I've been intrigued lately by the concept of ecolingualism, which is the idea of learning the languages spoken where you live rather than living abroad for a period. This compulsive moving around and living in communities where you are often much richer than the local population is selfish insofar as one moves there entirely for one's own benefit according to the argument. In fact, one often harms the local community by, for example, paying above market rates for rent and then eventually pricing out the locals.

And so, I could easily interact where I live with Spanish- and Dari-speaking communities daily. According to ecolingualism, it would be more beneficial for me to learn these languages where I live than to live temporarily in Afghanistan or a Spanish-speaking country (or any other country for that matter) in that I am connecting locally and long-term to what is a shared community.

What do you think? Would you be able to do this where you live?

Here is the article where I first encountered the idea. It's titled, "Language-hacking ≠ Language-love."

https://lovinglanguage.wordpress.com/2016/09/26/language-hacking-≠-language-love/