<p>Just wondering what foreign language people chose to study in college. Also, which language is most beneficial with job placement etc. I tried to think up what made each language stick out. Feel free to add why you think one language you chose to study was better for you than another. </p>
<p>French is good because it is spoken in the Caribbean, Africa, Canada, Europe and from what I just read, good for banking.</p>
<p>Arabic is good to know now since all of our politics are based over there and its a growing language.</p>
<p>Spanish is good because its the 2nd most spoken language in the world and growing with popularity.</p>
<p>German seems to be beneficial because of cars, medicines, etc. coming out of the country.</p>
<p>Japanese/Chinese/Korean are also good because our business with them seems to be growing everyday.</p>
<p>Italian..not sure how beneficial it is unless you decide to work in Italy.</p>
<p>Russian never gets talked about on CC but I think it would be great to know because of the USSR political connections etc.</p>
<p>I guess add any languages I forgot. I really want to know what people think.</p>
<p>3 languages you'll ever need to know: English, Chinese, and Spanish.</p>
<p>French, German, Italian, etc. will become and used increasingly in their own respective nations and eventually become a language known by academic circles. But that's in a few hundred years. ;)</p>
<p>French is still pretty valuable because of relations with Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.... it's not going away yet'</p>
<p>I took German and Spanish in high school, and am now taking Japanese. I hope to fit some Chinese into my schedule by my junior year, but we'll see how that goes</p>
<p>French and German were used extensively in history as a result of colonization by those two empires, though the former had far more colonies than the latter (a result of von Bismarck's calculations). The francophones still exist today and French is still used. However, though French remains one of the "official" languages of the UN and other international organizations, it's power has diminished. The language of diplomacy has declined in use between nations; John Adams in the 1770s learned French in order to communicate with his French counterparts when he served with Franklin during the Revolution. Today, an American ambassador can go to France without knowledge of it and just bring along an interpretor. If you look at the EU, every language spoke in the EU is considered official; French and German are not necessary to participate. It is no longer necessary to know French to work diplomacy.</p>
<p>Look at Italian. How widespread is that? It has declined the last several hundred years as a result of a "united" Italy until the late 20th century. </p>
<p>Look at the Russians. They have always had trouble with the slavophiles and the slavophobes. In an attempt to be non-Western, they switched to the cyrillic alphabet, which has set them back significantly. There has always been conflicts between accepting Western culture but with the result of international trade, it is now crucial to know English or at least have an interpreter.</p>
<p>With the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the use of Arabic will become more important. Add that to the "need-to-know" languages that I neglected to mention.</p>
<p>Chinese is a "need-to-know" because of the rise of China's power economically and politically, not to mention its population. English, of course, for its universality and Spanish for the growing influence in our culture. </p>
<p>But these are my observations as a amateur; and I don't expect languages to go extinct the next few days, but in a few hundred years. So, learning these languages now aren't detrimental to your education in your foreign languages. As the power of nation and/or nation-state increases, so will the influence of their language.</p>
<p>I think it depends on what you're going into.</p>
<p>Arabic: You only need to know this if you're going into Middle East studies. I'm Arabic and I cannot think of a situation in this nation where I'd have to use it besides talking to relatives. So unless you're planning on being an FBI agent or soldier stationed in the Middle East, it probably wont be necessary. Islamic fundamentalism wont affect what you need to learn, trust me.</p>
<p>French/Chinese: If you're going into business Chinese will be very useful, as I'm told by many sources. A math teacher of mine, whose getting his PhD in Math said he had to learn french in order to complete his major, so there's another application. Again, as others have said, French might be useful for political options.</p>
<p>Spanish: A must if you're a doctor, especially general practitioner. You'll get a lot of patients nowadays who you wont be able to actively communicate with unless you know a little spanish.</p>
<p>German is becoming the most important language in business because Germany will surpass Japan in the future as the second largest economy in the world.</p>
<p>I think Spanish is important for anyone American who'll be communicating with lots of different people. It's such a major plus in so many fields...on a business level or international level not so much, but doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. who can speak spanish are in high demand. I plan on minoring in Spanish in college to continue with my hs courses</p>
<p>It depends on where you are going to be working/living. If you plan on living in France, then you might want to learn French. In the U.S., I would say that Arabic and Spanish are growing in number and therefore gaining more importance.</p>
<p>Do you think French is becoming less popular a language in the business field, especially given the declining number of francophone speakers, and the Ameri-Franco antagonism ("We hate the French!")?</p>
<p>
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French is good because it is .... from what I just read, good for banking.
