AVR-Chat

I have been following the thead on Basic, "C" and asm for programing 
and then forth was mention.  I would like to know more about forth in 
regards to the avr devics.  Let me also say that I have very little 
experince in programing in amy language.  Mostly just altering the code 
in some simple basic programs.  I am retired so I am not bound to 
learnig the language that is most popular for the work place. I have 
always liked what I have read about forth and thought that I would like 
to learn how to program with it.  I am now starting the book "C 
programming for Microcontrollers" using the AVR butterfly and the free 
WinAVR compiler.  The comments about WinAVR compiler on this list and 
other places are not all that good, however it is "free" money wise but 
I wonder about time wise.  Another question is how much time do you 
have to invest in learning an language and which one would be suited to 
a causal user.
John B.