all in my own head.
Does anyone else experience this?
Last week in Mexico I wavered between feeling like a success story and being a Spanish speaking toddler. 
"Look at me, I speak Spanish!"
I was in the pub the other day, where else? and I was reading a copy of El Pais I'd bought in the local supermarket. A guy came up to me and said something like ¿Perdoneme por interrumpir le pero eres español?
I replied, No, lo siento soy escocés
The poor guy grinned wryly, "me too!" He's studying Spanish and thought he saw an opportunity to practise. 
Never mind being discouraged about learning Spanish , which I am in spades'
but last year I was in England on holiday and went into a quaint English pub,
I asked for a glass of Cider and was given two Pork Pies , I was so embarrassed
I bought them and ate the flaming horrible meaty packets , so I am for the Island ahora. Here is mine .
The french have a saying "esprit de l'escalier" (staircase wit).
Which means after you've left the party (or many other situations you can imagine) and you are walking down the long staircase, just as you get toward the bottom, you think of the perfect comeback!
Well, whenever I try to speak a foreign language, I am constantly experiencing staircase wit. Long after I've left the scene of giving directions, exchanging polite chit-chat, etc., it seems I always think of a better way to have said it, and all the grammar mistakes I made. Sigh. 
I would say this is the main reason for me "freezing." When someone carrying loads of packages asks me where the bus stop is, I know if I just stand there and stutter, they will leave thinking they met the village idiot. And, to be truthful, I sure do feel like they did!!
Es una muy buena idea! Gracias
Estoy aquí en la Isla de Apoya porque estoy celebrando leer mi primero cuento español, era un cuento para niños aunque. 
I'm here on the Isla de Apoya because I'm celebrating reading my first Spanish story, it was a children story though.
I just have to jump in. That desert island is sooooooooo inviting, and I bet they only speak Spanish there!
Edit:
Okay, time to vent.
My wife and I spent two wonderful weeks in the jungles of Panama last August, at Canopy Tower, a birding and nature eco-lodge. The people who operate this facility are very eco-responsible, and otherwise very friendly, too. They and the birding guides are all bilingual. I took every opportunity to converse in Spanish. The kitchen staff were the best, since they mostly spoke no English.
In hindsight, I did okay, but it was very hard to think of something to say for which I had adequate vocabulary. Whenever I did have something I really needed to say, I froze up. Enough vocabulary was in my head to start, but never enough to finish. I was furious by the end of each encounter.
Forget about any fancy grammar, present tense indicative would have been enough, except for brain-freeze.
Oh, well... today there were construction workers at my office complex peeling wallpaper in the hallways. They were talking among themselves in Spanish, and I understood most of it. Maybe next week, I'll take a few minutes out of my work day, roll up my sleeves, and help them out.
Edit: 2011-07-05
You can't trust these guys. They took a day off. Uffff!!!
Edit: 2011-09-09
They never came back.
I need a break on this Island after my holiday in Spain. After all my studies, I totally failed to explain to the receptionist that the cooker in our apartment gave us electric shocks. He looked at me blankly. My husband mimed getting an electric shock and a repairs man was sent up to the apartment very quickly. Next time I shall pack the BIG DICTIONARY instead of that unnecessary thick pullover that took up so much room in the hand-luggage..And maybe leave my husband behind, it's the only way forward.
Lately I've been trying to make more opportunities to speak Spanish with people around me. I had a brief conversation with one of the workers at my ranch last weekend about what to do about a tree branch that had broken but not quite fallen out of the tree. The other day a woman stopped me on the street and asked me about a house that was for rent in our neighborhood. I was wearing a T-shirt that says Pura Vida that one of my kids brought me back from Costa Rica. She got excited, asked if I had been to Costa Rica, and said she was originally from Nicaragua. I switched to Spanish and talked to her about living in Venezuela back when dinosaurs roamed the llanos.
My biggest problem is vocabulary. I've been reading El Asedio, a historical fiction novel about the siege of Cádiz in 1811-1812. I have to look up several words per page. I'm also getting old, so when I go back to review my own flashcards it seems like I've never seen many of the words before. That old saw about kids being better at learning languages really is true.
Well, I can't complain:
My hubby is talking to me again
I had a marriage proposal
Jenny has been to a wedding
Celestino is growing fast and outgrowing big blacky
I learnt some nice slang with my friends on skype
Lovely is feeling good again
I had a Siatsu massage today (I survived )
I bought a Roscón for breakfast for the weekend
I talk with my friends every night.
Jorgito has learnt how to say : butifuuuuuuuuuuuuu.
It has been a good week
Here was my entire mastery of Spanish a year ago:
Thanks to 100s of people (even the ones no longer with us) here at SD, I now have a vocabulary over 1,000 words, know the regular conjugation endings, dozens of rules of grammar, lots of helpful phrases, listen to the news in Spanish (and generally understand the topic with the help of the graphics in the background 
), and can make myself understood most of the time in Uruguay.
And Post responses in the "Word of the Day" which take me less than five hours to compose, and on occasion actually use the word of the day!! But not today. 
Now I just have to get beyond ...
My cell phone rang the other day and I said, "Hello". The other person said,"Buenas tardes, ¿está Maria?" and it was 9 PM. Forgetting any Spanish I said, "Sorry, wrong number". I wish I could have thought of something better to say.
So last night, I had my first dream in Spanish - I forget the details, but a fluent Spanish speaker was talking with a non-fluent person, and I ended up translating - I can't remember what it was all about, but what I remember most is waking up....
When I woke up, I was extremely worried, almost panicking, and the phrase that was running through my mind was:
Oh no, no puedo recordar como hablar en inglés
Of course, I was able to remember after I woke up a little, but I was very worried at first...
jaja - I just thought is was a funny story, thought I'd share....hopefully I will start dreaming more in Spanish, of course without the scary ending
Feliz
I seem to be at a crossroads or turning point right now and wonder whether It was all worth the effort after many years since many other new people here have developed a much more natural style of speaking and writing Spanish than I have probably in much less time.
It is obvious if one cares to look at the threads that I am the person you are talking about. As I have openly admitted many times, my English (particularly grammar) is not always the best and I actually welcome corrections if I have made a mistake - which I very often do!
However, Feliz, you completely dissected my post and got it wrong. What I said to you was please only correct my English if you are 100% sure that you are right.
From the above quote I can perhaps now see why. Well let me tell you this: Yes, ok I've only been learning Spanish for a year or so, but I have many many gaps in my knowledge. I am NOT in competition with anybody - only myself. I am motivated and determined to continue improving as much as I can.
I am very lucky to be given lots of, quite personal at times, help from some very respected native Spanish speakers on this site. I do admit, I tend to tailor many of my phrases and sentences to syllabus that I have been learning with the help of these people.
Feliz, please do not take any of this personal and I would encourage you to keep on going. As the very wise Pacofinkler said, Spanish is a journey and we all continue at our own pace. Also, as Heidita will tell you lol, it was only a couple of days ago I was considering putting my level back to beginner! Keep your chin up - no hard feelings on my part.
Kevin said,
That old saw about kids being better at learning languages really is true<
Sorry, Kevin, but don't agree with this - I think kids have the "potential" to be "better at learning languages" but quite often they don't have what us oldies have - persistance and enthusiasm - to me these traits win "hands-down" over a young brain 
