On the 'why'

I've long been convinced that the reason why some people learn languages other than their own, is that they have lost identities to recover. Sadly we did not choose our race and birthplace, so for some of us, learning a different language draws you closer, linguistically and then even physically, to the culture you'd love to become part of. Everyone has a handful of languages that chime most sweetly in their heart; often, when your heart is enchanted by the sound of language, when you think its cadence has the most beautiful resonance, so beautiful that it seems it's about to move you to tears, then you know that's the language of yours that you were born without. Learning it is a process of completing your identity.

For me, they are French, Arabic, Greek and Italian.