Alexei Sayle, British comedian and novelist, writing in the Independent, comes up with some useful advice:

"Recently, while I was flipping through one of my foreign car guides, another potential use for it struck me. I have been struggling to learn Spanish for years and a while ago my Spanish teacher lent me a book of simple short stories, one page written in Spanish, the other side printed in English. This is supposed to help you expand your vocabulary. The trouble is I'm not interested in why Pedro's grandfather hid the treasure from the shipwreck inside his hat in either language, so I quickly got fed up with the book and my learning has suffered. But then it occurred to me that when I return to Spain, if I buy myself a copy of Coches del Mundo, or whatever the local version is called, then I'll be drawn to read it and if I look up words in a Spanish/English dictionary then pretty soon I'll understand all the words and phrases in the magazine. I'll only be able to talk to people about cars, but then that's pretty much what I do anyway."

He could always, of course, try this, where Pedro's grandfather is nowhere to be found. (Surely I'm allowed a plug from time to time?)

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