Gregor

Our first child was born in France - it was great knowing more than just the French for push! Although it was my wife who needed to know what was going on and how to express herself it was also important for me in case in the panic of things she got a bit lost - she was fine though and needed no linguistic help from me of course, but it left me with a French obstetrical vocabulary I now have no need for.

In a lot of cities there are groups for precisely that. In Belfast we have the Spanish Circle, also adult classes on Spanish which as well as teaching have conversation evenings that are largely social occasions where everyone speaks Spanish. Check further education colleges and universities - they often have something like that.

A lot of people seem to want to distance themselves from mainstream life by using slang. Slang becomes part if the culture then has to be rebelled against too. It's a useful linguistic device for society to have even if a bit tedious.

My guiding principle when reading a translation is "all translation is betrayal". That was an essay title in my  final university exams and I totally agreed with the statement. I think a translated novel is a new noel suggested by the original with no hope of accurately portraying the intention of the author. This means there has to be a novelist within the translator. A good translator will do his best, but will never totally succeed if he's aiming at an exact representation of the original.

I'll begrudgingly allow a bit of slang so long as it is understood that it is slang, and so long as whoever uses it also knows the correct way of speaking. Correct language must be taught and learned in school and at home and if in the street people wish to become a bit sloppy, please do it quietly. I don't think slang should be promoted as it is on many TV programmes - TV and cinema should enhance language, not dumb it down.

I'm not keen on the idea of a language constructed to be understood by all. It has no depth, no feeling and no context really. It's too clinical. And there is no real need for it since most people who want to work at an international level already can communicate in English. They have made the effort to learn English so why learn yet another language?

Learning languages has brought me into contact with many people who I would never have known otherwise. I have friends who speak no English and I hope they never learn any English because it would change the entire context of the friendship.

So many to choose from! For me it would have to be Russian or Arabic, but I'm starting Italian next month because I want to be able to read Italian literature. I need to have some sort of a goal when I'm learning a language other than being able to order a cheese sandwich when I'm on holiday. My goal in learning Italian is to be able to read Ignazio Silone's "Pane e Vino".

I keep my French reasonably healthy by reading novels and newspapers mostly. I did lose a lot at one stage but was able to recover it. We also have refresher courses in languages at the local university for the public and language social clubs where English is forbidden.

"Out damned spot"

I've always thought of lollipop as being a pretty, innocent word.

Crankshaft was always one I giggled at in school as is dermatitis for some reason. I was an odd child I'm told.

Excellent method of getting accustomed to native use of language though words can be distorted to fit the music. I wish I was learning Hindi because Bollywood songs are just amazing! My daughter is learning French and has been listening to French songs all her life since that's what we do in our house and it helps. Just having French radio on in the background or in the car is a great help and you don't have to concentrate on it.

My first time was in Italy from an Algerian teacher using French as the medium of teaching. Okay it was quirky, but that was fine. It worked. Took it up properly a few years later in Ireland and I was amazed at how much I remembered.

Because I want to read the literature of Italy in Italian. That's why I've started an Italian class. No pretentions of going to live there ar anything else, I just want to read Manzoni, Silone, Fo etc in their original.

I have a Brazilian friend in Paris who arrived there without a word of French. In 6 months he was fluent through having nothing to do other than watch TV morning to night. I too benefited from TV watching because that's where I could hear French as it was spoken. Excellent addition to grammar books.

I did a 4 year degree course in French - language, literature, philosophy, politics, history .... Best thing I've ever done especially since I had to spend a year in France.

You seriously think I'd remember that?! I'm wanting to say "no" because that seems to be what most kids learn first, however I'm told that my first word was "moot" which my parents eventually realised meant raisins. I was an odd child.

I started to learn French at the age of 9 at a school in Africa, not "French" Africa. This meant that when I moved to Ireland when I was 14 I was streets ahead of everyone else who began to learn French at 13. That had obvious advantages but also meant that I was considered somewhat odd and a bit of a teacher's pet. Furthermore everyone wanted to sit beside me in French class and copy my answers in tests!

Good grammar is essential, and that includes punctuation. Without these any collection of words remain just that, a collection of words. Punctuation and grammar give meaning and sense and help to eliminate ambiguity. This is perhaps especially true of text messages which can be infuriatingly ambiguous leading to misunderstanding. I don't insist on tyhe correct use of a semi-colon in a text message but I do like to know where one sentence ends and another begins.