The Loneliness of the Long Distance Learner

I went for a walk at lunch along the canal near where I work. It was windy but refreshing to be outside and I took advantage of the walk to listen to a Japanese podcast. My capacity to listen to these podcasts surprises and enthrals me because I haven't found the limit as yet. My capacity to learn in the past has traditionally been limited by time and motivation. With the quality of the podcasts at my disposal I am no less motivated to listen than when I started about six weeks ago. Now the only limiting factor is time, I can only really listen to podcasts walking to and from work or during my lunch.
I did take a class in Japanese a few years back but I really only acquired a fraction of what I have learned in the last weeks. In the past I often found that a classroom environment helped my motivation to learn but now the only advantage I can see over autodidactic methods is that you get to meet other language learners. It is quite lonely to find yourself drawn into a world of podcasts with their own narratives, characters and humour and then realize that you are the only person you know getting the joke, that is the loneliness of the long distance learner. The saving grace with Japanese is that it is all worthwhile to be able to practice when I get back to Japan in June, it is not just learning in total isolation, there will be a payback in the not too distant future.
I find myself wondering though if the podcast method is applicable to other languages. Am I especially motivated to listen to Japanese or could I be just as happy listening to Swedish or Italian or Turkish. There is no doubt that the convenience of the technology has lowered the threshold. If the technology is leading and it will only get easier to download audio and video podcasts then time will possibly be the only limiting factor in acquiring new languages.
Some people may moan and groan about the modern world but for me the communications revolution has changed everything. The opportunities to connect across cultures have never been greater, learning to speak in foreign tongues has never been more achievable. One remarkable thing I notice on the JapanesePod101.com forum is that many of the Japanese learners are high school kids drawn to Japanese by fashion, manga and anime. That says something about how young people are profiting from the new paradigm wherever they may be.