Quoting Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>:
> Roger Mills wrote:
>
> > It's amazing that languages are still taught that way. It's how I learned
> > Spanish back in the 50s. Although I was #1 in my Spanish classes, when I
> > stepped off the plane in Madrid I was utterly tongue-tied, and couldn't
> > understand a word of what people were saying. Spanish speakers have often
> > said that my spoken Span. is "bookish". (Though at the height of my
> fluency,
> > I was immensely flattered when someone asked what country I came from!?)
>
> All adult Icelanders were always praising my excellent Icelandic, but
> a little girl spoke the truth: _Af hverju talar hann eins og bók_
> "Why does he speak like a book?"
Don't worry. I've been asked that _in Swedish_.
Andreas