Host nation immersion works - better for some than others, though. I'll never forget DH going into a cheese shop and asking for 500g of sliced "cash register" instead of sliced cheese. But German was pretty easy for me - Thai, on the other hand, not so much. That whole intonation and pronunciation thing and all... 
Richard
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“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” - To Kill A Mockingbird (Atticus Finch)
“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.” - Robert Heinlein
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