Jul, an American living in Munich, recently talked about learning a foreign language and asked 'How do you improve your foreign language skills?'

I immediately started to answer, but half way through, decided my answer was much too long for a comment.
To explain how I practice my language skills, I first have to explain how I learned the language in the first place...

Before I left England for Germany, I very sensibly decided that, if I was going to spend my near future in a foreign country, it might make sense to learn the lingo. I bought a "Teach Yourself Book - A First German" and sat down during my midday breaks and in an evening to study it. I got as far as page 46 before leaving for Germany and learned such interesting and useful sentences as 'Does the dog bite?' and 'The gas-cooker is in the kitchen'.

Of course - having only reached page 46 I never grasped the importance of being able to choose between 'the', 'the' and 'the', before diving headlong into everyday German communication.
In the preface the author of the book states 'One aim of this book is to simplify the learning of endings.' He forgets to explain how important articles are...
How are you supposed to use the accusative, if you know how the article alters to form it, but don't know the correct article in the first place.
Well, well done L.Stringer - you taught me the difference between light and dark, but I never learned if it was 'the' table or 'the' table.

When I arrived in Germany at last, I was able to ask 'what time is it?', but unable to understand the answer. I was able to say 'I'm hungry' but unable to tell anyone what I'd like to eat. And then, all of a sudden, there was a rather disconcerting problem...
... what was I going to do for a living?!

My German girlfriend had told me it wouldn't be a problem to find a job and, hopeless optimist that I am, I'd believed her. Then I suddenly realised that working, more often then not, also entailed writing.
For some reason, no-one wanted to employ an engraver who would engrave the wrong articles into his workpiece, or a graphic Designer who could design a pamphlet without any text...
Luckily I was offered a job as a reproduction-photographer. I grabbed the chance with relief.

The first weeks were spent in a darkroom (and I mean 'dark' - panchromatic film registers all light sources), with someone trying to explain to me what he was doing at any precise moment. It was fun, I can tell you!
You can't imagine how tiring it is to listen to a voice in the dark, knowing just how important the grasp of those foreign words is to your future.

But I had a concrete reason for wanting to learn German - I wanted to be able to communicate with my girlfriend, her family and her friends. They were a great help! All of them - a big thank you in retrospect!

After just a few months I could communicate quite well, so I decided to buy a book - a children's book that I'd already read - "Münchhausens Abenteuer". I was hopelessly overtaxed. Then one day, I was expected to lie around at the open-air swimming pool, a thing I hate. In my boredom, I went to the kiosk and purchased a penny dreadful (a dime novel, for you americans, Groschenroman in German), and WOW!! the style of writing was entirely different - I could understand it.
I read dozens of those novels in the following weeks and my German progressed in leaps and bounds.

Sadly, I never did get my mind around German articles - they clashed with what little French I'd learned at school and never seemed to make sense. I mean - which idiot decided that a roof is neutral while a table is male, unless, of course, you are talking about a spreadsheet, in which case it becomes female...

The result?
I speak fluent German - so much so that the Swiss and many Germans automatically presume that I am German - until they listen closely to how I mumble my way around articles.
My advice to anyone learning German?
Take care to learn the difference between 'the', 'the' and 'the'!!

How did you learn to speak a foreign language?

It looks as if I might have to remove an earlier post from this column...

Apparently I am disturbing people on the other side of the world and the post is attracting a number of offending comments.
(I have removed and shall continue to remove the most insulting of them)
The problem is connected to religion and religion, for some reason, always seems to be connected to violence and radicalism.
The Koran, The Bible and the teachings of Buddha all tell us to respect others [beliefs] and to live in peace and yet, for over 2000 years people have been crucified for being Christians, or cut down by the sword for not being Christian.

In more recent times it is not even enough to be of Christian faith (and I suppose other religions have similar problems) people have been beheaded or bombed to death for being Protestant or Catholic and whole Cantons [Appenzell inner and outer Rhoden] and countries have been divided by faith.

The past few years have seen heated arguments about headscarves in schools and universities - What happened to acceptance?
If Catholic nuns are allowed to wear their habits in Hospitals and (admittedly, Catholic) schools, why shouldn't Muslim maids be allowed to cover their heads as required of them by their faith.

I can't see anything insulting in last years post about the accepted attire and the resulting hygiene problems in European swimming baths, in fact I am sure that other posts I have written have been very much harder on my Swiss neighbours.
I was commenting on facts, not passing judgement.

Please try to accept the fact that I am only commenting (if ironically) on my surroundings and please refrain from posting insulting comments.