The study of language loss or language attrition is a relatively new sub-field in language pedagogy (see, for example, the volume edited by Weltens, de Bot van Els in this series). Until recently, the effectiveness of foreign-language teaching programmes was solely defined in terms of the outcomes at the end of the training period. The research reported in the present volume looks beyond that point: it investigates the question what happens to school-learned receptive foreign-language skills during the years after the training period.