Soon I'll be choosing what courses to take for my first year of Uni...and I'd like to study at least 3 languages. I already speak Spanish and Portuguese fairly well, so I'll definitely study those, but I'd also like to study maybe one or two more.

 

The language courses offered are:

 

Arabic

ASL

Chinese

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Italian

Japanese

Latin

Portuguese

Russian

Spanish

Swahili

Tagalog

 

Some of these don't interest me and/or I don't find them useful enough to study at this point in my life. I've already stated that I'll be studying Portuguese and Spanish, so I need to choose either one or two of the following:

 

Arabic

Chinese

French

German

Italian

Japanese

 

What do you think, Coldplayers?

 

"To know only one's own language is to remain a child."

Cicero

I'm sure some smart people will come in and say 'Well Arabic and Chinese are the most useful in the economy today'. Yea I know, and I'm going to factor that into my final decision, but I also like studying languages for their culture and such, so please don't vote based solely on the potential economic implications.

 

Oh and I voted French and Italian, because those are my top two at the moment.

I deserve a medal for not trulling the vote.

I voted Chinese because like you said I is a smart people :P

 

 

But I guess I figured since they are a big country economically that their language will be useful to learn.

 

But of all of them I'd go with French. I like how they speak, and also would love to travel to France and also learn how to speak it some day

I deserve a medal for not trulling the vote.

 

First time in history?

 

But of all of them I'd go with French. I like how they speak, and also would love to travel to France and also learn how to speak it some day

 

Ahh that brings up a point that I failed to mention. It's nearly impossible to really understand a language without ever living in a place where it's spoken and/or interacting with native speakers. So this decision is not only about what I'm going to study, but it's also about where I'm going to study/live some day. The European languages probably have an advantage over the Asian languages in this respect (although I would love to visit Japan some day).

I vote french cause I think it's a beautiful language and I'd really wanna learn it myself. Oh and cause french people are hot.

I voted chinese because everyone knows it's useful and german because I don't know, seems interesting :wacky:

 

If you already know spanish and portuguese, french should be easy to learn. Same with italian, it's even easier than french if you know spanish.

IMO I would go with German and Japannese.

 

When You speak spanish , to learn lenguages like French , Portuguese , Italian Isn't that exciting. They are all very similar soooo .. I would choose German and Japanesse.

 

Also , they are the ones that look more interesting for me :p . Plus Im sure they will be quite usefull . Both countries have enormus economies :p

 

 

 

On the other side .. I have to make up my mind on If I should continue studying English or not. Such a hard desitionnnn, I still don't know what to do :(

If you are taking Spanish and portuguese, those are both romance languages. So stick within that branch so there are similarities. So then it would b French or Italian, an I think that out of those two French would be more useful.

 

In my personal opinion, I would take German. Arabic and Chinese are extremely useful today, but both require you to learn a whole new alphabet and therefore take more than 4 years of studying to master. My uncle has been taking Chinese classes the past decade and a half and still doesn't fully understand it.

 

Hope this helps, and best of luck with whichever you choose!

ARABIC

 

 

Personally I'd love to learn it just so I can eavesdrop on people's conversations around here.

 

edit: By "around here", I'm referring to where I live, not coldplaying.com. Just wanted to clarify.

IMO I would go with German and Japannese.

 

When You speak spanish , to learn lenguages like French , Portuguese , Italian Isn't that exciting. They are all very similar soooo .. I would choose German and Japanesse.

 

Also , they are the ones that look more interesting for me :p . Plus Im sure they will be quite usefull . Both countries have enormus economies :p

 

 

 

On the other side .. I have to make up my mind on If I should continue studying English or not. Such a hard desitionnnn, I still don't know what to do :(

 

I don't think I would ever just 'give up' on a language. I wouldn't want to lose all of my progress. Stick with it.

 

I voted chinese because everyone knows it's useful and german because I don't know, seems interesting :wacky:

 

If you already know spanish and portuguese, french should be easy to learn. Same with italian, it's even easier than french if you know spanish.

 

Yes I know...that's why I've been able to teach myself so much Portuguese. No need for a teacher when you already know 95% of the grammar rules.

 

If you are taking Spanish and portuguese, those are both romance languages. So stick within that branch so there are similarities. So then it would b French or Italian, an I think that out of those two French would be more useful.

 

In my personal opinion, I would take German. Arabic and Chinese are extremely useful today, but both require you to learn a whole new alphabet and therefore take more than 4 years of studying to master. My uncle has been taking Chinese classes the past decade and a half and still doesn't fully understand it.

 

Hope this helps, and best of luck with whichever you choose!

