I speak two languages, English mother-tongue and Italian. I can write fairly well in Italian, the grammar and syntax are a bit off though. I am a self-taught Italian speaker, which works only because I actually live in the country itself. I doubt that I would have learnt much more than the very Tarzan level of competence if I hadn’t.
I would like to learn to speak French, Spanish and possibly some Mandarin. It wouldn’t be too difficult for me to practice any of these languages with mother-tongue speakers where I live and at my job. The problem is making time to study, I am too lazy to do it properly.
This will be my new goal at the end of Bloganuary, trying to improve my knowledge of either French or Spanish. I think that setting myself specific weekly and monthly goals will help me, otherwise I get overwhelmed and will put it off until an unspecified date.
French it is! Oui!
30 Years in Italy 
Wow! The title of your blog and the fact that you moved to Italy at 19, and it’s now your home! That’s amazing!
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Impressive! My brother has learned to communicate in German and some in other languages due to teaching trips with the university he works for and he said the hardest thing is to quit “thinking” in your mother tongue because that keeps you “translating” the other language instead of experiencing it. So your living around others you can “practice” with seems a good way to experience and learn the language and it can be so enriching to learn about other cultures as you learn the language. Go for it!
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