Cooking classes reveal a side of Mexico few tourists ever get to see.

My world is mute. Conversations, signs and words cannot find their way into my simple, Spanish-less existence. I decide to embark on Spanish lessons. I know a smattering of German, a handful of French, enough Farsi to get me into trouble, and Papua New Guinea Pidgin as a party trick. But Spanish is the first foreign language I have attempted with any sense of commitment to the long haul. I'm a writer, I try to convince myself, a professional wordsmith, so surely another language will come naturally. But the New Zealand education system does not require an understanding of the ins and outs of grammar. I learned about apostrophes at school. I'm quite good at them, but that, sadly, is the full extent of my grammatical repertoire.

If there's one foreign term we all seem to know it's faux pas - perhaps because it's a good term to apply to many efforts to communicate in a foreign language.

Memo to Global Executives: Learn Spanish

According to a survey conducted by TheLadders.com, the world's leading $100,000+ jobs Web site, a solid majority of job seekers in the $100k+ market say Spanish is the most important second language for today's business people.

Editorial: One language not enough in today's world

All New Zealanders might start learning a second language before they enter secondary school if a proposal from the Ministry of Education's latest curriculum review receives the Government's blessing.

Mind your language

You've been to night classes and listened to the tapes and now you're winging your way to a foreign destination, wondering whether anyone will understand your carefully-rehearsed phrases.

Of course they will. The first sentence you speak will be the hardest. After that it is plain sailing.

Speaking the lingo helps

Learning another tongue pays big dividends - personal as well as professional. Multilingual people proffer the same benefits again and again: people, places become accessible. To speak another language is to understand why people from other lands think the way they do; knowing their lingo is the quickest route into their culture. Lateral thinking gets a boost. So does confidence - especially when you are mistaken for a local.