Comments by "" (@titteryenot4524) on "The benefits of speaking multiple languages - What in the World podcast, BBC World Service" video.
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Just a quick word about ‘motivation’ when learning languages based on my own experience. As a Brit who speaks French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and German (in that order!), the key for me in all these choices (aside from English, which is my mother-tongue) is attraction to the culture/country. I’d find it extremely difficult to find the motivation to randomly learn a language if: 1. I wasn’t particularly attracted to the culture/country. 2. I wasn’t going to have any real chance to use the language. If you’re being a polyglot for a polyglot’s sake, then, IME, unless you are supremely self-motivated and/or financially rewarded for it, this is exceedingly difficult to do. My key advice to anyone thinking of being multilingual from scratch: 1. Be attracted to the place(s)/culture(s) that use the given language, otherwise the motivation to continue will drop off very quickly. 2. Try to ensure you pick languages that you will have the chance to use on a regular basis. In my case, I visit France, Spain (South America), Italy, Portugal and Germany regularly, so am constantly getting the opportunity to actually use the languages and keep them ‘topped up’ in the real world. 3. Enjoy it! If it’s a chore, stop. It isn’t worth it. Shakespeare said: No profit grows where no pleasure ta'en: in brief, sir, study what you most affect. He is saying is that nothing useful comes from work without enjoyment!
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