25 replies to this topic

[spereira14]

I've been thinking about starting to learn a new language through Rosetta Stone, which I've heard wonders of. But I can't seem to decide which language I should learn.
I'm basically looking for a language that will be useful for me in the future, mostly when I start to work. I plan on being an economist, or something business related, which also has to do with foreign affairs, which I find really interesting. I also plan to go to college and to live in the US.
I'm a native spanish speaker, and consider English as a first language to me as well. I know basic French and will continue to take classes this year. I know Chinese is a really popular option, but I've read that the real future is in Japan, who the US will really embrace economically in the future.

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

[Award Winning Boss]

German

Also i've heard Rosetta Stone is horrible

[Avan:)]

I second that. Definitely German. It is such a good business place and not many people know it, but it's very useful...
but then as India is rising as well ... you could of course go crazy and try to learn Hindi, which is
kind of tough, because it has a new alphabet as well...
japanese sounds fun and to be honest, every single language has its advantage and you can not go wrong by chosing any of those suggested according to moi!

[Hazel16]

I would say Chinese, but it's really hard so I guess German !

[Sandwich]

The thing is that most Germans speak really good English. A major generalisation, I know, but IMO if you're looking for a useful language then it would be much better to learn one where the majority of people there won't share a language with you already. Also German isn't much spoken outside of Germany.

Mandarin Chinese is hard but a good one for business. Japanese would also be a good one. What I would say (as a fellow speaker of a European language...) is that if you already speak a European language, it's quite easy to pick up other ones. They have similar grammar rules, word derivations etc. and a certain degree of overlap. Learning a language like Mandarin Chinese however... VERY difficult! I found it extremely hard (which just goes to show how heavily I rely on similar words in my existing language base to assist me with things I don't understand xP). Especially the writing and the sounds. It requires a lot more dedication to learn a non-European (well, non-romance, in essence..) language.

[AndreaRuiz]

Hoooooolaaaa. Yo soy de Colombia, y hablo Español, Inglés, Alemán y un poco de Francés. Te recomiendo el alemán! Es fácil y muy utilizado. Mi siguiente meta es árabe. El mundo árabe es increiblemente poderoso, y si piensas estudiar foreign affairs, el árabe te sirve bastante, pienso yo. Pues, es un gusto personal, asi que no se si te guste. Mis recomendaciones son alemán y árabe! Suertee!

translation:
Hello.I'm from Colombia, and I speak Spanish, English, German and some French. I recommend German! It's easy and widely used. My next goal is Arabic. The Arab world is incredibly powerful, and if you plan to study foreign affairs, Arabic serves you well, I think. Well, it's a personal taste, so do not know if you like. My recommendations are German and Arabic! Suertee!

Edited by Summer Glau, Feb 13, 2012 - 20:29.
Translation was provided since the site language is english, Sorry :d

[Gabrielle Olivia]

I am the oposite of you, I am a native English and French speaker, and I am currently taking Spanish as my language. Since I am fluent in French, the spanish comes easy to me. The next language I would like to tackle would probably be Italian or Portuguese! It's probably not as useful, but would come easier to me since I know French and have a background in spanish. After that, I would love to learn Dutch or German. I think those two, especially German, would be helpful when dealing with international economics.

[Christopher Morency]

I would just advance your french more.

[anurmu]

I would go for german too.

[Sean Banan Janse]

Arabic could probably be useful in the future, although it's very hard to learn.. The same goes for Persian.. You could try Portuguese, this is just a prejudice, but couldn't it be kind of easy as you already speak Spanish and basic French?

[SamMcD]

I would advise spanish, but it is up to you, your future job, and where you want to live. Depending on what field you go into or where you live there may be a generally concentrated population of people. So decide what you want to do in the future, otherwise choose spanish.

[flinquinnster]

Doing Spanish or Portuguese may be easier considering your background, but German sounds quite interesting as well. Japanese is also an interesting Asiatic language, but China and India are probably going to be the big 'economic powerhouses'. Chinese is probably much harder than Japanese... It is. It's good to continue with French as well. German sounds like a fairly solid bet, and Japanese/Chinese would be more challenging, but probably a good 'learning' experience as well.

A word of advice: don't consider doing Latin Not the most practical language out there, but certainly lots of fun. Of course, if you want to diversify and learn a slightly different language to all the rest...

[Nintai]

flinquinnster, on Feb 10, 2012 - 06:30, said:

Chinese is probably much harder than Japanese... It is. It's good to continue with French as well. German sounds like a fairly solid bet, and Japanese/Chinese would be more challenging, but probably a good 'learning' experience as well.

Am I the only one who thinks Chinese is simple (this is coming from a European as well)? Granted, if you have no experience with the characters beforehand it may be a bit more difficult, as you have to grasp the concepts and ideas behind them, but the grammar is really simple; much more so compared to Japanese. Also, Japanese features multiple readings of pretty much all their Kanji (the characters borrowed from Chinese), depending on the context they're used in. The only balance here would be the easy pronunciation of Japanese and the difficulty with tones in Chinese, but then again; some people pick these things up faster than others.

[krystinawashereXD]

Take mandarin.
seriously, though.

[astride]

I would recommend Mandarin or Arabic or perhaps German. German is probably easier since they have pretty much the same alphabet as English does, but maybe Arabic or Mandarin would be more useful Good luck!

[Summer Glau]

Just keep working on your French. It's similar to Spanish which will help you when it comes to grammar and vocabulary. Personally I think it's better to be very fluent in a few languages than to be half fluent in several languages.

[parkhaelee]

Japanese is the most beautiful language out there, and its so fun to learn too.

[Katerine]

Japanese is awesom, I started learing it a couple of years ago. I think writing japanese is so much more fun that writing other laguages that I know beacuse it's almost like you just sit there and draw beacuse the signs are so pretty.

[iremo]

Spanish all the way down

[Stein]

chinese. Then you can communicate with nearly half the world