Actually, what *IS* the point?

***Found this from before Christmas, waiting to be sent t'blog ... how
bitter was I? Happy New Year everyone!!***

Today, as I comb-bound some documents for Ulí, I found myself asking this
very question in regards to learning a foreign language. Last night I was
looking on the BBC News website, when I found a section about people
learning languages, and how students are less likely to take a language to
degree level etc., and this got me wondering.

Most language students like me struggle through the British education
system to do the best we can. I was lucky, I had a brilliant Spanish
teacher in high school, and I feel that had it not been for her, I wouldn't
be studying my degree in Spanish. She was a fiesty lady, who was actually
Spanish. Some people are not so lucky. They have crappy teachers who don't
know how it is best to teach a language. Furthermore, in the vast majority
of English schools, we are taught the oh-so predictable French as a first
foreign language.

I studied French for a year, only so I could get out of PE. I was allowed
to take it as my second foreign language as I was good at Spanish. In
comparison, French is much more difficult than French. I think Spanish is a
much more regular language, and for me, it is easier to read and pronounce.
The system of accents is much more simple: 5 acute accents for stress (á,
é, í, ó, ú); the 'ñ' which is a seperate letter; and ü to signify that the
'u' is pronounced in -güe or -güi when it normally wouldn't be. Whereas
French has a vertiable range of accents, that at 12 I found hard to cope
with.