Reasons for choosing the foreign language you have picked

[Cainntear]

For me it's all rather complicated.

My parents met when they were training to be teachers, and when they were finishing, there were two jobs on the island of Barra that they were ideally suited for. Due to a mix up by the council, they didn't get the paperwork for in time. My entire childhood, by mum kept telling all of us that we were supposed to have been brought up on Barra and we were supposed to be bilingual; so Gaelic was always in my head as something I was supposed to learn. It wasn't until I was on my third language (Spanish) that I eventually did something about it, because I thought it was a bit rude that I was learning all these foreigners' languages and I wasn't learning my own countrymen's language.

The first language I did any learning of was French. Before I went to school I could sing in French (although I didn't really know what I was singing -- I only understood a few nouns) and that was the language I started at high school in compulsory language lessons. In between, I had spent a lot of summers in France, so the language was something I wasn't really intimidated by and didn't seem as alien and irrelevant to me as it does to a lot of high school kids.

Italian was the only other language offered at the school, so I took that for a couple of years. I picked it back up years later due to a brief spell dating an Italian woman, then years after that I spent several months working in Sicily.

Language number 3: Spanish -- this was partly because of cultural interest (I play a little bit of flamenco guitar) but mostly because my big sister was learning it, and she can be pretty unbearable when she thinks she's better at something than other people, so I didn't want her to be better than me.

Gaelic I've already mentioned.

I then learned some very basic stuff in several Indian languages because I was working on telephone support and our first line helpdesk was in Bangalore. As my colleagues were all complaining about jobs going to India, I thought it was important to show some genuine respect, and language was the best way to do that (I also started using Bangalore time when discussing things with them rather than expecting them always to conform to UK time).

Catalan was due to a combination of factors: 1) as a pro-independence Scot, I feel a certain affinity with Catalonia; 2) I kept meeting Catalans and could understand a lot of what they were saying; 3) the Catalans I met stopped talking Catalan among themselves when I was there and spoke Spanish instead so that I could join in, which seemed a bit silly.

Corsican (I never really learnt it well) was because I was living and working in Corsica, and despite it not being necessary, it seemed polite, and it was a similar situation to Catalan (all three reasons for Catalan above hold for Corsican too).

Everything else was just dabbling for general curiosity about languages.

[sans-serif]

Heh, I was mostly just doing what I was being told.

I studied German, English, Swedish and French in school because I (and my parents) thought it would be useful to know several languages. Those four were the "useful ones" according to conventional wisdom at the time. I also took a little bit of Japanese in high school because I was really into anime. I think it's actually the only language I've started learning just out of personal interest.

[tomgosse]

I explained part of my reason for studying French in the first post of my log. Here is a bit more of my biography.

I am sixty-six years old, and grew up in the United States. Back in the fifties there was a television show called Captain Gallant Of The Foreign Legion. I loved that show. Of course, I had no knowledge of the political situation in North Africa, I just liked the kepis they wore. And, they never explained why an American was an officer in the Legion, or why a ten year old boy got to hang around with them.

As I got older I watched other French "stars" such as Pepé Le Pew. I loved his French accent. I became convinced that speaking like Maurice Chevalier was the height of sophistication.

In my later teens I wanted to run away and join the Foreign Legion. Thankfully I got over that idea early. But, I still watch documentaries about the Legion on YouTube.

Later on, in high school, I read novels by the Lost Generation: Fitzgerald, Hemingway, etc.

Today I'm still an arm-chair adventurer. I fantasize about sitting in French café, smoking Gauloises, while writing my novel, à la Ernest Hemingway.

I think I'll spend the afternoon reading A Moveable Feast.

À bientôt mes amis,
Tom

[sillygoose1]

I chose French because I was always interested in the literature, cinema, and philosophy produced in this language. When I was 18 I was supposed to go on a trip to Switzerland, so I took courses freshman year in French and German. After learning more about those cultures and meeting bilingual students, I decided that I wanted to be bilingual, too. My dad never spoke his native language with me or my sister, so I wanted to make up for that. Eventually, I started really getting interested in Quebec and the Francophone world outside of France.


I chose German because I took it in middle school and in college, but it got put on the backburner for French. It was always one of those things that I started and wanted to finish. I think the biggest reason for learning German is its reputation as a solid academic language and the fact that it's spoken by so many people in Europe.


I chose Italian to be able to listen in on family conversations.


I chose Spanish and Portuguese because the lifestyles associated with those languages suit me and how I was brought up. I was also really in a "Spain phase" where I just devoured Spanish cult classic films and other sorts of literature. Knowing Spanish, how could I not learn Portuguese and unlock a whole continent?


I chose Russian because, well I still don't exactly know why. I know I like the sound, I like the mystery behind the region.


I chose Latin because it's fascinating to me and I'd like to write stories or poems in it one day. I'd also like to be able to read some of the Medieval and Renaissance era texts written in Latin.

[LadyGrey1986]

This is going to be a long post...you have been warned!
English was chosen for me. I started studying it when I was eleven years old. I am not going to discuss the details of the Dutch education system, but English is a compulsory subject for everyone at high school/secondary school. The reason for this is that English is increasingly dominant in higher eduction in the Netherlands, to the point that a Dutch native speaking professor is teaching other Dutch native speakers in subpar English But that is again something for another thread perhaps. At university, I followed two semesters of both and written English to take my English to the next level. My accent is still horrible though...

French and German were also chosen for me at secondary school. Not that I mind, these languages are beautiful and very useful for anyone living in Europe!

The first languages I consciously decided to study were ancient Greek and Latin. I am a history buff, and for anyone interested in history, these languages are invaluable. Plus: there was trip to Rome and Pompei with my school to look forward to! I studied medieval Latin at University too, because I am interested in medieval history. (I was a forever student, I am to embarassed to admit how many years I spent there)

When I started my International Relations major, I had to do a minor in a modern foreign language. I had to choose between English, Spanish, French and German. I chose French , again, because I wanted to take it to the next level.

I wanted to learn Arabic due to my interest in Middle Eastern politics. I am oggling Persian for the same reason.

[steyyan]

Japanese (Jun 2012): I took some classes at this school I went to during the 11/12 school year. The classes were good enough to pique my interests, despite not learning anything useful in them.

German (Sep 2012): I thought I was making such progress in Japanese, and I figured that I could give German a go again. (I had classes between 2005 and 2010, but I had to practically start from scratch in 2012)

Spanish (Jun 2014): I wanted to pick up a new language. Spanish seemed to be the most logical choice.

Dutch (Jun 2015): I tried the Duolingo course half a year earlier. While I did give up Duolingo, I still wanted to give the language a try.

French (Dec 2015): See Spanish.

[Hank]

For quite some time I had the desire to learn another language. I'm not sure why. I suppose it just seemed cool to be able to understand more than one language. Spanish didn't really interest me, but living in the U.S. it seemed to be the language that would most likely come in handy. There is also easy access to lots of Spanish media and books.

[iguanamon]

My reasons for learning my languages are here in this post in my log.

[Carmody]

Many thanks to everyone for their answers.

[tarvos]

Most of my languages were either picked up through travel or the school system, or because I spent extended time in that country living there. Giving more details would turn into a post the length of a novel and I don't have the energy to complete such a Herculean labour.