Libraries are wonderful things....

In an effort to better myself, and further my own abilities and talents, I am undergoing the arduous task of teaching myself a language (eventually, languages). I'm starting myself off easy however, and am (re)learning german, which is the language I took for three years in middle school and high school. It's been 8 years since I took courses, and while I remember small phrases and some of the grammar.... I really can't hold a conversation, although my comprehension is slightly better than my speaking/writing.
To aid myself in this task, I picked up a book (with cd) on learning german, as well as a 3 disc set on german basics. Only marginally related, I also picked up a book on improving handwriting.

Now, to relate this to my artistic practice is relatively simple. I'm interested in relationships and multiplicities, and have a strong pull towards communication, comprehension, and linguistics. While I have been working mainly with english, it seems narrow-minded of me to examine only one language, and so I plan on learning multiple languages, hopefully at a pace of one every other year. The handwriting part is basically just a skill that I want to improve, similarly to how someone would attend lifedrawing if they want to draw the figure better.

And yes, libraries are incredible.