Whether it's a language like Spanish in which I feel very comfortable, or Turkish in which I can currently recognize barely 100 words and phrases, each time I attend a language table I learn something about the language, the culture or life in general. And it's all while having pleasant conversation with friends, old and new.
You cannot learn carpentry without building something out of wood, you cannot maintain your carpentry skills without continuing to build things out of wood. In the same manner, you cannot learn to speak a language without speaking it, and you cannot maintain your current speaking ability without speaking.
I'm not saying you can learn to speak a language merely by attending a language table once a week. However, you can maintain your current speaking ability and make small steps in progress by attending. Any extra time you spend throughout the week in study, reading. or using the language will just increase you progress.
About 50 years ago I took one year of French in college. I didn't use it at all until about 10 years ago, I started attending a French language table. At first I could understand very little, and my grammar and pronunciation were horrible. 10 years of attendance and some outside study and I can now understand almost all of what is said, and although my accent and my grammar isn't perfect, I can express myself on most topics.
3 years ago I took a one year course in Mandarin Chinese. After that I attended a Chinese table for about a year, doing some home study during that time. Last May I spent 2 weeks in Beijing, mostly talking with locals who spoke no English. My comprehension wasn't as good as my French, and again my accent and grammar were not real good, but we were able to have pleasant conversations on general topics. See 20,000,000 Teachers in Beijing.
I could recite similar stories about Spanish, German and Italian and hopefully others in the near future, but language tables played a significant role in all of these.
And they can for you too. If you're not fortunate enough to live in or near Bemidji in the beautiful North Woods of Minnesota, find or start a language table in your area. All you need to start is one person who has a reasonable command of the language and one or two others who have a sincere desire to learn. The world is small, let's get to know our neighbors from around the world.
