try learning “scouse”
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Yes Welsh of course!
Da iawn JBR!
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I watched something with the actor Stephen Graham in it, and he speaks it really well 
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Yes. I do think Welsh sounds rather sexy, though to be honest I don’t understand a word of it.
Actually, I do understand one word: ‘ambiwlans’. Can’t think why, though.
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Ooh sexy?
Some think it’s a bit too harsh sounding like Dutch and German to be sexy…
But the south Walian accent lilt is quite sexy to some I think 
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I’m definitely more Scouse than Welsh accent
but can speak a very neutral, almost ‘posh’ English
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@Rhian & @JBR - I have always thought of Welsh as being very musical - maybe I have just watched too many old b/w films about the Rhonda where everyone is singing!.
I think I mentioned in the ‘old place’ I buy crafty stuff from a firm whose UK office in in Wales - and they often put little videos up on YouTube. There are three presenters - one man, two women - all Welsh and all have different accents. Lovely though. 
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Because they don’t need to.
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The secondary school I went to back in the late fifties and early sixties didn’t have French, or any other language on the curriculum. Most people from a small South Yorkshire pit village didn’t go abroad in those days (a week in Bridlington was the best you could expect) and I don’t suppose people could have ever dreamed what was going to happen in the future, with foreign travel available for the masses. Of course you would be more likely to travel abroad if you were rich and your kids went to grammar school, so they taught French and Latin.
Personally I’ve never seen the point of learning a language for a couple of holidays abroad each year. I would certainly learn the language if I ever decided to live in another country, and can appreciate that some people enjoy learning a language as a hobby, but at my time of life I would consider it a complete waste of time, and my interests lay in things of a more practical nature.
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I decided to learn German. That was probably about 25 years ago, and I’ve forgotten more than half of what I learned. An unexpected thing that came out of it was that my understanding of how English works was greatly enhanced by learning another language, and most of that knowledge has stayed with me. Learning another language is definitely not a waste of time.
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I just don’t have the time Harbal, I’d love to play a musical instrument, or build a working steam engine as well, but time is running out and my life is ‘choc o block’ full of adventure…You have to draw the line somewhere.
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Infinitely better than a week in Blackpool!
Absolutely. All British people who travel to foreign countries know that it is not necessary to learn the language. All you have to do is shout loudly and slowly (in English) and they understand every word.
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I hesitate to disagree with you, JBR, but I would not have faired so well in India had I not learned some Hindi before going. The family with whom I stayed knew no English at all and lived well away from the tourist routes. Admittedly it was different in Delhi - the children all learned English in school and thought it great fun to act as interpreters for me.
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How very kind - thank you! 
I think under special circumstances like yours Tabby, being able to communicate with the locals would be essential. No such problems in Benidorm though…
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When we were at School (a long time ago) you had to learn a language, you had a choice of French or Italian, I did Italian.
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While they are accepting your money being fluent in the local lingo is not necessary JB.
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I learnt to do ‘Algebra’ at school and I can honestly say that I have never needed it in my 72 years. So I’d like to say “Thanks a bunch” to the one kid in my class who turned into a physicist and benefited from learning Algebra, because of you, we all had to spend unlimited mind numbing hours learning about something we have never needed. And I feel exactly the same about languages. Either most people have long forgotten everything they learned about languages except maybe to count to ten in French and Spanish (which I can do anyway, as well as good morning, good night and thank you) or have since learned a language because they are interested in that language, or went to live in a foreign country.
As I reach this end of my life and I need to make peace with my God, I realise that religious instruction was probably a lot more important than it actually seemed at the time. There are some amazing examples to be found in most religions that will shape your life for the better, if you exclude the extremist bits of course.
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To my understanding, which is very limited, algebra is intended to teach you how to think mathematically. It isn’t something you actually use as a thing in itself. So it is something that probably has been of use to you without your being aware of it. Real education is always worthwhile, at the very least it develops your ability to think.
There are certainly plenty of amazing examples of what people are prepared to believe. 
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