I feel it’s the kind of mistake that people make for whom learning the language was a “necessary evil” / chore in order to succeed professionally

Ahhh yeah that would make sense, I do love languages and have always found them fun. I also grew up in a bilingual area. My little village is French but most surrounding towns/cities are English speaking and was immersed in it from a very young age. I actually learned English mostly to argue with the kid next door who only spoke English (and from a whole lot of American English TV.)