When in kollege it was a tortured PITA to learn French. But along the way I found that it was fairly easy to understand and even speak a little Spanish and Italian, and even a little Portuguese as I continued my studies. They are all Romance languages and that helped a lot.

In a manner similar to what’s stated above I studied linguistics in both French and English for a year, each. I agree one can go further with linguistics and language once one has studied another language.

Since my kollege days, I never once used the foreign language skills I so painfully acquired. OTOH, I’ve published a few times so my training in English definitely brought dividends.

To learn a language just for the sake of it is torture. Worse, failing an opportunity to use it regurlarly, for most it will vanish like sand through a sieve. Personally, I’d rather learn another musical instrument rather than another language.