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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National

UNCOVERED: Recalling the joys of learning languages | History Defined

People sitting outside a restaurant in Paris, France
‘I was repeatedly told that my French couldn’t be understood until I started speaking it in what I thought was a comic French accent.’ Photograph: Alamy

How refreshing to read Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett’s piece on the advantages and fun of learning languages (At last, a proper excuse for monoglots to learn another language: it helps keep your brain young, 12 July).

I first heard something similar to the expression she mentions from my future French father-in-law when he opened a very good bordeaux with the comment “C’est le bon dieu en culotte de velours”.

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