Foreign Language Training & Use

[Stan]

People often forget how quickly languages change.

I wonder if any similar events occur in other languages, particularly those that are spoken over wide areas and with significant local variation, and with languages that are rapidly evolving...

Hey Dude !
Just recently with a trip to Congo I realized how backwards my Belgian French and Lingala were. Kids laughing at you is a pretty good sign you are speaking a dead language.

When I got here in 95 and my first Estonian teacher returned from the States and we had dinner together, she too realized that her three years in DC had left her high and dry with Estonian. She refused to believe that the student had now become the teacher. With less than 1,5 million Estonian speakers in the world, they still managed to evolve leaving their grandparents behind.

It would seem to me that in most situations in Afghanistan knowledge of everyday speech would be more useful than the written language.

To echo Matt, better to concentrate on colloquial language and not worry about written... total different ball game for C2 speakers. Not to throw you under the bus or anything, but with four languages I reached real proficiency in country after about 5 years. That is to say, when they started to accuse me of being Finnish (which is a serious insult reserved for Russians) I knew I was there. Can't get rid of the accent, but can indeed improve on the grammar and speaking skills.

Stay safe Bro !

Stan