Defintely, it’s a waste of an opportunity. But as someone also living in non-English speaking country, it’s surprisingly a lot of effort to make sure I actually expose my self to the language. If you’re work and social circles are all predominately English speaking, you need to take active steps to have meaningful exposure (and you most certainly should!)

I think it’s different now that in the past, because it’s so easy to live in a bubble and spend a lot of time communicating online. Even back in the ‘old country’ I barely spoke with strangers, beside shop interactions. I have my headphones on, listening to music, watching streaming services, and interacting with my friends and family. Now that I’m abroad, I can do pretty much the same thing, I don’t need to watch the local TV channels I can just watch YouTube, I don’t desperately need to make local friends, because I videochat and game with my buddies back home very easily.

It’s taken a couple of years here to realise that without actively pushing myself, I’m not really picking up much of the language. Now I make myself listen to talk radio in the car, and try to overhear conversations on the train, rather than existing in my normal bubble. It’s absolutely worth it, but if I’d been motivated I could have made myself consume shows, radios, etc in the target language back I the ‘old country’. And while there’s certainly more possible language partners to practice with, if they don’t emerge naturally in your social circle, then it’s not all that much easier than finding someone back home who wanted to improve their English to be my language buddy.

Tldr it’s a waste to not learn the local language, but failing to do so isn’t so much “doing something wrong” as “not actively pursuing a challenging but reward interest”.

I have mental issues that severely impact memory. I am proud of my conversational level of French given all circumstances in my life. I can say and read most of it, but have a thick accent and trouble with southern accents in France. Northern french is easier for me to hear. There are so many aspects to language. I suggest Paul Taylor on youtube for a little insight.

I was exposed? Lol

Haha, yes I have. But I’m Irish, so blending words together in English is nor unusual.

My experience of French speaking in France is that the French appreciate the effort, but prefer the language not to be mangled, so will switch to English if you try French. However, if you don’t try, they may suddenly forget all their English.

The ohine is either a funny story or abusive behaviour. Idk