<p>Hello I'm a high school senior and I am very interested in internatinal business or international law in the future, as well as arabic. Problem is, I don't know how valuable it is going to be. Any advice?</p>
<p>Arabic is great, but if you really want to be a hot commodity then I would go for Mandarin.</p>
<p>Arabic is awesome if you want to do something polisci/gov't related.</p>
<p>Yea I know that Arabic is best for a gov job or polisci, but how does it stack up for business compared to japanese, mandarin, german and others? </p>
<p>My concern with Mandarin is that it would take all my time because ive heard it is th emost difficult language to learn and I would like to continue spanish in addition to picking up a third.</p>
<p>Probably not so much in business..the middle east isnt exactly a business capital of the world like China, Germany, and Japan. I don't think it would be useful in the business world unless you're doing something in the oil industry.</p>
<p>I do believe China just jumped passed Germany. (This is from a single headline and a paragraph from yesterday's LA Times - double check me, if you will)</p>
<p>Yeah. I'd say Mandarin. Arabic doesn't stack up. There is a lot of room for growth in Arabic countries, though. You may have to do a lot more independent work, but if you would like to go that route, it's definitely possible.</p>
<p>Any chance that Europe and the U.S.'s apparent movement away from oil will hut what appears to be strong growth in the gulf states? </p>
<p>And do you think that Japan is on the decline because of poppulation issues?</p>
<p>I doubt Arabic would be a strong choice for business. Relatively small economies, soon to be very poor due to lack of oil. It just doesn't seem like a great choice. </p>
<p>Considering the time and effort involved. It'd probably be superior to learn Spanish+French compared to Arabic. That allows you to access many more consumers.</p>
<p>Sorry Mr. Payne, but French? are you kidding me French is a language that is not centralized anywhere except France, of course, and West Africa, which is hardly on the map economically. . . Now this probably should be a whole new thread, and if this doesn't get a lot of responses it probably will be, but if not Arabic which languages are best for international business?</p>
<p>Another very interesting choice would be to learn Hindi. Now, I've been to India and basically everyone, especially the businessmen, speak fluent English. HOWEVER, I found that Indians are much MORE willing to do business with you if you speak their native language. With India's economy booming, learning Hindi might not be a bad idea.</p>
<p>this may help: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=349689%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=349689</a></p>
<p>I'd say spanish, german, chinese, or japanese.</p>
<p>I think Arabic is fine, expecially when it comes to UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia and even Iraq when their Oil boom comes up.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Sorry Mr. Payne, but French? are you kidding me French is a language that is not centralized anywhere except France, of course, and West Africa, which is hardly on the map economically. . . Now this probably should be a whole new thread, and if this doesn't get a lot of responses it probably will be, but if not Arabic which languages are best for international business?
[/quote]
I think best languages for international business would be English, Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese, German/French, and then maybe Arabic?</p>
<p>The real issue is the time required to learn a single language. The time spent learning Mandarin could be used to learn 3 European languages. And three European languages (Spanish/French/German) is probably significantly more useful from a business perspective.</p>
<p>It's my view that German isn't really that helpful anymore for business. The only reason Germany's economy is like it is is because of the auto industry and its other manufacturing industries. Business for the sake of business seems to prefer Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and French. Yes, French. If you want to sell anything in Canada it's almost a necessity. Not that most Canadians don't speak English, because they do, but French will certainly help in business. And France has around 65 million people to whom you can sell things too.</p>
<p>The strength of Arabic in the business world is rather debatable. It will help if you're looking at business that has to do with government, politics, public policy, or international relations. But if you're going to be an accountant, I don't think Arabic will help you much. Perhaps, if you like, you could study Arabic, but not as a major. Being fluent is much better than having that as your major.</p>
<p>So concludes my viciously valuable views.</p>