Reasons for learning a foreign language?

[hellokittymania]

France 24 just had a segment on why people wish to learn French. My favorite answer was from a woman who said that she was fascinated by all of the strikes that happen in France!

I wanted to work as an interpreter for the United Nations from a young age so that was my motivation to learn the languages I speak. I also work in rural Vietnam and learning Vietnamese was essential to be able to do my job. Very boring compared to the strikes!

do you have any unusual reasons for learning a different language? Or did you just learn because it was part of school curriculum or you wanted to order food? Or some other reason?

I love French and France and have a French degree. I have always felt drawn to French and can't really explain it - other than we used to go on Eurocamp holidays in France when I was a child and I loved trying to converse with all the little French kids on the campsite.

I also did German at university and Italian at A Level but they have kind of drfited by the wayside compared to my love of French. I still listen to podcasts every day, watch French TV (I am obsessed with Supernanny francaise!) and immerse myself in it as much as possible.

My ds started learning French because he wanted to sing cool French cartoon songs by subdigitals from CODE LYOKO.

Heron, my mother is French and I used to cry when she would speak to me in French.

Needless to say, my french has improved greatly after working for 10 years in Vietnam. There are many French expatriates so I have had a lot of chance to practice. And as for Supernanny, I enjoy watching both the French and Italian Versions on YouTube.

My son, who is already a native speaker of English and Vietnamese, was brought up watching very little TV. One of his prime motivators for learning French and Mandarin is so the he can understand cartoons in these languages. I don't allow him to watch cartoons or much else on TV in English or Vietnamese, but I do in French and Mandarin.

I love having access to a really different but equally rich social & political culture.

I also love seeing the difference between UK & Russian/Ukrainian media.

It's also great to have access to twice as many trashy TV shows :D

My dd is learning German and French at school and learning Italian at home.
She wants to take GCSE's in German and Italian, is unable to take GCSE French at school. German is compulsory due to the nature of the school.
She wants to speak fluently as her goal is to travel the world as an Opera singer.

I grew up in Scandinavia and we very much saw learning foreign languages as our ticket to the wider world: we all had dreams of travelling and adventure, and being able to communicate with people on their own terms was part of that. I was also a very bookish child and wanted to read great works of literature in the original language.