My mother absorbed languages; it took me five years to learn two years' worth of French.
I would love to have the time to learn several other languages, but given the time strictures I have, I read the translations of things. However, I also looked at the question of learning languages to read things in the original. For me the choice came down to the time it would take me to learn them, as evidenced above, against possibly getting a warped sense of what the writer wanted to express. On the other hand, I know enough well-educated folks (and have enough access to libraries) that I can read the commentary on almost any work I would want to read.
That sometimes feels less satisfactory than I would like, but given that humans have limited life spans it seemed to make the most sense to me.
(no subject)
I would love to have the time to learn several other languages, but given the time strictures I have, I read the translations of things. However, I also looked at the question of learning languages to read things in the original. For me the choice came down to the time it would take me to learn them, as evidenced above, against possibly getting a warped sense of what the writer wanted to express. On the other hand, I know enough well-educated folks (and have enough access to libraries) that I can read the commentary on almost any work I would want to read.
That sometimes feels less satisfactory than I would like, but given that humans have limited life spans it seemed to make the most sense to me.