[/quote]
[quote]
Again, as others have said, French might be useful for political options.
[/quote]
Can anyone give examples of the political or corporate environment that would look upon French knowledge as a major plus?
Would they prefer Chinese speaker, or French speaker?</p>
<p>Though I don't disagree that French now may be useful (and I don't thing the anti-French will have a big effect), it will continue to decline in use (in a few hundred years) as it's power diminishes in world politics. </p>
<p>If John Mearsheimer's view of the international system stands the test of time, French might be useless (later).</p>
<p>Remember how Latin was used extensively during the Roman Era? How often do we use it now? How widespread and powerfurl was the Roman Empire, yet Latin has not held on. Languages depend the power of the nations to influence our culture.</p>
<p>" How often do we use it now? How widespread and powerfurl was the Roman Empire, yet Latin has not held on."</p>
<p>As a Latin student, I feel compelled to defend it. Although a dead language, you'd be surprised how many words you can figure out in English, Spanish or any other Romance language just by knowing Latin. And of course there's the advantage it gives you in studying law and anatomy.</p>
<p>With that said, I think Spanish and/or Chinese would be really useful to know.</p>
<p>so what would you say is more useful? Japanese or German? I am really torn between the two since I am hoping to take "Modern Language and Literature" at Kenyon which is one major with two foreign languges! I already want to continue Spanish, so my other choices are Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, and Russian. I think German would be cool if I wanted to tour Europe a lot etc/work for a car company etc. but I feel like it wouldnt be in much demand for job placement. If I speak Japanese, I could live there and teach them English/Spanish because I am sure they want people to teach them English more so than Germans need English help. Russian is a possibility but their alphabet seems so complicated and its takes 1 minute to say a small thing like thank you. Chinese seems interesting too but the whole deal with "tones" would probably stump me. I like German because its spoken in more than one country versus where Japanese is only Japan. Any ideas?</p>
<p>By the way I hope to double major with Classics and at Kenyon you can choose to study Latin/Greek combined , Latin alone, Greek alone, classical Chinese, Sanskrit, or Hebrew. I would like to do the whole Latin/Greek combination which would probably help with German. Does anything link to Japanese?</p>
<p>mosby: Of course Latin is useful; the Romantic languages are Latin based and English uses Latin roots. English words can be deciphered knowing Latin. But today, Latin is used only in academic circles (like those in law or those studying Latin) and is rarely used by the population. As mentioned earlier, languages are dependent on the power and influence of the state.</p>
<p>valuable1212: If you're going to continue Spanish, you're secured already. Though learning Chinese would be next thing to do, you don't really have to worry about it. In terms of usefulness between Japanese and German, I'm unsure. Perhaps German since it is the economic powerhouse in Europe (yet it's unemployment rate remains high).</p>
<p>Ok I have to come to the defense of Latin with mosby - I love the Latin language and believe it is an excellent language to learn. Anyone who says it has no practical applications today is smoking something.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I have to correct Mosby - English is not a Romance launguage. French, Italian, Portuguese, and Catalan are the major romance languages. English is a germanic language with many words that are derived from Latin.</p>
<p>Just an observation - no one needs to worry what language will be widely used a hundred years from now ("French will continue to decline in use in a few hundred years") since it's very unlikely you'll be chattering on about much of anything. Study the language(s) that appeal to you and for which you can find good teachers/ways of learning them. Personally, I'd like to see implantable language chips that we could just stick in our heads so we'd never be at a loss for words. Of any kind.</p>