Because I spend so long in Tunisia, I have got a smattering of Tunisian/Arabic, but this can prove a problem. My greeting and question about local's health is often followed by a delighted smile and then a responce in rapid language that I simply cannot follow I feel such an idiot when that happens! Jenny x

Just out of interest, do any of you ever visit Wales and if so do you try and learn a few welsh phrases?

i visit wales most weeks at least once [there this morning] no i cant
but then not many of the natives i meet can either,, but i am getting good at reading the road signs

I left school at 15 and never had the chance to learn a language.
When I first started visiting Spain around 30 years ago, I couldn't speak Spanish and they couldn't speak any English apart from the odd word here and there.
That really was a difficult time just to get a simple request over and understood.

As the mass tourism took off in the late 70's early 80's and more British went to Spain, the people employed in the tourism industry, they learnt English by having the same questions asked each day and hearing English around them, they soon picked up the basics of the English language.
They learnt by repetition and hearing the same things (day in, day out) and some of them had never even been to school in their lives, not even to learn their own mother tongue.
We on the other hand allowed the gap to widen, as they progressed.

I first had a bash at learning Spanish 20 years ago at night school, but the effort and organising that I had to do around my work commitments and having a 6 year old son soon put a stop to the dream, especially driving to the class during bad weather.
I neither had the time, energy or the commitment to get a good grip on the language, but the basics stayed with me and the one thing I noticed that stood out like a beacon was the way their whole demeanour changes towards you when you try and communicate in their native tongue....and that still remains today.

For me, which second language to learn was never an issue, I fell in love with Spain and the love affair is as strong today as it was 30 years ago, even though I have been to places like France, Belgium, Turkey, Italy and Greece.

As far as my 2 sons are concerned, then I blame nobody but the British Education system for not making a second language compulsory and NOT starting in primary school, instead of secondary school.
Both boys had to learn German and that was based on their surname, the school went down the alphabet as according to the register and if your surname started from A to whatever, then you were assigned to learn French, the rest were to learn German and as soon as they both could have the choice of which subjects to concentrate on to acquire O'levels, they both dropped the language subject.

So, IMO whilst some of us British cannot speak another language, there are valid reasons for not being able too and I will conclude by saying that even today the Government do not make it easy or cheap to learn as a mature student.
After I finished working, I went back to learning during the day at a local college, my Spanish classes were expensive and gradually they cut back the classes until in the end they stopped all language classes locally and now it means a train journey to be able to carry on where I left off with the excellent teacher I had.
Why,? because they needed the resources to teach the immigrants ENGLISH .but that's another story for another place and a thorn in my side.
Sanjiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

I learnt french and spanish at secondary school but I have forgotten most of the spanish I learnt, probably because the class spent most of the time messing around and laughing at poor little Mr Sanchez, our spanish teacher.

I have a little knowledge of french, but I would not be able to have a full conversation with a french speaker as I can only remember the basics, you know like ordering a chocolate ice cream, it is raining etc!!!!!

I would have loved to have learnt french or spanish at primary school, as a young child I think you are more receptive to learning.

I am going to spain this year, my first family holiday abroad and I will say please and thank you etc to waiters, receptionists etc, I suppose it is nice to them to show that you are making a bit of an effort - even if they are laughing behind your back at your rubbish foreign accent.

As a "welsh lady" who works in a school, I think that our education system is a lot to blame for our failure to learn other languages. We have loads of kids age 3 - 11 in our school from homes who speak no Welsh at all. Wthin a year most speak it fluently - and welsh is a very hard language to learn. Small children are like sponges - they absorb so much and we don't realise they're doing it. I think some of this ability is lost when they get to Secondary school, but still think learning one foreign language should be compulsory to GCSE standard. Once you go off the beaten track of the tourist resorts a smattering of the local language makes a big difference.

It's quite surprising how much of a foreign language, learned many years ago,actually sticks in one's memory.I took French to 'A' level in school, many,many years ago, and have had little opportunity to use it since.(That said,I usually take the opportunity when away in Portugal on holiday, to pick up a French newspaper from one of the international news stands,bring it home and browse through at my leisure to see how much of it I can grasp.)Quite recently a French lady moved in to a house a few doors away and,at Christmas, we were invited for dinner and to meet her parents.Amazingly we managed a conversation in French (well,they were definitely speaking French and I used a mixture of French and sign language, but the thing is we got by and I felt quite pleased with myself.
My Portuguese has improved,though not quickly enough,over the years and important,frequently used, phrases such as 'another two bottles of your delicious house red' come as second nature to me now.
The Portuguese people are always helpful to anyone trying to speak their language and manage to keep their faces straight most of the time.
One tip I would offer to anyone intending to try out the local language when abroad, is to learn,at an early stage, the phrase for 'would you please speak more slowly';you'll find that it works wonders when the words come at you at a reasonable speed.
Finally, the BBC have short courses online in several foreign languages; try http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages

So far I've done a short Spanish course online and another in Italian.

