I attended German and French lessons in school.
The only German I can remember is Wo ist dein hut?, and, quite frankly, if I ever met a German who owned a hat, I wouldn't care where it was.
On holiday, someone argued that although I might think that I learnt nothing, if I were forced to speak the language, I might find I knew more than I thought. So on a train in Portugal, we met a French family and I decided to put this to the test. The conversation went like this:
ME: Comment vous appelez vous?
WOMAN: Aww, écoute le crétin. Il essaie au moins.
ME: Er, yeah.
I did consider replying with Fiche-moi le camp!, but I considered firstly that using a phrase that I taught myself outside French classes would muddy the experiment, and secondly that Bugger off! was not an appropriate response at this juncture in the conversation.
Thus ended the experiment. I want those hours of my life back.
