Feb 21 - International Mother Language Day

Hi Gérard, everyone !
Long ago when the channel tunnel was being built and the polyglot café didn't exist, we organized in Calais English speaking or Spanish speaking groups because a lot of people from foreign countries had settled in Calais.
I remember a black south American lady who had forgotten her mother tongue and was happy to gradually remember the words thanks to these groups. It was amazing ! This lady used to follow her husband who worked in different places round the world.
To day I have come across this link about that problem and I wanted to share it with you.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-27690891

Some people have gone decades without speaking or hearing their first language but they retain the ability to speak it easily, says Dr Monika Schmid, a linguistics professor at the University of Essex in the UK. But others begin losing fluency within a few years of not speaking it.

Any of you have experienced that ?

Hi Muriel,

> others begin losing fluency within a few years of not speaking it.
I know of foreign people living in France and attending our language meetings who are in this case and they count on us (who learn their language) to sometimes help and suggest words they cannot remember.

Hi Gérard !
I am happy to observe, thanks to you, that polyglot cafés are useful for native and non- native speakers !