Do people need to attend classes just for learning to speak a language? I started to have English course in 5th year of primary school in China and studied seriously for the following highschool and college years before leaving for US. However, still, I could not even fluently/easily/minimally communicate in English with people around during the first several months of arrival, not to mention TV programs or movies. Even the quick-to-learn profanity would sound so strange and different then.
There are quite a few French speaking TV channels in Ottawa and there are numerous free online sites and local library collections for French learning. Why bother getting together with others wasting time/money and exchange bad habits? Have you heard of English communication corner (Ying Yu Jiao) in colleges while in China? The more people with the same level practise with each other, the poorer the language skill becomes, especially while people are detached from the true overall language/culture atmosphere.
