Why I Love Learning Languages

Learning a new language is a mental challenge that helps keep your mind sharp.

It’s a fun little game: trying to come up with how you might say something in a completely different language, with its own rules.

It also opens up new facets of your personality. You might be diplomatic, witty, and urbane in your native language, and discover a loud, passionate, and direct persona in a new language.

Every conversation is like a scene of improv, and you get to try on a new personality. In New York: I’m Nat; in Paris: je suis Nathaniel; in Bologna: sono Nate; in Berlin: ich bin Net; more recently, I decided to introduce myself to my Japanese tutor using my nickname Nacho. (The alternatives were Nasaniel or Natto, the latter of which unfortunately would be a homophone of a beloved but pungent Japanese delicacy made of fermented soybeans.)