>>9
Actually I'm german and the attitude I described applies to tons of people I have met, be it germans, british people or former yugoslavs, it's even the same on the internet when you see how many people think that AJATT is the shit, so they try it and fai.
I have no idea what you mean with the "magical United States of Europe", but it sure is nice to go France, Italy, Spain, Poland or Denmark etc. with no border at all.
I don't think you can speak empirically on that point.
I've yet to meet a person that is better at aquiring new languages because it has a certain one as mother tongue, it all comes down on how much work you put into it and how much you actually use the language.