He taught himself to speak again with the help of Rosetta Stone English and his six-year-old granddaughter, but he still gets words mixed up once in a while, and apologizes often for speaking slowly.

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Or will ministers at least set a target date for its implementation so we can prepare the ground for the day when we can all go abroad and speak other languages rather than simply speaking more slowly and loudly in English in the hope "Johnny foreigner" will understand?

BBC: Parlez-vous francais?

Most airlines and airports are only too happy to help travellers in wheelchairs but sometimes fail to spot what is going to make life harder for us, or more often what is likely to rob us of our dignity and independence, like kettling all disabled passengers into a sort of roped-off "disabled ghetto" or bending over us and speaking very, very slowly.

BBC: The perils of flying with a wheelchair

He can then slowly lower his usual speaking pitch to that note.

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