I think it’s a disingenuous interpretation to think I was suggesting one could talk to every native speaker of a target language. With Spanish, say, I gain an

I think it’s a disingenuous interpretation to think I was suggesting one could talk to every native speaker of a target language. With Spanish, say, I gain an immediately practical language that I can use weekly if not daily right here in the US. It gives me unprecedented access to the people and culture of Mexico, Spain, and much of the entire continent of South America. I gain access to a vast body of original literature, music, and media in Spanish that isn’t just a translation but unique to the language. These are the sorts of things solved by learning a language like Spanish.