In most cases, as one learns a language, one begins to appreciate the culture and develop a sympathy for the group in question. One even develops an emotional link to the language. Particularly true when the language in question is dharmic, but not completely limited to it.
However, there is one major exception. Languages imposed in schools don't seem to have any emotional attachment. This is a pity because schools should have created a bond between the students and their subjects. However, this doesn't seem to be the case at all for me.
I wonder if this is due to the difference between learning something by choice and something by compulsion. Learning Russian made me sympathetic to Russia [sadly, our RW has not granted me KGB/FSB job, or a Russian wife], but learning English hasn't made me sympathetic to UK/US.
But then, when one thinks logically about it, mother tongue is also imposed. I wasn't given any choice about the languages I learnt from the cradle - Tamizh, Kannada and Sanskrit. All three were `imposed' on me by my parents. But I have a strong emotional attachment to all 3.
It is an interesting psychological experiment to examine where the emotional attachment to a language/culture comes from, and why schools cannot inculcate the same in kids. They cannot generate a passion for the languages they teach.
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