Take off in Latin American Spanish..

So as part of my continuing education, I am attempting to learn Spanish. I've made attempts at starting various Spanish language courses (cds, books etc) several times, but have always fallen behind and given up. This time I'm hoping to stick with it. I downloaded tracks onto my i-pod and am listening while on the Tube. My reason for learning Spanish is two-fold, I would like to have a bit more foreign language knowledge than high school French and in many job vacancies I've been looking at in DC, Spanish is a required/ desired skill. Therefore hopefully I will (in time) gain this skill... we shall see:)