Why Do You Have Wanderlust?

[Xenops]

It seems to be a common sentiment on this forum to always consider a language one isn't actively studying and think "man...I want to learn that language". But the question is, why?

For me, I think the allure of yet another language is the possibility of joining a "secret society"--a collection of people that have a culture not completely accessible to English speakers. If I learn ___ language, then I become one of them.

And there's some works in some languages, like Korean and Persian, that are not translated at all into English.

Another possibility is that, deep down, I believe if I learn ___ language, then I would reach a state of happiness that I did not have without said language.

What about you? What makes you drawn to a language you're not actively studying?

[LinguaPony]

Envy. Someone else is studying it and I'm not. They are having all the fun, and I'm not.

[Dragon27]

It's shiny, I want it.

[smallwhite]

Curiosity.

[leosmith]

It seems to be a common sentiment on this forum to always consider a language one isn't actively studying and think "man...I want to learn that language". But the question is, why?

I like the question, but I think we should distinguish "why do you have wanderlust" from "why do you learn languages". Imo, some of the answers I've seen so far are just reasons to learn languages. I've always felt wanderlust has a "to the detriment of my current language learning" aspect built into it, but maybe I'm wrong.

By my definition, I really don't get much wanderlust. After I choose a language it's part of me for life. I don't even let them fall into disrepair much anymore. That being said, I sometimes think thoughts like "if I was learning Portuguese instead of Korean right now, I'd be finished already!" I don't do that very often though.

There are several additional languages I want to learn eventually, for various reasons, but that's more like a goal than wanderlust imo.

[smallwhite]

I think we should distinguish "why do you have wanderlust" from "why do you learn languages". Imo, some of the answers I've seen so far are just reasons to learn languages.

Why did you marry Peter?
Because I love him.

Why are you still seeing Paul?
Because I love him.

You're right, my reasons are the same.

[tarvos]

Because then I get to see the rest of the world.

[aabram]

For me it's the fascination with the concept of language as such. I mean -- people are able to communicate with constricting air flow in their throats and flapping a piece of meat around in their mouth. How cool is that?! This is astonishing. And then there are other people who flap their piece of meat a little differently and suddenly it's another totally different system of producing meaning. It's like sci-fi except we do it without science and it's not fiction.

It never ceases to amaze me how this stuff works and how is it possible that there can be so many different systems. And that my brain can navigate and switch between them in no time at all. Mindblowing.

[Willow]

The reason was actually mentioned above, and it's cultural accessibility, when I can read and understand the things mostly inaccessible for others; then goes the possibility of immersion in beauty and music of the language, and last, but not least, the ability to satisfy my intellectual (or just informational?) hunger

[PeterMollenburg]

Nostalgia combined with ego - I've had adventures in German, Spanish and Dutch in the past and I miss them, so my ego wants to get back to learning them and go beyond my previous attempts. Dutch is my most dearly missed - time in country brought it closer to my heart and with family heritage from NL it adds a little too. I only need to look at parts of the Netherlands on google maps street view and I go weak at the knees and French gets jealous.