Hedonologist

I think every country has soem level of English tuition, but it's a case of what countries don't have it universally. I think every country in western Europe has English lessons. Maybe very underdeveloped countries  where they cannot afford the required English teachers.

Has anyone had experience learning Icelandic? If so, what materials did you use? I've heard there is a good website made by the Icelandic government but I can't seem to find it now. Also If you've ever been to Iceland what is it like speaking with natives, are they likely to just respond in English when they can hear an accent?

I've dabbled in Welsh which is only around 600,000 speakers. Virtually unheard of outside the UK. There is quite a lot of resources available for it though. There is a welsh language TV channel available on satellite networks so it's easy to get practice. The BBC produced quite a bit of material for it too.

I think it would be a good idea to include a sub-forum where different courses (Berlitz, Pimsluer, Hugo etc) Could be discussed. As well as other materials.

How did you learn to use the Devanagari script? Did you learn each letter by rote, and then just read to gain fluency or did you use any other method? I've tried writing English sentences with Devanagari, but I was curious to see if there were any other methods people used.

How did you come to understand Persian? Did you pick it up naturally or was it something you studied. I take it from being a native pashto speaker you must have had quite a bit of exposure. The links look quite interesting, thanks for sharing.

I will only avoid using slang in a formal setting. Slang is a natural part of communication, and even a useful part of your identity really. It can distinguish you based on what slang you use, rather than just whether you use it or not.

Has anyone been able to find materials for Faroese? I saw professor Arguelles had a book, and he learned to be quite proficient from that alone it would appear. Otherwise there appears to be little to nothing.

I have done so before. I think I have a certain kack for this sort of thing, but anyone can do it with practice. Sometimes when learning from a native speaker you learn with an accent, and do not even realize it.

Tuning your ear to dutch will probably be the hardest part, although hopefully you had a chance to do that to a degree on your trip to the Netherlands. Best of luck for the future. What courses are you using to learn Dutch?

I think everyone is better at understanding than speaking. If you can speak, then you can usually understand, but actively putting a sentence together is harder than passively listening. If you hear 75% of the key words you can get a very good idea of what is being conveyed. But if you want to convey the same message then you can't simply say the key words.

It took me about 3 weeks, but that was partially because I didn't give it complete attention. This was much longer than the 1 day it took me to learn Cyrillic and the 1 day it took me to learn the Greek alphabet. I assume it could be done quicker. How long did it take you?

I've always loved this song. Now I've found the dutch lyrics and learned them off by heart

http://www.singalongdutchsongs.nl/liedjes/tulpen.html

For an English speaker I would say Swedish or Norwegian. Although simply by amount of immersion overall I would say English is the easiest. Hundreds of millions have learned reasonable English simply from media without even trying. There is also more motivation and material available.

I don't really think there si any way to prevent it other than practice. Although having said that, the longer you have known a language the longer it will take to deteriorate in your memory over time. I have experienced this with German at times too.

How long would it take me to learn Chinese up to GCSE level? I am also interested in what textbooks I would need to achieve this. I haven't had any formal training previously but I have studied and have a basic vocabulary of around 500 words.

Out of everyone you know, who speaks the most languages?

I know someone who speaks 13, although 6 of those were learned mostly in school. I find it very rare to meet polyglots offline though. I also had a penpal who spoke 6.

The first time after coming back form a break, but the longer you've known a language, the longer breaks you can take without forgetting. I would just go through a newspaper or tv show and pick out what you've forgot, memorise them with flashcards or audio practice and repeat until you are back up to scratch.

If the chinese hadn't Learned English as readily as they have done, then Chinese may well have had a  more dominant position, but really, they had to learn English to get to where they are today. In the past they needed us more than we needed them, but by the time they are a solid superpower, they will already be bilingual rendering Chinese study moot.

this happen to me too sometimes. Sometimes people will forget the non-slang version of a word, which is kind of similar, because you forget the original word in place of the secondary learned word.

Hi there, by the French/Flemish title I assumed you were connected in some way to Belgium. Do you find yourself using Dutch or French more? I know Brussels city itself is mostly french, but the surrounding locations are Dutch speaking. Anyway, Welkom bij Linguaholic.

The first English Novel I ever read was 'Of Mice and Men' not the best novel I've ever read but I would put it in the top 10, perhaps top 5. The film is quite a let down compared to the novel I have to say.

The fact that so many Chinese are learning English means that the Chinese themselves are cement English's position and the Lingua Franca of the world. Chinese may grow in popularity. But I don't foresee it even overtaking Spanish in the global league table of dominance (despite more speakers)

I'm not sure what the best title for this would have been, but the issue is that people are more perceptive of accents closer to them. For an example and Englishman will tell you there are many accents (Scouse, Brummie, Geordie, Cockney, etc) but seem to assume there is only an 'Irish' or 'American' accent. Many Americans seem to think that there is only a 'British' accent and can't tell them apart.

Even within London itself People will be aware of several accents. Cockney, North London and Collindale are distinct ones I can recognise.

It would appear that people are aware of many accent around them that many fail to even notice exist. As far as I can tell there is only one Australian accent although many aussie may well be able to tell me otherwise.

Indeed, sometimes I simple immerse myself in television or a newspaper and translate sentence by sentence with a grammar and a dictionary. It's always helpful if you have a basic grounding in grammar and common vocabulary first though.

Sometime I will simple rote memorise hundred of words so when I do come to read this way, the words come to me a lot faster.