A student wrote in this morning, and after going through Basic Level Lesson 7, and seeing our use of "setiembre" rather than "septiembre," questioned whether or not "setiembre" is correct.

Both are correct and they can be used interchangeably. Use depends on the country or region.

According to La Rea Academia Española (the one language authority who presides over correct Spanish) they now favor "septiembre" over "setiembre" although they still consider both correct.

When the SpanishPower™ course was created they held no distinction, nor favored one over the other, and we chose to use setiembre as it seemed, at least at that time, it was the more common use.

So, as the month of September comes upon us, use either "septiembre" or "setiembre" as you choose.

One thing you will find is that Latinos who have deeper roots in English will tend to gravitate towards "septiember" as it is closer to its English counterpart. In other parts of Latin America, where people do not speak a lot of English, you will hear more use of "setiembre."

Also, remember, days of the week and months of the year are NOT capitalized in Spanish.