Help me choose a foreign language!

[Circanineteen85]

Ok, so i'm starting at a different college this fall and i don't need to take a foreign language but would like to take one anyways because I think being bilingual would be neat and because i want to leave the US when i graduate. I took four years of German in highschool but have forgot most of it since i've done nothing with it for the past 2 years and if i take german i'm going to start in the very first class. or I could take japanese which i would definately prefer but i know it's insanely hard to learn. but the thing is if i move to europe when i graduate college it's most likely going to be to the U.K. because they have a better fashion scene then germany. However i'd definately love to move to japan because its a country i've been fascinated with since i was jsut a wee-tike and they get all kinds of awesome stuff (electronics, cars, and clothing) that we don't get in the states. Oh also i need to take one of the languages because if i don't i won't be full time since my schedule is all crazy because of transferring schools and starting at the beginning of my major but having almost all of my general education credits done.

So after all that my question is should i take the easy way and go for german or should i take the difficult but more likely used way and go for japanese?

[englandmj7]

Depends on what your career plans are, as you said. It also depends on the time you are willing to put in to learn the language. In two years of excessive practice you will have a firm grasp of conversational German but would most likely still be a novice with Japanese and only posess the bare minimum of elementary writing skills. For practicality, I would suggest Spanish. If you were a business major and wanted to learn a language that will make you the most money career-wise in the long run then Chinese and Arabic are undoubtedly the ways to go......either way, if you want to do fashion, then Chinese/Arabic/Spanish wouldn't really apply, but then again, neither would German.

Just keep in mind that the odds of you finding a job in Japan are slim to none. Unless you are working for an MNC such as a bank/export firm/tech. company, you are most likely NOT going to ever be shipped out to Japan. Not to mention that you will not find a work visa to do anything other than teaching English for a few months either. It is not like Europe in that you can simply move over bum around and finally find a cool job, there are thousands of intelligent hard-working people there who have your skill-sets yet fluently speak the language. What do you offer?

[Chicken]

^ i think england's recommendations are great.

to add my own twist to it, i'd say one thing to remember is that the best way to learn a foreign language is to go and live in a place that uses it. that way you're forced to use that language in a more live or die situation, and it will stick.

but of course, that's not the case when you're in school. i say for school, pick whatever language that you're most fascinated with and can stay fascinated with. for example, if you know a bunch of spanish speaking people around you, you can keep trying your new knowledge and stay interested. but say if you're taking japanese but there's no japanese people around you or if you didn't have any access to japanese tv, books or music and things, you might lose interest very fast.

but i'm pretty sure which ever language you choose to study, you will never regret it. and learning any language will make it easier to learn more later on. growing up, i went to an international school with kids who are fluent up to about six languages, and i found what i say here to be true.

[greentea]

learn cantonese. i always want to learn.

[herpsky]

i took four years of spanish in highschool

since i had known that college level spanish was gonna be hard as hell,

i took portuguese. i spent maybe five minutes studying for the entire semester.

easy A. no joke

[startmeup]

le francais est plus difficile que le langue d'espagne, mais c'est mon langue favori.

[keri]

le francais est plus difficile que le langue d'espagne, mais c'est mon langue favori.

The sad part is, with 1 year of hs french, and a little outside study, and a fair fluency in Texan spanish, I could actually read that.

AndI really think you should study a european language if you plan on relocating to europe, unless you are planning on doing lots of international work, then I'd go for arabic or chinese. (pretty much what england said...)

[mizanation]

best way to learn a language is to date a native speaker. maybe that will help you pick a language?

[keri]

That's actually how I learned my spanish so well. I didn't date anyone, but I was in a small private school, and a guy and his younger siter didn't speak a lick of english, and we had spanish together, and I had an awesome teacher who told us that if by the end of the semester we could carry a conversation in both english and spanish with each other, we'd get A's. So we learned each other's language together, it really is the best way to learn, and was a lot of fun.

[kikidark]

learn cantonese. i always want to learn.

cantonese is great!!

I'm fluent in both mandarin and french, and I do speak such a bad cantonese.

But it's changing, from yesterday, I asked my girl friend I don't want her to speak mandarin with me anymore!! maybe the next year I will be able to write that kind of idiot sentence in cantonese too!!! It would be great.

粤语，我的爱情！！！

cantonese is probably "La plus sexy des langues" over the world!!

[artificialsky]

What do you offer?

a large white penis.

[kikidark]

a large white penis.

lol

I'm afraid that' is not enough to get a good work in Japan.

Anyway in hongkong it doesn't work....

It helps maybe to see many pussy...that's still better than nothing...

[darkanimal]

what's up with arabic, why is this useful? pardon my ingnorance

[dave023]

le francais est plus difficile que le langue d'espagne, mais c'est mon langue favori.

sorry dude, but you still need to take some french lessons;)

Nice effort tho

Correction:

Le français est plus difficile que l'espagnol mais c'est ma langue préférée...

Yeah in Belgium we have 3 official languages: French/Dutch and German....

[sybaritical]

Your best bet is learn Mandarin Chinese. Then, in 20 or 30 years time when the Chinese are running everything, you'll be one step ahead of the rest of us.

