Alright, I’ve actually gone and completed the first session for an experimental SSIKoineGreek, if anyone was curious about that, along with a rendition of the Seikilos epitaph by yours truly. Neither are perfect, but they’ll do for now, I reckon. Let me know what you guys think! (Although if you do want, that should all probably be in a separate thread I think? I dunno) 
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Just answered your PM 
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Very different from my experience of Norway. After working through Marm & Sommerfelt’s Teach yourself Norwegian for 6 weeks before travelling, I used Norwegian as far as possible while I was there, and the people I met were happy to find an English speaker had taken the time to learn some Norwegian. In fact I got a round of applause from everyone in the queue when I asked at a bus stop about buses to the youth hostel on my first day there.
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Times have clearly changed!! My story dated from about the 1960s!!!
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I suspect it depends on who you know; I know all of two Norwegian people reasonably well; one of them would probably refuse to speak Norwegian with me if I asked him to because he’d see no point as we both speak English; the other thinks that learning the language is a great idea and is more than happy to help.
I was there in 1971, when I was 19; sometimes seems like only yesterday 
This is interesting because a friend of mine just berated me for my lack of understanding of any African languages. So I countered with ‘‘I’m learning Hebrew which is Aramaic as is Ethipian so I should be able to bridge to learning Ethiopian next.’’
Sorry, my Zimbabwean friend countered that is not a SUB-SAHARAN African language.
But part of Ethiopia is sub-sahara is it not? - says me
(and since when did being sub-Saharan make it up the snob list of African langages thinks me)
Yes, but it doesn’t really count - says my friend - who is now coming close to be erased from my Christmas card list.
So what is a useful African language that counts - Swahili - says my nearing to be x-friend!
Is that a sub-saharan language?? - I reply
BIG SILENCE
So Aran what do you have up your sleeve in the African language basket?
I need to give my friend (possibly x-friend) a chance to save her face and to avoid the ultimate sanction of being eliminated from my Christmas card list!!
Justin
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Swahili certainly is sub-Saharan…
We’ve got contacts that can either provide or help us reach people for Shona, Ndebele, Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho… will that do for starters?..
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That’s great - my friend speaks Shona, English and Japanese
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This is a very long shot, but regarding funding I’ve always thought that the SSiW courses would be useful for the movie and (now that I think of it) international businessess. I have zero contacts in either area, but I do listen to a lot of geek/media podcasts and I’m relatively active on social media so I’ll keep an ear out for opportunities and/or ways to put SSiL in front of eyeballs that are connected to people willing to fund.
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I remember now. Nyasha who is Zimbabwean speaks Shona, French, Japanese and English. She was telling me that if she learns Spanish she is equipped to work on just about any continent. That is fantastic. I told her about SSiSpanish. She will need Level 3 though to be able to function at work in Argentina which is her ultimate goal. Currently, she is working in Paris.
So she has shamed me into thinking about which African language I should learn. I think it is going to be Ethiopian (because being Aramaic it bridges nicely from Hebrew - I imagine) and Swahili. Between them I should be able to hold my head up in front of Nyasha who is a sub-saharan snob!!.
On the Asian side I’m nor so certain what to choose. Nyasha claims that ‘‘spoken’’ Japanese is very easy so it may lend itself very well to the SSi speak-first approach. Written Japanese is apparently quite difficult. I have a little more chance of using Thai than Japanese if I learn it - though I don’t see a lot of Thai tutorials around - unless SSi ventures forth. One can always hope …!!
Justin
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SSiL?
L= Language of your choice?
Oh, I see! Thank you for clearing things to me. 
That would be fabulous, diolch yn fawr iawn
As the SSiBorg gets smoother (after being put through its paces by our new course creators) I’m thinking that we could maybe do a very good job of helping actors who need to learn a few phrases in a different language - I’ll get around to following that idea up one of these years…
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I know you didn’t really want a list of languages that we would all like SSi courses for, but I would still like to put in a word for Portuguese, if it hasn’t already been mentioned.
I would think this would be a natural for anyone who has pretty well mastered Spanish to go on to. And of course it potentially opens up Brazil, as well as Portugal (although the forms of the language are somewhat different in practice, I gather). But in principle, with Spanish and Portuguese, you are good to go in any part of Latin America, as well as the Iberian peninsula (and the Spanish overseas islands). Oh, and the ex-Portuguese territories in Africa too, I guess.
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I would love to see a SSi Irish, or SSi Breton. Saying that I’d love to learn any/all of the Celtic or Goidelic languages. Other that those I’m willing to give any language a go 
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