Do you have a foreign language you are learning? And what is the reason why you are learning it?

As a developer of Chinese input and translation software, I need to be able to understand Chinese.
With this in mind, I began learning Chinese shortly before I turned 40. In addition to that, I also learned English in junior high school, Spanish as a second language in college, and Korean, which I needed while stationed in Korea for work.

The words "language" and "lingua franca" may sound a bit formal, but a more familiar expression is "language," and as long as it is a "language," I would like to be able to speak it. In business, when talking on the phone with overseas business partners, and in private life, when communicating face-to-face with local people in the destination country, I feel that it is often advantageous and more enjoyable to be able to speak the language of the other country.

When you go abroad, whether for business or pleasure, it is quite useful to bring a book on the language of the country you are visiting, even if it is just a simple collection of sample conversations. Just a few simple phrases in the local language can be very useful.
For example, "Good morning. For example, in Bali, if you say "Selamat pagi. If I said "Günaydın" in Turkish, they would give me a thumbs up and say something back while saying "I like it! He would say something back to me with a thumbs up and a "Like!

It must be because we are foreigners who are not familiar with the language of the country we are visiting, no matter which language it is, that we can receive such a positive response from a single greeting. It may have been a small surprise for the local people, and it may have been a good way to start the day.

At the same time, there seems to be a kind of privilege that only foreigners are allowed to misrepresent.
For example, immediately after boarding a flight from Madrid, Spain to Porto, a port city in Portugal, the flight attendant asked me for my seat number.

Flight attendant: What is your seat number?
Me: (trying to say 14) dez quatro
Flight attendant: Catorze~!

In English, this is like saying "Ten Four" for 14 (Fourteen), so the flight attendant was reasonably amused.

On this trip, I had a palm-sized book in my bag with Spanish on the left-hand page and Portuguese on the right-hand page. Referring to the book, I took a train from the Porto airport to the hotel and asked a passenger on the bus, "How do I get to the XXX Hotel?" several passengers answered in unison, and when we got off the bus at the nearest stop and were walking, they pointed us in the direction where the hotel was located from inside the bus.
If you try to speak a little of the local language yourself, even with a book, you will interact with the people who live there, and your trip will be even more flavorful than if you just take a tour guide with you to visit tourist attractions.

A collection of sample sentences that I carried in my bag during my trip

Apart from cases of misuse of a foreign language without knowing it, here is an example of a completely uke-oriented case.
The Tagalog language in a conversation book of five languages that I bought at a bookstore in Cebu gives the impression that the consonants and vowels are often repeated alternately, and at first glance it does not seem too difficult to pronounce. However, when I tried to pronounce it, I had no idea what to do with the accent and intonation. I was asked at the airline counter with a conversation book in hand, as if I were a native speaker, "Do you speak Tagalog? or "Aisle seat, please. The staff at the counter next to me even joined in the conversation. Even the staff at the next counter joined in the fun.

A conversation book in five languages that I bought at a bookstore in Cebu

It is an undeniable fact that there are many economic disparities and differences between the rich and poor in the world. However, some countries are tolerant of travelers who do not speak their own language and are open to those who try to speak the language of the country they are visiting, while others coldly reject travelers who do not speak their own language. Which country is truly richer?

There are some people who, because they speak English, try to communicate only in English without regard to the language of the country they are visiting. However, in my opinion, this is such a waste of time. For me, the moments when I can interact with the local people are the greatest thrill of traveling abroad, and they fill my heart far more than capturing scenic spots with a camera. And I have no doubt in my mind that "language" is the best medium for this.
There is no end to the acquisition of a foreign language, and that is why I continue to study it as a "language.