Do you live alone? With your parents? Or your own family with partner/husband/wife and children? Where do you live? Who are your friends, and where are they from?
All those questions are related to your environment, and all those questions relate to some kind of effect on language learning. If you live alone, you can easily use your free time for language learning. You can sit and listen to audio CDs, stick your nose in your course book or watch the newest DVD in a foreign language for practise. No one will protest. On the other hand, no one will join your endeavours, either. It is a double-edged sword. Living alone can give you the freedom to do whatever you choose to do, including language learning. And, living alone can give you the freedom to do whatever you choose to do, including being lazy instead of learning. When you live together with other people, they can both motivate and hinder you, depending on their needs (like your children) and their own inclination to learn new languages.
Just imagine your husband/wife wants to learn Italian with you because you two want to visit Italy. Speaking of motivation! And now imagine three little children who constantly demand your attention, and your course book collecting dust because you have no time and no one to motivate you...
Apart from who you live with, language learning is also strongly effected by where you live. If you live in a foreign country, for example, you will be much more motivated to learn the language your environment speaks. However, if you live in an area where foreign language courses are not easily accessible or certain foreign languages have a bad reputation, you will be less likely to take on the endeavour to learn a new language.
What other environmental circumstances can you imagine that influence language learning, and why?
Language ... the bridge of communication, the magic creator of worlds, the brush and paint of authors. Language is magic. It gives us power. It is something you just have to love.
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