"Only just".

[zanooda2]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" 
<gbannister10 at ...> wrote:
 
> It's a bit like me with German: I understand a lot and I 
> can write it but my speaking is no longer as good as it 
> was because I get little opportunity to practise it.


zanooda:

I know what you mean. It's like my French - I used to know it really 
well in my youth, but it so happened that I didn't have any opportunity 
to use it for about 25 years, so now I can't say anything in French, 
because only English words come to mind :-). OTOH, if needed (very 
rarely), I can understand spoken French rather well, and I can read 
easily - I read HP in French translation without looking in the 
dictionary even once :-). But it's not what I meant when I said I can't 
speak English well, I meant my accent - I can't get rid of it :-).