 

Yea, that's what I've been thinking. 4 years of Chinese/Arabic won't leave me anywhere near fluent. In the time it would take me to learn just one of those two languages, I could probably learn two Romance languages. Which is more useful? Fluency in a handful of languages, or a basic understanding of chinese?? :thinking:

I should also add that I'll be majoring in International Business, so these decisions are extremely important.

ARABIC

 

 

Personally I'd love to learn it just so I can eavesdrop on people's conversations around here.

 

edit: By "around here", I'm referring to where I live, not coldplaying.com. Just wanted to clarify.

 

Where is 'here' then? :confused:

I honestly don't know which would be more beneficial. My gut is saying French, because both my parents deal with international business and have gone to France multiple times.

But I really can't say if it would be better to have an in depth conversation in French or a basic "hello my name is" in Chinese. (because that's probably only as far as you'll get)

 

I'm going to say French, but there's a lot to consider. Do you know what area of international business you're looking to work in? Like my mom works at a huge German chemical company, so it was easy for her to learn German (having German immigrant parents also helped. :P)

Also (I would edit but I'm on my iPod and can't scroll) German would be very easy to learn. English and German are both Germanic languages, so you'd pick it up quick (I'm in my first year of German and I can already have a twenty minute conversation if the other person asks the right questions. :p)

I honestly don't know which would be more beneficial. My gut is saying French, because both my parents deal with international business and have gone to France multiple times.

But I really can't say if it would be better to have an in depth conversation in French or a basic "hello my name is" in Chinese. (because that's probably only as far as you'll get)

 

I'm going to say French, but there's a lot to consider. Do you know what area of international business you're looking to work in? Like my mom works at a huge German chemical company, so it was easy for her to learn German (having German immigrant parents also helped. :P)

 

Well no, I'm not sure what 'area' of international business I'm looking to work in. I just want to have a job that will allow me to travel as much as possible (who wouldn't want to travel to Rome, Paris, or Barcelona for 'work'?). I think that this degree, along with extensive knowledge of languages will allow me to do that.

Sounds like a lot of fun, I love traveling. :wacky:

 

Being multilingual would definitely be useful.

 

My only other suggestion would be to do some research on what percentage of the world speaks what, and where. English and Spanish are the 2 largest languages (I believe, could be wrong), so you already have a large area of the world you'd be comfortable in. Also, if for example you have no interest in going to Russia then cross Russian off the list.

 

In the end though, go with what you think you would find most interesting. Most large companies' employees know enough English to help you and converse, so dont drive yourself crazy over this decision.

Sounds like a lot of fun, I love traveling. :wacky:

 

Being multilingual would definitely be useful.

 

My only other suggestion would be to do some research on what percentage of the world speaks what, and where. English and Spanish are the 2 largest languages (I believe, could be wrong), so you already have a large area of the world you'd be comfortable in. Also, if for example you have no interest in going to Russia then cross Russian off the list.

 

In the end though, go with what you think you would find most interesting. Most large companies' employees know enough English to help you and converse, so dont drive yourself crazy over this decision.

 

English, Spanish, and Mandarin (Chinese) are the three most widely spoken languages. It all depends on how you're looking at it (native speakers v non-native speakers, etc.)

 

Yea I know what you mean by 'most large companies' employees know english', but American companies want employees who work for THEM who speak those other languages, you know. I would also consider working for a foreign company and using my English skills as an asset.

So then maybe Chinese would be the better move. :thinking:

 

Of course, what I meant was more that you shouldn't feel pressure to learn a certain language because you want to travel to a certain country (I went to Germany 2 years ago with no knowledge of the German language, and I got by just fine)

 

With that being said, you're absolutely right. The more languages you can speak, the better your chances in the international business field are.

Another way to look at which language you should take is to choose the least common, so less people have that on their resumes and your resume is more unique.

 

Anyway, you already speak 3 languages so you're in good shape no matter which language you take as a fourth.

Where is 'here' then? :confused:

Southeast Michigan (metro Detroit area). Relatively large Arabic-speaking population here.

Wouldn't have guessed that, actually. :thinking:

The lack of diversity in my area bothers me. :|

Wouldn't have guessed that, actually. :thinking:

The lack of diversity in my area bothers me. :|

 

Yes it's quite surprising to people who don't live here, you're not alone.

 

From wikipedia:

 

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the city with the largest percentage of Arab Americans is Dearborn, Michigan (southwestern suburb of Detroit) at nearly 30%. The Detroit metropolitan area of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties is home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans (403,445) followed by Los Angeles (308,295), New York (230,899), Chicago (176,208), and Washington D.C. (168,208).

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_American

I'd go with German and Chinese

I voted Chinese

THE LANGUAGE OF THE FUTURE OR SOMETHING

Italian and French, but Arabic would be nice to learn as well