I find Greek a very difficult language to pick up. We spend a fortnight in Kefalonia at least once a year and I cannot remember one single word of Greek from one year to the next apart from menu items.

We spend at least a couple of weeks every year in Spain but there I can make myself understood.

I learned French to O Level at school many decades ago which was a complete waste as I have never been to France yet it wasn't as much a waste as the two years that I spent learning Latin

being able to speak 3 or 4 languages is a bit like being able to drive a motorbike, a car and a canal-boat. Different rules - different behaviours of the vehicle- different controls. But you compartmentalise them inside your head. Given exposure to the vehicles, any eejit can master the basics.

people pat you on the back and say 'very impressive'....but really speaking well is not implicit. Speaking basic phrasebook level is mostly enough. 'Fluent' french does not include Montesquieu. Nor English of Shakespeare. I would be totally stumped by Don Quixote in Spanish...but can happily chat to the local old crazy in a bar all night...making a thousand grammatical errors along the way. And hopefully understanding 95% of the speech of the bar-person. Although sometimes that statistic plummets when i meet a 'challenging one'.

'Fluency' is all relative. We are all beginners. And i was recently reminded of that on chatting football to two friendly Newcastle fans in Spain. Just after the Magpies beat us at St James Park. I could barely understand a word. And all the usual anti-Southern prejudice from Northerners ? they were puzzled by an Eagle with an Irish accent.

We are all beginners. Even your own Grandparents will occasionally use a word unfamiliar to you. Or unfamiliar grammar.

Language is less about the University Library and more about the overseas schoolyard.....That is why dead languages are such a b..stard to learn. And i have tried....Latin, Sanskrit and Old Irish are bleedin difficult. Like trying to learn swimming from only reading a book.

Fluency is a pot you must stir on the cooker or else it goes cold & solidifies. Any Eagles with an overseas partner will be familiar with the grief their family gives them back home cos they have lost much of their childhood fluency. This loss of fluency is like a footballer who cannot practice - use it or lose it. Even if your partner has a few friends from the Old Country living in London. Mitrovic and Milivojavic are drinking buddies in London...birds of a feather flock together.

When i lived in France, i was commended on having acquired much of the local Knacker-accent*. There is nothing aristocratic nor Noble about most French. A popular misconception that many Brits & Yanks share. A drug-dealer in a French prison will often use words that we would consider 'Posh'. The Italian Gomorrah series is true to this. Genni exclaims he needs new dealers to work in his crew...but not Dillitantes.....not Beginners. Oh how Shakespeare.

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Edited by PalazioVecchio (08 Sep 2022 9.21am)

Edited by PalazioVecchio (08 Sep 2022 9.35am)

Edited by PalazioVecchio (08 Sep 2022 10.26am)

Kayla did Anfield & Old Trafford

it is pronouned Whoppo, or Whoppa, for a female, as i am sure an educated gentleman of your standing knows, Guaita is Whaita

“That’s a joke son, I say, that’s a joke.” “Nice boy, but he’s sharp as a throw pillow.” “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent” “ “Son… I say, son, some people are so narrow minded they can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”__ Forhorn Leghorn

I witnessed a wedding on a beach in mainland Spain and a Spanish gentleman looking on as I was,bellowed out "GUAPA" to the bride.
Different pronunciations, for instance I have heard Valencia pronounced both a "V" and also a "B".

Learning languages close to English has always been doubly rewarding. It improves one's own English. Romance languages and Germanic languages particularly. But also there is a surprising amount of Welsh hidden in English - along with Welsh genes hidden in the population of Nigels & Sharons.

Considering English is probably 45% Germanic and 30% Norman French, i have always struggled to understand how the best overseas speakers of English are all North Germanic....and not the (French & Flemish bilingual) Belgians. Belgians are good, but the Dutch are better at English. And the Frisians are so good at English they are struggling to keep their own language alive.

Brussels is very bilingual French/Flemish. I thought they would top the table for their command of English.....sadly not. Rutger Hauer beats Jean Claude VanDamme.

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Edited by PalazioVecchio (08 Sep 2022 10.56am)

Kayla did Anfield & Old Trafford