I used to speak French fairly fluently. I had almost considered languages and linguistics as a major before I fell in love with biology. I had four years in high school and five semesters of college level conversation and reading classes, not quite enough for a minor, but enough to keep me in practice without interfering with the science and math heavy electives and co-requirements a biology major needed. In the intervening ten years with lack of anyone to practice with, my language skills have declined. I can still read French pretty well. I've picked up a few French readers and am surprised by my level of comprehension. It's that huge difference between passive and active learning in language acquisition. Regardless of my reading comprehension, my conversational skills are *woefully* lacking. I was considering a refresher class, but instead found a conversational French group geared toward beginner speakers. They meet for a couple of hours each week, so I went to a meeting today. I give the group a thumbs up. Although not mentioned on the website (at least I didn't see it) he does charge per session ($15), but I thought it was well worth it. There are usually 6-8 people there and during the winter there may be as many as 20, today for the first 45 minutes it was just me and the instructor, and then a second student arrived. So it was nice to have semi-private instruction as I slowly eked my way through and dusted off my vocabulary with him. Lot's of, "Comment vous dites _____ en francais?" or various bits of Fran-glish as I tip toed around words that completely escaped me. The instructor was extremely patient and light hearted and made for a comfortable learning and practicing environment. Although I've never formally studied Spanish, I understand quite a bit and every now an then a Spanish word would slip out, "J'ai habite dans Pgh soulemente" I found phrases like, "J'etudie las mariposas noches" flowing from my lips easier than, "J'etudie les papillions et les mites." The instructor is working on developing a curriculum and book of his own, so he does have some structure working through lessons out of old texts. But it's not like a normal class. It's a relaxed environment with people who want to learn and speak the language, not like a college level "I'm just here to fulfill a requirement" sort; with apparently a diverse group of people (when they show). The group is geared toward beginners, most started from ground zero with this discussion group, however I think it's an ideal place for me given how rusty my speaking skills are. Next week, we'll see if more of my memory has been jogged. I need to start a language journal (paper) to bring along to keep notes as the instructor interjects with idioms and phrases and tenses not yet covered in the text and dig out a French verb book.