You know you're a language nerd when...

[vijayjohn]

...you travel across the ocean to go to another country, then barely budge from your new home because you're too busy studying languages.

[Sarabi]

Hver gang at du snakker med kjæresten din om å se på en film eller en serie, må du krangler om hvilket språk dere skal se på den på. Selv om begge to har det samme morsmålet.

Henne: "La oss se på det!"
Meg: "Ja! Vi kan se på det på norsk!"
Henne: "Å nei, ikke igjen!"
Meg: "Eller... kanskje vi kan se på det på spansk hvis du foretrekker..." (fordi hun snakker spansk)
Henne: "Men jeg liker ikke spansk fra Spania!"

[Sarabi]

Quand on va en Europe ni pour voir les fameux monuments ni pour voir le beau paysage, mais plutôt pour prendre des ateliers aléatoires - qu'on ne comprend pas très bien - principalement pour pratiquer la langue locale. Normalement, on fait ça comme lycéen ou comme étudiant à l'université, mais on ne le fait pas aussi souvent comme adulte qui ne cherche pas de diplôme. Au moins, les américains ne le font pas normalement.

[Iván]

When you are about to fall asleep and then suddenly remember there was a word you heard today and you wanted to check its meaning and its usage. So, you stand up, you go on your computer and check the word. Of course, keeping all the lights on throughout the house.

[vijayjohn]

...studying languages makes you self-quarantine for most of your entire life.

[aaakknu]

...studying languages makes you self-quarantine for most of your entire life.

What about using the languages to speak to people?
Language exchange with native speakers?
Learning in a group with others?

[vijayjohn]

...studying languages makes you self-quarantine for most of your entire life.

What about using the languages to speak to people?
Language exchange with native speakers?
Learning in a group with others?

None of those things requires you to leave your house these days. It may even be easier to do them at home than outside, even here in the US where there are tons of immigrants from all over the world.

You're right, though; I've thought about this some more, and I am now fairly convinced that my self-imposed self-quarantine has far less to do with language study and far more to do with racism and xenophobia. When people cannot accept you simply because you happen to come from a culture that's different from theirs, you can lose the motivation to even step outside.