WOMAN: I decided a few years ago that I wanted to take French lessons. I'd studied French at school, but that was years ago and you know what it's like to study something because you have to rather than because you want to. Anyway, I enrolled on a ten-week evening course – it was on Monday nights for an hour and a half. At the end of the course I realized that I hadn't really learnt much. I was just too tired at the end of the day to sit in a classroom and take in what the teacher was saying. Also once a week isn't really enough in my opinion.
I then got the opportunity with work to go to Paris for six months. As you can imagine I was thrilled. I was totally immersed in the language there – I had to speak French every day, everywhere, to everyone. It was wonderful! Now that I am back in the UK I'm doing another course, an advanced one, but this one is twice a week. I also try to get together with some of my classmates at the weekend and some of us are even going to organize a trip on the Eurostar to Lille for a weekend.

MAN: I love languages. I think it might be because I love travelling and I think that it makes a real difference to your trip if you can speak the language of the place you're visiting. Obviously some languages are more difficult than others and you don't always have time to take lessons before going somewhere. But you can always learn a few words and phrases. It makes a huge difference – people tend to be much more friendly and helpful if they can see you've made a bit of an effort. I think the minimum you need to learn to get around is greetings, numbers, and 'thank you'. It also helps if you know how to say 'I don't understand' and 'I'm from...' wherever you're from. I did this when I went to Korea for the World Cup in 2002. I then realized that I liked the sound of Korean and decided to take lessons when I got back to the UK. It wasn't easy finding a teacher but I did. I've now been back to Korea every year since 2002 to practise what I've learnt. It's a beautiful country and the people are so delighted when they hear me speak. I've been invited to people's houses, taken out for meals, been given discounts in shops... I love it and would recommend it to everyone.