Is anyone else obsessed with learning languages?

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I tried learning Icelandic when I was fourteen and fifteen. I didn’t get super far unfortunately. I really was passionate at the time.

After more experience with language learning I got into Finnish. It’s just a fun language to study. I’m at the stage where I can pretend I understand.

I’m taking a break from another language I was studying. A fairly controversial one. Conveniently I decided to take a break a few days before October 7th. I guess I got far enough to be able to listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos, tv shows and push through newspaper articles and books.

I wouldn't say obsessed but through foreign youtubers I have learned (probably at a kindergarten level)
Portuguese
Spanish
Chinese
Indonesian (mother tongue)
French
I know bits and pieces in each of these languages, my strongest is Portuguese my weakest is French as that is my newest language

I was always good ar learning languages. I particularly enjoy learning new alphabets like japanese

I used to speak Tagalog, but I don't talk now but I can still understand.

I also learned Spanish, all the languages from ex-Yugoslavia, Russian, German, French, Italian, Romanian, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Ukrainian, Lao, Khmer, Vietnamese, Czech, Slovakian, Hungarian, Portuguese, Hebrew, Arabic, Farsi and many more.

In my case...
... It's not about a particular language used in communication.

It's more like about the nature and concept of language itself.

So...


I'm not a polyglot (and won't likely be), collecting vast collections of semantics and foreign terms along with it's rules.


I'm more leaning towards the domains of linguistics, the practice of conlangs, syntaxes of programming, the ideas around communication like sign language, historical contexts, disorders and issues with interfering with learning languages, etc.

The "why language itself??" Instead of "why X language??".


It's less an obsession.
And more of a compensation. Language is my weakness. There's just something in me that just made the entire thought and processing of language just seems so unnatural to me...

But it can be a conjunction to my particular hate driven obsession over human flaws and limitations.



Ironically, I'm a Tagalog native speaker myself...

Nothing special.
The actual norm from where I came from are trilingual. I'm just bilingual.

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I've always been interested in them, but my memory had a lot of trouble recalling all those new words, so I was never great at foreign languages. I passed exams in elementary French and Latin, but never felt I was fluent. A few decades later I had a strange idea of listening to a French radio station and somehow learning to translate it on the fly, but it was much too difficult.

But I've always been fairly good with my native language (English).

I suppose with AI it won't be long before they invent a realtime talking translator.

yep!! i have an 800 day duolingo streak learning swedish and i recently started learning italian because its where my grandfather was from. part of me wants to learn as many languages as i can but i know its best to focus on just a couple at a time or else it just doesnt stick in my head.

Studying languages is a special interest of mine. If I could, I’d happily spend entire days learning and otherwise immersed in my target languages - Spanish and French. Someday, I might add another language. I’m more into reading native literature (and enjoying music, movies, podcasts, etc.) than talking to people. I can barely talk to people in my own language. Linguistics and the history of languages interest me too.

I speak English, Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese and can understand but only somewhat speak Spanish and French. But all my languages were acquired as a child when it's more easily done and I'm not actively learning a language now, though I'm working a bit on improving my Spanish. I do find languages, accents, differences in usage and regional differences, and linguistics, very interesting but I can't say I spend a lot of time learning about them, beyond watching occasional lectures and documentaries on YouTube, and wouldn't by any means call it an obsession.

Diachronic linguistics is my passion, also comparative linguistics, PIE and comparative romance linguistics.

I've really wanted to start learning Japanese .
I don't really know how is best to go about it.

I excelled in French many years ago, and read several French novels.
I didn't keep up so I'm not as proficient now.

One of my boyfriends was Spanish.
Despite being with him and his family several years, I didn't try to learn.

Yes. "P.I.E." is "Proto Indo European".