I was dreadful at languages at school (I don't think my father's negative attitude sent the right messages to a young daughter – he went ballistic when he heard that we were to learn German: 'we didn't win the war so that you could learn German' etc). Anyway, I spent six years suffering French and two German. It was a form of torment, nearly on a par with the torture of maths.
About eight years ago, though, I decided that I considered that it was a real loss not to be able to speak another language (this was, incidentally, before I'd ever been anywhere on the Continent apart from Amsterdam, where everyone speaks English fluently). I also dislike the English attitude toward other languages/countries and wanted to lift myself above that. The other half suggested German, pointing out that, since it's related to English, it would end up being easier.
I've done two evening courses and a fair bit of casual studying on my own: I have managed to speak a bit when in Germany, to the point of managing something resembling a conversation, which really chuffed me. I can read rather more – it's a great excuse to read Asterix books in German
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In the last couple of years, I've visited France and Spain for the first time and have used as much of the languages as I can. Remarkably, after a quarter of a century, French vocabulary and the odd basic phrase has been coming back to me – the human mind is a remarkable thing.