The Dominion Post – Dave Armstrong
“Regrets? I’ve had a few. In my experience, most people’s biggest regret is either not learning a musical instrument or a foreign language. Thanks to our country’s wonderful free Saturday morning music classes I don’t fall into the first category but definitely fall into the second. When I entered secondary school the only language on offer was French. Back then it was often taught as a written language. There was lots of rote learning and little speaking. As a result I was a far from ideal pupil. Today some foreign languages are in decline in schools and universities as students pursue more ‘useful’ subjects like commerce. This is a pity as languages exercise different parts of the brain than other subjects and can be great fun. Yet it used to be said that if you wanted to incur the wrath of Kiwis then just speak really loudly on a bus in a foreign language.”(more)