glennnn

A certain lawyer was quite wealthy and had a summer house in the country. Each summer the lawyer would invite a different escort friend to spend a week or two.
 
On one occasion, he invited a Czechoslovakian escort to stay with him. The friend, eager to visit America, agreed.
 
Early one morning, the lawyer and his Czechoslovakian companion went out to pick berries for their breakfast. As they went around the berry patch gathering blueberries and raspberries, along came two huge bears, a male and a female.
The lawyer, seeing the two bears, immediately dashed for cover. His friend, though, wasn't so lucky. The male bear reached him and swallowed him whole.
 
The lawyer ran back to his Mercedes, tore into town, and got the local sheriff. The sheriff grabbed his shotgun and dashed back to the berry patch with the lawyer.
 
Sure enough, the two bears were still there. "He's in that one," cried the lawyer, pointing to the male, while visions of lawsuits from his escort's family danced in his head.
 
He just had to save his friend. The sheriff looked at the bears, and without batting an eye, leveled his gun, took careful aim, and shot the female.
 
"What did you do that for?" exclaimed the lawyer. "I said he was in the other one!"
 
"Exactly," replied the sheriff. "Would you believe a lawyer who told you the Czech was in the male?"

I speak Spanish, French, Italian and German. Spanish was my second language, acquired as a child in the southwest U.S. and refined in high school. My reading is a 10. My speaking a 7. German was my college language, due to the technical language of my major. I have traveled to Germany several times. Read 8, speak 5. Next came French, learned at home from my life partner and through frequent stays in France. Read 9, speak 8. I learned Italian from home study of commercial materials (Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone), and several vacations in Italy. Read 5, speak 4.
 
My observations are:
It is easiest to learn when one is young (Spanish).
It is easier to learn in bed and through immersion (French).
It is easier to learn a romance language when you already know one.
German is similar to English in many ways, but they are both hard.
Learning a new language takes great motivation and tons of practice after childhood.
Europeans really respond to Americans who bother to learn at least the rudiments of their language. Yes, increasingly they all speak English, but if you want to make friends there, learn the language.

I speak Spanish, French, Italian and German. Spanish was my second language, acquired as a child in the southwest U.S. and refined in high school. My reading is a 10. My speaking a 7. German was my college language, due to the technical language of my major. I have traveled to Germany several times. Read 8, speak 5. Next came French, learned at home from my life partner and through frequent stays in France. Read 9, speak 8. I learned Italian from home study of commercial materials (Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone), and several vacations in Italy. Read 5, speak 4.
 
My observations are:
It is easiest to learn when one is young (Spanish).
It is easier to learn in bed and through immersion (French).
It is easier to learn a romance language when you already know one.
German is similar to English in many ways, but they are both hard.
Learning a new language takes great motivation and tons of practice after childhood.
Europeans really respond to Americans who bother to learn at least the rudiments of their language. Yes, increasingly they all speak English, but if you want to make friends there, learn the language.