Elemental, mi querido Watson.

Though learning a new language requires a lot of patience, tenacity, and a certain amount of confidence, every now and then things seem pleasantly easy.  For an example of this in Spanish, let's take the rules of syllable stress in that language.  So many times, the emphasis falls on the next-to-the-last, the penultimate syllable.  And to make it even simpler, when the stress should fall on the ultimate syllable, this is almost always indicated with a written accent.  Yes, there are a few words that deviate from the rules, but they don't seem to be that numerous.

French makes it even easier, since every syllable is stressed equally, though often with a barely susceptible emphasis on the last syllable.  Italian, on the other hand, is not always governed by the strict accent rules.  Though many Italian words are also stressed on the penultimate syllable, there are quite a few that are exceptions.  Those simply must be learned or acquired by continuous use.

So, it's always nice when things are simple.  Spanish seems to have a lot of sensible and easily mastered rules but, like all languages, things can get complicado at the drop of a sombrero :)  It's all a matter of practice, practice, practice.

Hasta pronto...

Here's a totally unrelated Spanish song for good measure today:

El Jarabe Tapatio