When you spend a year or so in Morocco - you either speak Mahgrebi or French... or go hungry. Very little English is spoken there ...
Yes, that sort of thing does tend to concentrate the mind. For me (at any rate) "total immersion" due to "needs must" has always produced good results, be it with "street Arabic", computer programming, problems with electronics ... or, indeed, learning to swim (long time ago now).
Although, I must admit that the simple ability to point usually worked quite well on the streets of Tatleeth, Onaiza, downtown Hofuf, and in the
souks of Khamis Mushayt, Najran
et al. Anyone for
dajaj? 
