Even if you can't devote a lot of time to language learning it's still worth making an effort.

Hi everyone, I'm a native English speaker who also speaks Spanish, German and Dutch as well as having some basic knowledge of Irish and Arabic.<br><br>I started learning German in college because I felt like I had never done anything outside of being a 'normal' 9-5 working student with a part time job. I was motivated to do some extracurricular activity but none of the teams/sports really appealed to me. I also thought it would look good on my CV as well as being something interesting to talk about at job interviews so I decided to take on the beginners German course that my college was offering. From this came a huge life change. It not only greatly opened up my job prospects, but it has also opened my eyes to German history and culture and I now have a new circle of friends.<br><br>It has also inspired me to learn more languages. So I took on a beginners course in Arabic which was being offered by my local mosque. I find Arabic to be a beautiful language and I appreciate the history and calligraphy of the language. It's a difficult language to learn especially being a Semitic language and completely different to Indo European languages but I appreciate the difficulty and I have made new friends inspired by this as well.<br><br>I now live in the Netherlands and speak Dutch on a daily basis, it's also an Indo European language but very different to German. I have to say that Dutch is my favorite language, it's so gentle on the ears and easy on the tongue especially in comparison to German. So many people in the Netherlands speak English, especially as many students here are on exchange programs, but I have found that even though Dutch people are inspired by English speaking countries their culture is still very precious to them and many are happy to engage in their native language.<br><br>I went through a bit of a crisis in my mid-twenties where my mental health wasn't good and I had to re-evaluate my life but at the time I was learning Irish. It is a Celtic language and if you have never heard it or seen it then it's very different to other European languages, it kind of sounds like Welsh or Breton but is also quite similar to Latin being an ancient language. I went through a bit of a crisis as I thought I was going crazy, but being able to express myself in a different language helped a lot. Irish is also a very musical language and has a nice sound to it, it's also given me an interesting insight into Irish history and culture.<br><br>I'm from Ireland but being able to speak Irish has given me a new appreciation for my country and I have learned so much about my own country and its history that I wouldn't have learned otherwise. I have also found that it has given me confidence and has allowed me to express myself in a new way and feel like I have something unique to offer.<br><br>I understand that people have busy lives and that language learning is not always a priority but I recommend giving it a try. Even if you can only spare 15 minutes a day, there are plenty of resources out there such as Duolingo, podcasts, YouTube videos, grammer guides, online courses, language exchange websites and conversation exchange websites etc. It's worth a try and you never know what you might gain from it, even if it's just passing a language exam you'll at least be able to say you did something different for once.<br><br>Thanks for reading.