I had my German some years back, Spanish a year ago and am looking forward to Chinese once the time is ripe for my usage in its purpose. I have never dreamed of learning these languages, nor do I intended to utilize them the way the world now does business, which cannot be ignored since the existence of overlapping interests of all nations certified and nullified by globalization to be at it central locus. You like it or not, we cannot resist or turn away from it as it comes. The future ahead requires us to be able to master (spoken and written) at least two or more foreign languages. The world is creeping into itself my friends, and once you start to learn:

This is Tom. Tom is a boy.

This is Dick. Dick is man.

This is Harry. Harry is Chief.

Then I am sure you are capable of also learning "akemashite omedetou (happy new year)"in Japanese or ein fröhes neues Jahr in German.

What I am saying is, don't rely on our government to spoon-feed us or direct us to paths we may build our interest later on. Intuition tells you how you would say "hello" to fellow wantoks in another language, which natively not yours because you are from Savo or Temotu. Take that simple instinct by heart and apply it in Spanish, Japanese or Chinese. The rest comes on naturally and easily as you build-on to expand your memory. We have proven this workable in singing (don't tell me you can't sing - I saw you singing "God save our Solomon Islands" in your primary days without understanding what those words really meant-) so there should be no excuse when it comes to alien languages.

Of course it would have been easier if there is some sort of curriculum pre-existing but as I have said, we cannot always consume resources at the expenses our government expenditure.

The challenge for us is to take on our own armor and use it while we have that opportunity at hand. In reality, there is a working world out there, and is independent on how we do or learn things. If you want to be successful in life beyond our shore lines, you have to take the risk and learn to be on your own when no one is there for you because I strongly believe you can.

Tangio nao,