Nick Maclaren wrote:
For the people in that situation (at a wild guess, 30% of the UK),
immersion is a complete waste of time. I used to be able to read
simple French (e.g. newspapers, popular novels) faster than most
French people, and can still read it after a fashion. I can neither
speak nor hear it reliably, but can just about communicate. This
is not all that rare, and is not always solved by any amount of
practice, immersion or torture.

Not torture, one would hope, but immersion is the key I'm certain, that
and love. My husband is very dyslexic, and at school his French was non
existant. He however got a 1st at uni and a master's degree, wrote
hundreds of publications and a few books. He lectures and give many
conferences around the world, notably in France, annually, and in
French.

After over 20 years he's been listening to my family twice a year, and
me, he has now an amazing grasp for the language but also the nuances,
the puns that the French loves so much. He has never studied it, but
simply communicated as much as he could. He cannot read nor write
French either. Just talk.

Les jardiniers sont dotés d'une sensibilité à fleur de pot.