[2000dB]

I'd learn Mandarin. I'm currently learning japanese though. It's not as hard as it seems if you start learning kanji early on. I've been studying (I use the term studying loosely) for just under two months and I can have simples conversations and guess the item descriptions on rakuten After spending some time in Japan and if I have time on my hands, I'll probably pick up korean or mandarin. I already speak french and english on a daily basis.

[mizanation]

sorry dude, but you still need to take some french lessons;)

Nice effort tho

Correction:

Le français est plus difficile que l'espagnol mais c'est ma langue préférée...

Yeah in Belgium we have 3 official languages: French/Dutch and German....

maybe he is speaking in haitian creole?

[2000dB]

maybe he is speaking in haitian creole?

Trust me creole is not like that! haha.

[englandmj7]

what's up with arabic, why is this useful? pardon my ingnorance

Darkanimal -

The middle east, particularly countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are home to thousands of immensely successful businesses who often require/would seek foreign-educated workers. As not many of us foreigners learn Arabic it can take you very far in a career abroad. My father worked for a large Egyptian bank and I lived in Egypt for several years. The expats with even an elementary command of the language who worked there were extremely wealthy and influential. Hell, even those who couldn't speak a lick of it were extremely wealthy; knowing the language will simply help you get your foot in the door.

Also, if you are interested in working in the oil industry learning Arabic would be very beneficial. The recommendation simply follows those that offered Chinese as a path to consider. Both languages are the native languages of two of the fastest growing places in the world. For a businessman, you always want to go to developing/rapidly growing places as those are the places where you can make the greatest advances: S. America, China, etc.

[darkanimal]

gotcha, thanks...I need to find some cool arab friends then! expand my circle of friends.

[greentea]

allah akbar!

[ruprecht]

i move to europe when i graduate college it's most likely going to be to the U.K. because they have a better fashion scene then germany. However i'd definately love to move to japan because its a country i've been fascinated with since i was jsut a wee-tike and they get all kinds of awesome stuff (electronics, cars, and clothing) that we don't get in the states.

this new college you're going to, it isn't

The Derek Zoolander School For Kids Who Can't Read Good And Want To Learn How To Do Other Stuff Good Too

is it?

[mizanation]

Trust me creole is not like that! haha.

bonjou! sak pase?

mwen ame manje creole!

you pick up some stuff when you hang out in jamaica queens...

[Kasper]

to help you, here is a study by the department of state judging the difficulty of learning a foreing language for english speaker.

http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/november/learningExpectations.html

as you can see, most european language require much much less time than east asian/arabic language. according to this study, you could become totally fluent in spanish, french and german in the same time it would take to learn chinese or arabic. and they say that the hardest is japanese...

i've been studying japanese intensively for 3 years and i feel i have an obligation to warn you about it. IT MUCH MUCH HARDER THAN WHAT YOU THINK. it requires 4 or 5 years of intense study to become fluent (both spoken and written) and that is a very long time. the vast majority of people who start japanese will abandon before becoming fluent. 3 years ago, when i started, there was about 35 peoples in my class, out of those, about only 8 made it to the third year, and we all went on exchange for a year (i just recently came back from a year in Tokyo). out of those 8, only me and another guy plan to continue, cause all the others felt that there was still too much to do. and like others said, speaking japanese will only put you on level with many people there so there's no way it will guarantee you a job. especially in the fashion industry.

before choosing a language, you have to ask yourself how much work and time you're seriously willing to put in that language. for exemple, my major was finance so all the japanese class i took expect one didn't count toward my major so i did the classes on top of my regular classes. i ended up doing a double major (finance + east asian studies) so that i could spent a year in tokyo, but i still had to do an extra year (i did 6 years of schooling in 5).

on the other hand, with most european language, you could take a class or two, go there for a year on exchange and come back completely fluent. many of my friends have done that. for exemple, my best friend went to brasil last year. he didn't know a word of portugese, but he just got there 2 months before the school started, took and extensive class and then started school all in portuguese without any major difficulties. (our first language is french so it's much easier for us to pick up other latin language, but still...)

[2000dB]

Kasper, I'm really interested to know what you consider being the most difficult things about the japanese language. Is it kanji? or is it the way the phrases are constructed. I think we have the same lingustic background so I'm really interested in knowing more about you experience. I'll send you a email.

[mizanation]

japanese is a tough language, and i've been speaking it my whole life.

i've never met a person from outside japan who could speak it like a native.

[englandmj7]

I also recommend "cat".......

[greentea]

japanese is a tough language, and i've been speaking it my whole life.

i've never met a person from outside japan who could speak it like a native.

all the gaijins need to know is , eigo de hanasemasuka? skushi dakke nihongo o hanasemasu demo,joozu wa arimasen! gomen ne,gomen ne!!!

or when you want to talk to a girl at the bar

"Nihongo no sensei ni natte kureru?" worked 1nce.

[horriblyjollyjinx]

well, you definitely don't want to live in France(worst socialist country ever, in ruins soon) but there are other French-speaking countries but in some of them they also speak German. I have to say I'd go with german if I were you.

I don't see why you'd want to learn spanish.

[englandmj7]

I don't see why you'd want to learn spanish.

Um, what? Maybe because it is the FOURTH most spoken language in the world (behind Chinese, English and Hindi)??? German isn't even in the top 10..........