There's a 'Show unread posts since last visit' link that's on top. When I click on it, then it shows me a bunch of new posts from all the sub forums.
Is there any way to limit the sub forum that it watches?
You can go to your profile settings and use 'Ignore Boards Preferences' to avoid seeing any stuff in boards you're not interested in. Just ignoring those local boards whose languages you don't speak works wonders.