How did you learn a foreign language and how did it affect your life?

I lived in Sierra Leone and while English is the official language but the widely spoken language is Krio. My placement was in a rural district so learning Krio was basic to my survival.

We were given a one week intro and books, I learnt that practice makes perfect. Even with colleagues who knew English I insisted on speaking to them in Krio and the persistence paid off. At the end of 1 year I didn't need anyone to accompany  me to the market, I was doing fine.

I love this. As for me, I think the easiest way to learn a foreign language is to create a mindset for the reasons why you need to learn it. by asking yourself what do you want to achieve and by when?
There are so many benefits attached to learning a new language.  Apart from being a great workout for your brain,It also helps you make new friends.
Morealso, there are other more benefits, like in your workplace.
The advantages of being multilingual do not stop once you have been hired. Your additional language may be the ticket to in-house promotion or advancement in your career to other companies. Larger companies need managers who can travel abroad to close deals and oversee operations. Smaller companies need multilingual employees who can help explore new business opportunities in foreign countries and establish new operations abroad. Although many companies use translators to assist them, having employees who are fluent in another language helps to build relationships. Speaking to clients in their native tongue breaks down barriers, makes the client feel more comfortable and builds trust, therefore benefiting business relationships in the long run.

You danced all around the main issue. It was wonderful and I enjoyed it . But the language defines the culture and vice-versa.

The Vietnamese language is 5000 years old and you can virtually feel it. By the same token the English language's Latin roots describe a path through history.

You can't truly understand a language  without understanding that culture's history.

Jim-Minh wrote:

The Vietnamese language is 5000 years old and you can virtually feel it. By the same token the English language's Latin roots describe a path through history.

Language is often abused for identity politics and nationalism. That is the case here, too.
No living language is 5000 years old - and a short look at its Wikipedia entry shows that modern Vietnamese is just over 200 years old, and the current writing system (which was introduced by the French) not even 100. Furthermore, around halöf of the Vietnamese vocabulary came from Chinese (which belongs to a completely different, unrelated language family).
It is normal for a language, used in daily life, to evolve and change, over a few generations, beyond recognition. If it doesn't, it is dead!