That is quite interesting, CP...in my teens, I actually learned just enough Russian to be able to read a few of the classic short stories by such authors as Chekhov and Tolstoy...just wanted the direct flavour of such genius...which is prolly never fully translatable!
Hi Didge, as I wrote in my blog - nonnative speaker of English, I know besides my mother tongue, four Indian languages, I am not counting English since English is a foreign language ;)) I am fluent in all and I dunno how long it took, it came naturally almost effortlessly Didge. Everyone in India know Hindi, as it is an official language although southern Indians struggle a bit with Hindi. English is also an official language....so basically an average Indian knows two official languages besides their mother tongue;))
I'm envious. I'm a klutz at languages and it's something I'd have liked to do. Still, it's hard when there's little local opportunity to use them ... unless, of course, I was to visit ethnic clubs and communities.
carbonproduct 