Yeah a few pages back I indicated I was starting Spanish after learning Chinese for however many years. Recommendation I had read was to have good foundation in one before contemplating another, and that it ideally shouldn't be part of the same family.
You never know - the world's political situation has changed almost overnight more than once. Utility aside, it can be a way of accessing literature and films which aren't available (yet) in translated versions. Also, if you live in (or move to) a large city like London, there may well be native speakers within a very short distance of you.
Thanks for keeping bumping this thread. It reminds me to do some Spanish.
Progress is currently being hampered by being Northern. I keep getting mealtimes mixed up because they (duolingo) use Southern English phrases, like "dinner" for "tea".
If it's any consolation, I've done next to nothing to keep my French active this year, and I really should unless I want a lot more of it to turn passive.<snip>Haven't done any Spanish in ages now.
Gonna go do an hour or so in a sec. Thanks for the bump
It probably made the person you were talking to more inclined to meet you halfway because they knew you weren't assuming that they should speak (and understand) English.
Mostly pride and sheer cussedness.
Thanks for that - I'm still at the stage of remembering sounds more than spelling.
OTOH finally getting to the point of being able to string a sentence together instead of just swapping words into a set phrase. It's become a lot easier to work out how to pronounce new words I see, or spell ones heard for the first time.
Yes, I go to a French one from time to time. It's fine, standard's generally high and quite a lot of native speakers.
