Oui, je comprend

Growing up in or around Chicago, the logical languages to study (besides, of course, English, the grammar to which most native speakers have a hard time wrapping their heads around) are either Spanish or Polish. Having a French surname, I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me to study French--probably because it somehow seemed "harder" than Spanish, and back then I couldn't imagine ever having reason to use it in the real world. So, come high school, Spanish it was. To put it mildly, I was lousy at learning Spanish. Still, I continued with Spanish in college, translating things word for word into English, trying, and failing, to make much progress. Since I wasn't particularly interested in Spanish or Latin American culture, I had little motivation to learn for anything other than passing each class. I decided I just wasn't any good at learning a language, and that was that...until, of course, I went to France.

Having taken a night train from Paris to Nice, I woke up and ventured into the corridor where I stood, arrested by the sight of vibrant, rolling hills tumbling towards the sparkling blue Mediterranean. It was, to use a cliche, like something out of a dream. The people I encountered were patient and kind with my fumbling attempts to communicate. Their warmth, and the marvelous scenery, were all the motivation I needed to attempt, once again, to learn another language.

So I started with a book and cassette course from Berlitz, a simple program in which we follow the daily activities of little Pierre, who conveniently counts along with the chiming bells of a church clock and visits his tutor. I graduated to 'French in Action' while taking a few courses at a local community college, and although I'm nowhere near fluent, I can get by during a visit to France, and enjoy the different perspectives I get on world events when reading or watching French news sources.

So how about you? What languages have you studied? What was your motivation, and what are your language learning goals?