I can now speak a rather confusing Spalian

(with the occasional school French thrown in for good measure)

When i was at school, i was made to learn Latin for a year. I also did French and German until I was able to drop the subjects at 14. I regret doing that now as at the time I based my decision on the fact that i detested my language teacher (justifiably so as they later admitted to the Headmaster in an enquiry not liking me and deliberately picking on me). I was quite good at German as I had lived in Germany and schooled there but my French pronunciation was truly dreadful. French with a North Nottinghamshire/Yorkshire accent does sound bad
Now, I love the idea of picking up foreign languages, but only Spanish seems to make any sense to me ( or is it that is the only one I can get to grips with!).

I did o level French at school and it came in very handy when in Paris last month.............even if it was basic!

The only problem was that Ive been to Mallorca Spain and Tenerife in the last few years and also tried to learn a few words...................so my "bonjour became Ola" and my "bon soir became Beunos noches"!!!

A bit confusing for everyone...................but at least I tried and they seemed to appreciate the effort

Roseweb have a lovely holiday and maybe a glass or two of vinho tinto will encourage you to get your phrase books out and be fluent before you go and also possibly a bit tipsy too Ate Logo Cheers Jayjan

That's an excellent idea, Jayjan ......... but first I've just got to watch Nadal v Moya! Always some excuse!!

I would love to be able to speak another language.I lived in Germany for 2 years back in the 60s and could get by and vividly remember that day in 1966 when England won the world cup.We were in a pub with the locals and after a "few" beers we managed to converse with the locals..I can still understand a little German but cant converse any more.I always try to say please,thank you and hello in the country I am visiting..My son did a linguistic degree and speaks German ,Spanish,French,Dutch,Japenese and a little Welsh.Some folk have an apptitude for languages especially if they can play a musical instrument.If another language was taught in Primary school children would learn easier than when they were teenagers.

My son did a linguistic degree and speaks German ,Spanish,French,Dutch,Japenese and a little Welsh.

Wow Jay would love him to come on holiday with me - I'd love to know what others were saying on their sunbeds (nosey) My friends husband's mother is German so he can speak German and they've joined us on holiday a couple of times. He came in very handy when the Germans were obviously talking about us on their sunbeds

My husbands parents are Polish so he can speak Polish albeit nervously when we were in Krakow (as he was born here in England).

I lived in Holland for 2 years and learnt a little Dutch - enough to get myself around on the bus and to order my drinks!! (and of course please and thank you). I also lived in Greece for a few months and learnt to order my drinks and unfortunately to swear (Don't blame me it was the Greeks thinking they were being funny )

funnily enough- whenever I have been taught of phrases by a local at least one is swearing
In my very younger days, in Benidorm one evening I was being pestered by someone in a nightclub( in my days we called it a disco!). A local friend told me how to say "go away" in Spanish( or thats what he said it was ) Judging by the fury on the pests face, his quick disappearance and the mirth of everyone around me, I gathered the words meant but did not say "go away"

On the subject of saying swear words - what about those words you don't realise are swearing. My friend, on holiday in Turkey, got a mixture of scowls and laughter when she asked for a peach schnaps. She was later told what the name of the fruit meant in Turkish language

14 years ago in Side the young son(10years old)of some Turkish friends told us this word which we understood to mean "oh my gosh".It wasnt until last year we realised it was very obscene!.My friend said it a lot as it always brought peels of laughter from the locals!

I first visited Turkey in 1980 and got very annoyed then because the locals wouldn't teach me Turkish because they all wanted to practice their English. Mass tourism was a fairly new concept back then. As years went by and I spent more and more time with Turkish people rather than British people I discovered that by 'osmosis' I had learned far more of the language than I realised. I was following whole conversations and understanding 7 words out of 10. However speaking was always much more of a problem!

My proudest moment was when a car stopped and the driver asked, in Turkish for directions to somewhere local and I was able to respond in Turkish and he understood my directions...I should add, I have an 'Eastern European' look about me so I often get taken for a local in many countries.

So my tip is mix with those who speak the local language all the time and forget your English.

Having said that I believe that some people just have a gift (or possibly a mind set) for languages. My partner was conversing in Spanish on our first visit there a few years ago, despite never having spoken the language before and he even picked up Catalan too! It's his education; he is fluent in French but was also taught ancient Greek and Latin at his school. He had more difficulty with Polish (didn't we all!) but the Greeks understand him even if they laugh! He also has a smattering of Italian. He's a good person to have around when attempting conversations with non-English speaking people!