Consider … plenty of people studying Mandarin put off Hanzi. For whatever reason, they are quite content to focus solely on spoken Mandarin — at least in the crucial initial stages. Most expect to tackle written Chinese to some degree at a later date, but many have recognized that it is probably a better strategy to get a grasp of spoken fundamentals first; relying on pinyin for their notes and flashcards and such.

But Spanish doesn’t have that handicap. Indeed, it’s more faithful and consistent to its basic orthography than English. Master the pronunciation and you master the spelling, for all practical purposes.

At some pint, I’m hoping the SPOD crew will start integrating written Spanish into their curriculum. Maybe short (one paragraph) topical blurbs from actual newspaper stories. Signs you might see in a grocery store. Restaurant menus. Weather reports, song lyrics, comic strips, etc., etc. You get the idea.