Yes. I started learning Dutch and German because I love the way Germanic languages sound.

I’ve also been learning Old English on my own, since I’m into linguistics. I like its complex morphology, syntax freedom and ancient vocabulary. There are even some enthusiasts who read the old texts aloud. Linguists have also tried to reconstruct OE phonetics.

That aside, I’d also like to learn Italian and some Frisian, if possible.

I started learning Mandarin because I liked the sound. Near enough 4 years later, I'm still learning every day.

I'm sure Korean culture must extend beyond K-pop and K-dramas. There must be something else to draw you in, if you need something external to motivate you.

Learning Korean here. I occasionally watch kdramas. But what has me in a chokehold to learn Korean is the food and culture. And it’s been that way for 5 years though I’ve finally buckled down to finally learn the language 6 months ago. My motivation is that each new food I try feels like “home” even though I have zero official ties to the country, if that makes sense.

I love how Br Pt sounds and I’m learning that. Bonus is that it’s a very useful language for my work, so that is keeping me motivated. 

I wouldn’t say I’m good, but I can get by. I understand most of it, and I feel like I’m progressing quicker than normal due to its proximity to Spanish. 

I'm currently the same as you with korean. Sure kpop started the interest in learning the language but right now im not into kpop (or kdrama) much so my goal is not understanding kdrama/kpop its just the language sounds so nice & I love the writing system.

What keeps me motivated is seeing videos on youtube, im mainly interested in videos native people do such as drawing (because im interested in that) & crafts. This is the main reason to keep me going with the language, is to understand these videos to a certain level. And while some of these videos do have english subs i still want to understand these videos without subtitles especially since drawings videos dont have english subs (usually craft videos do)

I started learning Persian for that reason, I just find it beautiful on how it sounds and also it's very ancient (also because it's underrated unlike Romance languages)

Yes, Japanese (this was 25 years ago in college), but it was also one of many reasons. Others being I love learning languages, and I wanted to see what the difference was between a year 1 and 2 high school language class and a semester 1 and 2 college class. (High school was more communicative in the mid 90s, or at least my German class was just starting out with a more communicative approach, and it took my college another decade to catch up).

I only learn languages I like the sound of I'm still pretty new but I'm learning kurmanji Kurdish and I'm getting better everyday listening to music and singing along has helped immensely. Eventually I'd like to learn Slovak or Slovene possibly Romanian I really like Hungarian but super difficult so that'll be the final boss

That sounds like a fine reason!

I'm studying Spanish just because I like this language. Started because we have free classes at my company But after three years of studying I'm pretty tired of it, so I will do pause or stop studying at all. Anyway I'm B2 and it's what I want

Do you know Japanese?

I learned Shiväisith cause I liked both heo it sounded and the origin.

For over 5 years I've been wanting to learn Korean.

Change Korean for Italian and this will be my story. Only recently I've finally decided to give it a try. I'm not sure if I'll be able to stick with Italian for a long time without a clear purpose, but at least I'll be happy to learn the language I craved for so long.

So I encourage you to try Korean. It is indeed more than just K-Pop

i tried to learn Finnish but kinda gave up. now i might try and learn turkish because it basically uses the same word order as japanese

Im learning Auslan because its beautiful and I like talking with my mouth full lol. I only meet a Deaf person once every year or two but next time I do maybe we can have a conversation

Honestly, loving how a language sounds is already a valid reason.
You don’t need K-pop or K-dramas — just follow content that matches your own interests. When the input aligns with your personality (food, vlogs, documentaries, anything), the motivation becomes way easier to keep going.

I would recommend searching YouTube for topics that you are actually interested in, but in Korean. Just type your search into Google Translate, and paste the Korean into YT. If you're consuming content you are interested in, in a language you like the sound of, then it's a win-win!

I have exactly the issue you describe with finding Chinese media for my own study, where I have yet to find movies and TV that really click with me, but on YT you can find someone doing almost everything, right?

So you're not motivated to learn Korean, and you don't have a use for it, but you want to want to learn Korean. What? Just do something that you do actually want to do.

Note: I'm still A0-A1 so take my comment with a grain of salt.

I'm learning Russian solely because I like the sound of it. Because that's pretty much my entire motivation, I'm okay with it taking a little longer, so I'm not really doing traditional grindy way of learning (which always makes my brain feel like it's leaking out my ears). I listen to covers of songs I like in Russian and try to dissect words and phrases, and I try to follow Russian dubs of kids shows I like. Sometimes there will be a word that someone says a lot that I get so curious about that I simply have to look it up. For me, comprehensible input has been very helpful, since I find that actually understanding the sentences is motivating.

It’s somewhat complicated for me With Japanese, I wouldn’t ever encounter it, if a girl I liked in middle school didn’t watch anime. I was really against anime, thinking that it’s just some lewd cartoons(I was partially right), but I watched some to have some points of contact to her. Btw, she also das a fan of K-pop, but that was way too lewd and noisy for me to handle. In half a year I proposed and got rejected. Still I really liked, how Japanese sounds(some J-pop songs were literally making me feel alive, but I’m not into music, I can’t listen to it for more than 30 minutes a day normally), so I persisted with learning it, even though it’s wasn’t necessarily to begin with(the girl I liked never attempted learning Japanese, but was learning Korean) and I’m from a poor family in Russia, so chances are, I won’t ever be able to visit Japan. 7-8 years have passed, I’m still learning it, I took JLPT N1 test this month. As for Chinese and Arabic, I can’t say that I started learning them for how they sound, but I’m not consistent with those regardless 😁

That was literally my reason for learning Dutch, yes (I think it sounds cute). I'm pretty fluent by now, regularly read books and newspapers and the odd scientific paper here and there, watch movies or shows, chat with one of my best friends in Dutch...

I’d like to reach B1-B2 too. Even though I’m not planning on traveling to the Netherlands soon, I’d still like to learn Dutch because I love Germanic languages (plus, it’ll be useful when learning German).