Larry,
It's interesting with the romance languages. I'm terrible with languages, after 3 semesters of Spanish the only useful phrase I learned was "No habla Espanol". Still, I've found that by going back to the Latin roots, which crop up in English all the time, it's possible to figure out the essence of what's being said with no formal knowledge of the language.
Steve

Approach life like you do a yellow light - RUN IT! (Gail T.)