Everyone knows the French love their wine. When I lived in Lyon back in 2011, I was constantly surprised by the incredible care that even the tiniest corner store took to stock their shelves full to burst with the widest possible wine selection. In some places, I’d be willing to bet my baguette that over 50% of shelf space was singularly devoted to wine. This meant not just that no matter where you found yourself, you would never want for a bottle of Côtes du Rhône, but also that if you were lacking in the funds to support your wine habit, as I often was, you could boldly pick from the bottom shelf with the confidence that yes, even the cheapest wine was of a certain quality. Back in the USA, boxed wine has a certain…uncivilized reputation. Not so in France – only very rarely did spending €1 on your evening’s drink disappoint.

There’s something to be said for this devotion to quality at all levels, and it’s a lesson worth our attention as language learners.

If you’re reading this, I very much doubt you’ve only learned one language apart from your mother tongue—if you’re anything like me, you’ve got maybe one more or less fluent, another conversational, and a few bottom-shelf selections of half-learned, half-forgotten languages we know we really should brush up on, but…well, you know.

If you’re going to do something, do it right.

If you speak to someone else in one of your languages, your goal should be to feel that you’re giving them the best you can give at that level. There’s no need to make a big fuss that your Hungarian isn’t as good as your Spanish. It’s not worth comparing the one to the other. If you’re already up to learning figures of speech in Japanese, you’re not going to start doing that in Hebrew just to feel like you’re making progress, are you? You need to take everything one step at a time. Each language deserves to be treated on its own terms, and with its own dose of attention and love.

The French corner store proprietor may spend more care stocking his middle and top shelves, but he doesn’t leave the lower ones to gather dust, forgotten. He knows there are those customers that like their wine at €45 euros a bottle, and those that prefer their wine in a cardboard box.

So the next time you lament that your German is “rusty,” or that you’ve “lost” your Russian after so much neglect, spend a half hour going over what you do know. Dust it off, give it the attention it needs, without comparing it to the others.

Quality at all levels. You don’t need to be fluent in every language you learn. You just need to care about doing a good job.

What about you? What languages are rotting on your bottom shelf, and what would you need to do to give them some attention? Just saying it publicly might give you the push you need to give them a little amour.