At what point should I take a 2 week immersion course?

Hola, At what point in my studies in Rocket Spanish will I benefit most in taking a 2 week immersion course in a Latin American country? I plan on being extremely comfortable in knowing the subject matter of the lessons before moving on to the next lesson. I’m looking to create a goal for myself according to lesson number. I wish I could do more than 2 weeks but I don’t thing that my workload and family life will allow it. At this point, I just ordered the course and have completed the 6 free lessons (newbie :D ). I want to travel at a time when it would be most advantageous for my learning. Also, I will be able to plan a trip in advance. Gracias for the advice. Knezz

Mi dos chavos: An immersion course in a Spanish speaking country is a tremendous investment of one's time, energy, and dinero! That being said, if one desires to take up such an expenditure of resources, it goes without saying that one would want to MAXIMIZE as much as possible one's 14 days of immersion. I would say that this maximization can only fully be realised once the student is fairly comfortable with language. When I say fairly comfortable, I mean that one can express their general thoughts and feelings, talk about themselves, work, and family on a basic level. Also having the ability to at least navigate through daily life without having to have a native speaker talk for you - such as ordering food, asking for directions, and etc. Now, that's just the speaking. One should also be somewhat comfortable with HEARING and UNDERSTANDING what people are saying. Not that you understand 100% every word that falls from each persons lips, but that you understand enough of what you hear, along with contexts clues, gestures, and etc. to get the gist of what they are saying. If one is not comfortable with the aforementioned areas, what can one really expect to gain from just 14 days other than 336 hours of frustration?!? Think about it, if one still has not got a good feeling for saying "I could do x" and "I should do x" and "I would do x" and "I did do x" and the present, past, and future versions of those statements, and has not learned a good bit of nouns and adjectives to talk about - how much speaking can one really expect to do while "immersed," or in that case "drowning?" If one isn't from a Hispanic background where one may be able to understand alot, but weak in speaking - chances are if one can't say it, one probably does not recognize it when it is said either! So, to finally get to the point, master Rocket Spanish first - then I think you'll get a lot more out of your immersion experience. Rocket Spanish has a lot to offer. While you go through it, practice what you've learned at every moment possible - even if the conversation with someone you see in the store doesn't go beyond "estoy bien y tu?" before you get lost in what you don't know. When you walk away after having spoken with someone in Spanish to the best of your ability, don't focus on what you didn't know in that conversation, but take pride in what you did know. If there were key points in the conversation where you wanted to say something in particular but didn't know how - come back to this forum and ask, and add that to your arsenal! Anyway, hope my suggestions are useful. Buena suerte!