Can you just choose to learn a language and learn it without having any specific reason for doing so, or do you generally need to have a specific reason or goal for doing so to make it successful?
What motivation do you personally need to learn a language?
I do have some reason.
Empirically, even one language requires at least 1/2 years for you to have a virgin mind, if you aren't learning it very intensively. What I mean is 100-200 hrs per year. I won't even claim to know French until at least 2 years - with very occasional study lessons.
Most reasons of mine are related to "knowing it to learn other languages", "cultural taste", "popularity", etc. But even so, these reasons get weakened sometimes and my motivation may wane. That's why I tend to be picky and won't learn many languages at the same time. I value quality more than quantity.
Empirically, even one language requires at least 1/2 years for you to have a virgin mind, if you aren't learning it very intensively. What I mean is 100-200 hrs per year. I won't even claim to know French until at least 2 years - with very occasional study lessons.
Most reasons of mine are related to "knowing it to learn other languages", "cultural taste", "popularity", etc. But even so, these reasons get weakened sometimes and my motivation may wane. That's why I tend to be picky and won't learn many languages at the same time. I value quality more than quantity.
I'm learning Swedish, but I'm not really into learning it. It's just an experiment for me. My motivation is to test a language program.
I could remember some German phrases from school when I met my wife in Berlin 6 years ago. Now I am pretty confident in the language and can read books and understand German films. It was hard work but I'm glad I made the effort. It's great being able to go over there and use the language with the natives, makes the trip so much more rewarding.