A language is like a city

Learning a new language is like moving to a new city. This analogy isn't originally mine — I got it from the Word Collector blog — but I really love the idea, and I want to expand on it.

Learning a city
The average person grows up living in one city. You start out learning the basics: where's your house, then what's on your street, then what's in your neighborhood, and so on. Eventually as you get older you know all the locations of all the hot spots; you can point someone to the... continue reading at Fluent Every Year