Das ist gut c'est fantastique

[VectraMan]

Mark Twain had some interesting observations to make on German.

Well that's depressing. Good read though, thanks.

If you're speaking German to natives, I found often that if you don't get the pronunciation just right, they really don't understand you.

I'm suprised by that. I would have thought it'd be easier to be understood in German than it would in French, especially as the Germans seem much more willing to speak English.

65% of words in German are very similar to English. Only 25% of French words are similar to English - usually the latin based one.

I'm suprised by that too. I remember learning things like le pique-nique and le football and wondering if the teacher wasn't just having us on.

[Cyberman]

Like yourself, I learned French to 'O' level. Most of it I have forgotten unfortunately.

I worked for a German company for over a decade and they sponsored employees to learn German. After 20 years I am still not fluent but I did reach advanced level and when working in Germany always take the opportunity to do the night school. It's a very good way of meeting people and I have made some longterm friends via that route!!

Nowadays, I am learning Portuguese and I am currently reading Wuthering Heights in Portuguese(very useful as English translation is in the margins!!) having previously dabbled in Spanish. This is mainly because I eventually would like to live and work in South America at some stage in the future.