i found that out last year in Paris, i actually studied "modern languages" in hi-school (well, studied is a bit of an over-exaggeration lol) ... i started out in Latin -> Latin-math, because the tests said i should and everyone was like

because the kid was smart ... (i speak about myself in third person like that a lot yes when it comes to that age, i noticed that) so the kid did, because that's what kids do , aim to please (well, most do i suppose at that age) , which was a bad idea, because that was the most boring ever, but it helps with understanding stuff like reading spanish i suppose, basic roots of roman languages. When i was 15 the hormone attack turned the kid into a normal teenager but the culture shock for my family was apparently too hard. I'll save the story but i switched school mid-year to be with a girlfriend in another school (here in hickville), and here the culture shock was even harder, also they were all teaching stuff they crammed into my head long ago in that previous catholic school PLUS i was in a class with 15 girls and 2 guys (including me) at the age of 15, coming from an all-boys military prison (close to it, if i think back to that catholic ed) ... doesnt need explaining i suppose, so they kicked me out, but they didnt really kick me out, hickville solution , my parents werent really on my side because i wasnt that kid anymore, no paperwork, nothing, i just got refused access right before exams, but allowed to do them (obviously since they didnt officially do anything)

my loathing for this place goes at least 30 years back, after which i went to some public school to study languages but after a two years SO bored i just started treating it like uni and went only to the few teachers who were interesting (not many hehhe) but it turns out you cant do that when you're in highschool and so and so, and in the end i quit, and i still think that was one of the best decisions of my life, all things considered i should have quit at 16 , found some part time stuff and started on my own things but we all know the arrow of time :))))

and that's my version of a long story short
(not bad for my doing lol) , i think dutch is, globally speaking, obsolete, if you go by numbers you'd say spanish or chinese is worth the try but i think english will just do, its already established, i often find myself having to think about a flemish word longer than i would english because i communicate a lot more in english, and if i just spoke dutch i couldnt reach 90% of the people i do know, maybe even less so don't lose sleep over it

(and don't tell the nationalists, they still think a separated flanders can hold its own in the world and everyone should just speak flemish heh ;-)

i went back once later to study socio-cultural (with letter of recommendation and admittance test since i dont have my highschool degree and belgium is made of protocol) but that got screwed over girlfriend troubles (im a total emo in relationships), i tried to start a bachelor psychology at open university (degrees are valid everywhere in europe xept belgium lol, here you need to do a year of schoolbench if you want that plaque on your wall but that was the least of my concerns) but i couldnt pay for it because there was no "work" (the sacred W-word)

and after that i swore never again, and i dont find myself lacking when it comes to finding things out, i now even have an online physics mentor

but i've never been really normal (statistically speaking ofcourse :p)