Language Update

I just signed up for a Welsh language course. Duolingo is ok for the basics but doesn't give you the grammar (which Welsh has a lot of). Duolingo, really: I think it's the equivalent of those little Collins phrasebooks you used to get. So now you can say a few basic useful phrases in whichever language it is, but you can't really speak it. 

And Duolingo Welsh: what's all this about pannas (parsnips)? Apparently it's some kind of injoke but it gets everywhere. 

Also, fluency isn't grammar. I suspect my French is more grammatically correct than my Spanish, but I speak Spanish more fluently. Or else there's a different reason for this: if I'm speaking French to someone in France they'll sometimes reply in English, but if I'm speaking Spanish to someone in Spain I don't get English back. 

This could be fluency or it could be a different mindset - French people: "this person is an English speaker, I'll help them by speaking English." Spanish people: "this person is making an effort to speak my language, I'll appreciate that effort and continue to speak it." I've no evidence for that though. 

I also fell out with the French conversation class I was in because - essentially - while I'm quite fond of France and French culture, it isn't to the exclusion of other, especially European, cultures.