When I was young and naive I decided I wanted to learn ten languages and be able to speak them fluently by the time I died.

I guess I can count English, though I know that my child-self meant ten new languages. But child-self did not specify so I’ll smudge a bit.

I’m halfway decent with Spanish. I can read it at an ok-level, I can understand it if spoken slowly, I can speak it slowly. If you can get down to it, I can communicate with a Spanish person (somewhat akwardly, but it works).

I know bits and pieces of others but it is merely that–bits and pieces.

So I got to thinking.

What if I took the first class of a few languages in uni to learn the basics and foundation of them? I might not get far, but I’ll know more than I do now. You know. Beginning French 1. Beginning German 1. Beginning Japanese 1. They even have Beginning Hebrew 1.

And if you really want me to justify it, I could use it in the future to communicate on a basic level with ESL* students who enter my classroom.

And, yes, I would only take one at a time so as not to fully confuse myself.

Whatcha think?