Joseph, You are awesome; keep up the good work. ...Clearly, it was some xenophobic 'Murcan who downvoted you. I'm one of the relatively few Yanks who has learned as much about other languages as possible. It has made my world bigger and made my life better. I've sung in many languages, so I've studied pronunciation. More than once, I've been mistaken for a native speaker of a language which I did not speak, but. which I sang in. One of the greatest compliments of my life.

Dacey, Dutch is so close to English that, in may situations, English speakers can read basic text in Dutch. Ok, not Americans; but educated persons. And Chinese, whether Mandarin or Cantonese, is easier for many persons than learning a European language. But of course, Americans wouldn't know that. Just fyi: I moved to a place where Spanish is spoken commonly. Within a few weeks, I could do my job in Spanish. Later, I learned how to speak enough Spanish to play music with musicians who spoke little or no English. I took no classes, and had no tutors, other than the persons I worked with. Americans are a disgrace when it comes to language. We are quite possibly the most uneducated nation on the planet where language is concerned. Spanish is so incredibly much easier to learn than English. It's like the difference between checkers and chess. But try telling that to Americans who are too lazy or stupid to even try. Morons.