Learned French in school, badly. Actually worked in French one summer, but in a very limited field - we used to teach all pre-op patients how to deep breathe and cough after surgery. If someone wanted to have a conversation, I was looking for a translator! Then lived in Germany for three years with the air force - we lived in a little village as the only Canadians so had lots of chances to try the kleine bisschen Deutsche that we'd learned. And forgot most of the French in the meantime. Now we're trying to learn some Italian for our planned trip there in the near future. Is it ever hard - I don't think I'm blessed with language learning brain parts! Maybe the struggle is the best part - I'll have to keep that in mind! This is great information - I wondered how to keep my brain going after I'm not working any more.