I'm leaving in a few days for a holiday in the UK and Europe. I can't wait! Having finished my end of financial year "necessities" a few hours ago, my mind is already moving towards the northern hemisphere, warmer weather, a very special friend...and language. I have been having some interesting conversations with fellow Aussies - family and others - about languages. There is an increasingly strong policy move in Australia towards mandatory second language tuition in schools. We are very monolinguistic here. Few opportunities to speak, or hear, a second language, day to day, make it a fairly natural situation. But it's very frustrating when travelling. I have been studying French informally now for a couple of years, and I love it - the mental stimulation, the ability to listen to the French news without subtitles, and "get" most of the stories; the recognition of dialogue in French movies while trying to blank out the subtitles...and the speaking...