I'm studying French as a hobby and I'm at the stage (after six months) where I can read a newspaper now. I'm not fluent in conversation and still have a long wa

I'm studying French as a hobby and I'm at the stage (after six months) where I can read a newspaper now. I'm not fluent in conversation and still have a long way to go, but (I keep telling myself) it's my journey and I'm doing it for myself. French is, undoubtedly, easier than Japanese so I appreciate that you're commenting about that language specifically, but I do react against this notion that learning something new (esp. a language) is all blood, sweat and tears. I'm really enjoying the study: each new word I can recognise feels like an achievement. It might take me years to become proficient but the alternative is to spend those years in ignorance; it's a no-brainer. I would recommend anyone with a hacker mindset (but, basically, anyone) to find a way to learn a language or two. The thing that got me started was this article: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/29/15258/287 http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/29/15258/287 And this article pointed me to a set of open source products (Mnemosyne particularly) which have helped immensely with memorisation: http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-05/ff_wozniak http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-05/ff_woznia...