For what purpose do you learn foreign languages?

hi jenny, we almost have the same purpose as a leverage in this corporate world but not just that. i have studied foreign languages such as spanish, french and latin. For spanish and latin, they're both requirements in out curriculum wayback in college. although now i wanna continue my spanish classes because i would just love to at least be able to converse in simple spanish. For latin it's just for law but i really didn't like it much aside from the grammar/verbiage complexities. French 101, i just enrolled in recently and i hope to be getting French 102, too!=D i think they're language is romantic =) And since i love to travel, i hope to go to France someday and not get so lost if i happen to choose my own path =)

When I was in highschool we had to take at least two years of a foreign language. While the majority of the kids chose to take Spanish, I took French. Not only because I wanted to be different but I think the language is so much more exciting, along with the French culture. I ended up taking 3.5 years in high school and one year in college. I probably know enough conversational french to get me through a day in France but that's about it. I originally learned French because it was necessary to take a foreign language class to graduate but after I met my two years I continued studying because I truely enjoyed the language, learning it, and learning all about the French culture. I feel that for some jobs, as in government, or maybe higher ups in a company that do a lot of work with other countries you should get paid for knowing another language. BUT if you are just working at Target, or Walmart, I do not feel that you should get a pay raise for knowing another language, especially Spanish. This last sentence really only applies to America I guess. But I'm not going to go into my whole thing on why I don't think Americans should have to learn Spanish...lol, that will only start controversy. What foreign languages have you learned? You did not mention them in your question. Happy My lotting!

I learn foreign language because I find it interesting to learn. I also learn it because I think learning foreign language helps when we travel and having good job. I learn mandarin from watching television. I think I have master have of it. I also can communicate with my Chinese friend if I can understand their language. I am thinking to learn japanese after this.

For some reason I am very interested in many languages in cultures. They are very easy for me to learn, partly because I am half Italian and half Dutch. So I pick up on the...how could you say...harsher languages like German, Hindi, Arabic, Dutch (of course), etc. very easily because of being half Dutch. Then I pick up with the easier langues like...Italian (granted), Spanish, French, etc. because of being half Italian. So all around I pick up on them very well. I am very interested in not only the languages, but also the culture, how they live, what they eat, what they do, rituals, religions, politics, anything about that culture I would love to become familiar with. When I start to study a new language I go all into it. I study it, and it is not for college either, it is strictly something that I enjoy doing, not obligated, but enjoy. When I was younger I planned to go to college in order to be a linguist. I wanted to do that so bad, the I believe it was the Senator had actually gotten wind of it when one of my teachers had emailed him letting him know i was 15 and could already speak 5 different languages. He proposed to give me a scholorship to college to study languages with only one catch......I would have to go to Washington and work, which in turn would have shipped me overseas to the war in Iraq. That was explained by my teacher, because I did not understand what the technicalitites meant. I did not want to go to war, and it had hurt my feelings that they were going to use me like that. To work in Washington would have been great, but the getting shipped overseas part that I was not for. To tell a 15 year old that was really rough, so I made the decision right then that I would continue to study different languages, but I would not make it as openly known, and I also declined the offer that the Senator had so graciously relinquished. So to this day I continue to study languages, however, I am only a linguist for the court (which is just putting your name on a piece of paper with which languages you can speak), and I have yet to have one case that I have translated in (we have a very small town mainly farmers). But I will continue my college education with psychology, and continue my love with languages, and perhaps it will come into play with my degree. I hope so at least. Great discussion.

Well first and foremost, communication of course. Without language, how can we communicate more advanced ideas to our peers? The convenience of communication will then allow us to interact with each other.

I learned japanese to watch jap shows and anime and listen to jap songs!

Well i use to learn japanese due to my passion for japanese music but now i had given up already yea .

mine is more of a necessity. basically, im in a foreign country and that's one way i can communicate with them, English. I want to learn Arabic since im in the mideast. unfortunately, never had the chance. locals dont want to teach me... so dont care much anymore! :)

For the love of learning and so I can understand the culture and people without any bad or possibly misunderstood translations.

I learn English, like you so I can get better jobs. But, it turned out that English helped me find my husband LOL, because he's a native English speaker. Now I am learning Arabic so I can understand my Holy Book without having to read the translation. And my, Arabic is a dense and beautiful language :-)