[Bungleau]

One of my big regrets is that in high school, when I wanted to add Spanish in my junior year (grade 11), I let the school counselor talk me out of it. I was already taking French (third year), and he convinced me that they were different enough that learning Spanish would mess up my French.

When I got to college, I picked it up there, and on the contrary, my French messed up my Spanish [img]smile.gif[/img]

In my somewhat limited experience, European teachers focused on speaking and listening, while American teachers focused on reading and writing. Problem is, you can think as much as you need to when you're reading and writing. You can't do that in conversation, so American-style teaching results in a lesser ability to communicate. And students taught American-style are less able to help others learn to speak and listen to the language.

I remember the first time I went to Montreal after I'd learned French. That's when I found out that many of the rules I'd learned didn't really apply. For example, the "u" in "tu as" (you have) is never dropped, according to the rules. In practical speech, however, I don't think it's ever there.

I now speak French mostly fluently, Spanish passably, German bearably, and sign language (ASL) partially. I continue to encourage my kids to learn more languages. It only helps.