I am of the opinion that many people who want to learn a language don't have any real reason to learn a second language other than to say they know two languages.
Unless you have extended family or somehow became smitten with a foreign country, I am almost certain this is the case. So any attempts are really halfhearted and very little progress is made because the commitment is so large.
This is why, if I ever get around to learning a second language, it will be Esperanto. It takes an order of magnitude of less time to learn and gives you the accomplishment of knowing another language. (Plus uniformity in language is cool.)
> I am of the opinion that many people who want to learn a language don't have any real reason to learn a second language other than to say they know two languages.
Your opinion is a pretty localized one. For many people learning a second language is not an option, it is a must. I would have a very hard time functioning in my field without access to a second language.
Agreed. If you work in high level tech, for big companies, possibly with international companies, if you want a decent career, your English better be awesome.
You can make do with less, but it's probably going to have an impact on your career, at some point.
You are right, I should have qualified my statement with that. But given that the modern global language is (for the time) English, I would suspect my belief is more likely true for native English speakers.
Well if you're a native English speaker you could get by ok your entire life without learning another. But if you're not, you're practically obligated to learn it. I would not have the life, nor the knowledge I have today If I hadn't learned English by immersing myself in it;
I teach Sanskrit which falls in this category (a religious / cultural / historical language). People show up to the class super excited to learn the language. They badly want to learn the language but have no clue how much effort it is to learn a new language. Learning the language is at the bottom of their priority list. You are not gonna be learning the language if it is the tenth item on your priority list no matter how much you "want to learn it". The semester starts with 20 people and by the end there's less than 10.
Unless you have extended family or somehow became smitten with a foreign country, I am almost certain this is the case. So any attempts are really halfhearted and very little progress is made because the commitment is so large.
This is why, if I ever get around to learning a second language, it will be Esperanto. It takes an order of magnitude of less time to learn and gives you the accomplishment of knowing another language. (Plus uniformity in language is cool.)