What Matters Most to Study Languages for a Long Time
Told through two languages’ love stories.
I’ve been studying languages for 15 years. Some parts came easily to me. Many didn’t.
And yet, even in busy times and even after I burned out, I would always come back to study some more. This is what really matters in language learning.
Not how great an app is. Not how comprehensible a textbook is. Not how much fun a game or TV show is.
Everything related to the “how” doesn’t matter at all. It’s not even really a question of “why” you’re studying the language. Sure, great resources and a deeply-rooted reason help wonders in never giving up, but they’re not what truly matters.
Let me indulge you in two short stories about two languages. One I discovered 15 years ago, in 2008, and one I encountered a month ago.
A Korean odyssey
I discovered Korean by accident, while on holiday in the south of France. I met two Korean girls during a volunteer workcamp. At the time, I knew nothing about the country, nothing about the language, nothing about the culture. I barely knew it was divided into two countries.
And yet, I fell in love with the sound of the language. They taught me some basics. When the workcamp…
