[robocat]

My mother tongue is English, and I originally learnt conversational Spanish in Sevilla using my own techniques (months not years).

I have subsequently had little trouble communicating with people speaking 100% Spanish when I have travelled (mostly Cuba, Mexico, Majorca) or at home (Chilean, Argentinian etc).

I agree that some words change, and I agree that there are pronunciation changes, but my experience is that the changes are not too difficult to pick up.

Perhaps I am exceptional or not widely enough travelled, but I can only share what I have experienced.

In my opinion, another thing to beware of for anyone learning Spanish is to avoid learning the "correct" pronunciation (sounding like a madrileño). A "proper" accent sounds like you are stuck-up to many people from other countries, which hinders friendly communication. For example: I use an s sound (not th) for 'hace', and dja (not lya) for 'ella'. Aside: Spanish people responded fabulously to me when I had unintentionally picked up a Cuban accent! I have responded really well to people who have picked up a random English accent when they learnt English (except US accents which mostly sound bad to me). Also if you are learning Spanish and native Spanish speakers think you have a strong English accent, you have been teaching yourself using the wrong methods: instead use more mimicking and less reading.