I've lived 15 years outside the United States. I used to speak German conversationally, but it's been 19 years since I left there. I've studied a little bit of Dutch, Chinese, and a couple years of Spanish. I've done a few lessons of Swahili after I visited Kenya this spring. I spent five weeks studying Italian every day in Italy, then spent an evening with an Italian family that didn't speak English. I even told them about my conversion to Christ. I left Italy a week later. That was 23 years ago. I barely remember a word of Italian, but I do remember some things about its grammar and pronunciation. I've always loved languages.
The following pages (just page right now) are on foreign languages in general, and they address issues that you'll run across right here in the United States: things like how to guess at people's last names and how to recognize and interpret foreign words and English words with foreign origins.