Best Third Language to learn

Applying to College
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<p>I posted this in a few other subforums, but I feel like I may get the most informed responses here.</p>

<p>Hello good people of CC,</p>

<p>I'm currently pursuing a double major in international business and international studies and taking French on the side. I will be picking up a third language next year and wanted to know what the most marketable would be. Before anyone says it, I don't want to learn Mandarin or Japanese because in the time it takes to master it I could be learning two European languages. I also will not be pursuing Arabic because the only jobs in that field are with the government. </p>

<p>My main question is would it be better to jump into a widely spoken language (Spanish, German) or into a lesser spoken one (Swedish, Russian, Portuguese) in terms of how much they would increase my marketability for a job in international business. Also detailed reasoning or personal experiences would be appreciated, I've done research but the results seem to be ambiguous.</p>

<p>Thanks guys!</p>

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<p>If I were you Iā€™d focus on actually getting good at French. For it to be useful in business you want to be at the stage where you can read a novel, watch the news, and take part in a shouting match with absolutely no problems speaking or being understood. Far too many people ā€˜speakā€™ three languages really badly.</p>

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<p>Besides the obvious (Spanish, French, Mandarin), </p>

<p>I would recommend German. It also allows you to understand some of the Scandinavian Languages, which can also be great to learn (especially Swedish).</p>

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<p>I also think being fluent in French should be your priority if you hope to use it for work. Spend a year living/working/studying in France. But, without knowing where your French level is at (maybe youā€™re already awesome at it, who knows?), I would say Spanish or German. Though Spanish is ā€œcommon,ā€ thereā€™s also a huge number of job opportunities for those who can really speak it (well, not badly, as keepitoyourself pointed out). Thereā€™s little practical use in speaking a novel language if it will not bag you the job opportunities your looking for. Thatā€™s why I wouldnā€™t recommend spending your energy to learn a language like Swedish or Estonian unless you can really imagine yourself living and working in those countries with those markets. [speaking as someone living and working in Bulgaria and ā€œlearningā€ Bulgarian] Knowing French will also help you learn Spanish faster, though it will still be difficult work to get to a level where you have a high working proficiency with both.</p>

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<p>Goldman Sachs wants some European Languages coupled with Russian or Turkish. </p>

<p>Iā€™m working on my fifth language with that goal in mind!</p>

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<p>I want to major in International studies too and have been wrestling with what languages to take, and considering how practical they would be. I am most interested in Europe, but the EU languages are less practical now that the British and Irish can move freely to the continent and satisfy the need for fluent English speakers in those jobs. You could take a non-EU European language, or Russian. As for Arabic, a lot of oil companies need fluent Arabic speakers. But the problem with Arabic is all the dialects. You need to additionally learn one or more dialects to be able to communicate. Iā€™m not even sure how one goes about doing that other than a long period of immersion abroad.</p>

<p>I would say go for Russian.</p>

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<p>Brazil is growing rapidly and more opportunities with Portuguese will grow along with it.</p>

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<p>Iā€™d recommend Spanish, mandarin, or German for business. </p>

<p>If youā€™d like to be a diplomat of some sort Iā€™d seriously consider arabic</p>

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<p>Just for your information, Iā€™m not trying to be discouraging, but what keepittoyourself said is incredibly true. Youā€™re not going to ā€œmasterā€ any language unless you spend thousands of hours on the endeavor; native speakers know around twenty thousand words (20,000 word families, e.g. went, going, go, etc.) and a good few thousand expressions on top of that (not to mention knowledge of cultural context plus slang terms), and thatā€™s in their active, not passive, vocabulary, they donā€™t have to think about it to use it, it just comes out. A lot of people say they ā€œspeakā€ another language, but they only have a basic knowledge of the grammar structure and the basic vocabulary. They might be able to communicate on a simple level at slow speeds, but theyā€™ll be completely overwhelmed if they were to try to keep up at the speeds natives usually speak it at. And all that is for your familiar romance languages, French, Italian, Spanish. Chinese and Korean and whatnot will be significantly harder.</p>

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<p>Interesting topic.
I have an almost 16 y/o that is fluent in English/Spanish/Polish (to the level of having a shouting match - LOVED that :slight_smile: ) and is currently learning French and Korean. She would like to learn Russian (somehow similar to Polish), followed by Portuguese and Italian (thinking that her knowledge of Spanish will make it easy ).
I am thinking at this point that her linguistic skills will put her in the future in the field of IR. She is really not interested in learning Arabic (seems to be popular lately) or any other Asian language.
Would love to hear your opinions on learning Portuguese and Italian on the basis of Spanish.</p>

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<p>Iā€™ve studied four foreign languages and speak English natively.</p>

<p>Iā€™ve studied Spanish for 6 years, French for almost nine years now, Latin for four, and German for a year.</p>

<p>If I were you, Iā€™d go with Spanish. A) A lot of employers in the US like to see Spanish and B) itā€™s pretty similar to French.</p>

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<p>I suggest you to learn chines. Because this time the work big market place is china. Maximum people donā€™t know the chines and the people of china donā€™t know about other language. So you also understand about the demand.</p>

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<p>I recommend mandarin</p>

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<p>I recommend portuguese. Itā€™s the language that I have been learning for years, and itā€™s near to my heart. Itā€™s just a language that I fell in love with from the first time I heard it spoken by a native. </p>

<p>Itā€™s very difficult to speak three languages. You need to have completely mastered one before moving to another. Many people can barely speak their native language well when it comes to correct grammar usage. So, it will take a lot of dedication.</p>

<p>I started learning portuguese on my own 5 years ago. There wasnā€™t a class offered at my high school, so I started teaching myself by looking up vocabulary words, purchasing language books, and watching Disney movies in portuguese. When I came to college two years ago, I enrolled in portuguese classes and after this semester will have completed the 202 level. Next spring, I plan to study abroad in Brazil for four months to further improve my language skills. I even read books in portuguese right now. Itā€™s all about immersing yourself in the language. Keep in mind that when learning another language, you donā€™t want to learn how to translate. When you see something, such as a ā€œbookā€, the foreign word should immediately come to mind. If youā€™re thinking ā€œbookā€ and then translating to ā€œlivroā€ then youā€™re not mastering the language. </p>

<p>As far as trying to learn portuguese after spanish, itā€™s not impossible. There are a lot of similar words. However, portuguese is not a version of spanish. It is a completely different language with african, portuguese, french, latin, and indigenous influences. If my portuguese professor speaks slowly, the spanish student in my class can piece together certain phrases and make sense of it. However, if my professor speaks quickly, the spanish student has great difficulty understanding him. My professor said that it is easier for portuguese speakers to understand spanish than the other way around. I took spanish beforehand, and I have to say that it seems to be true. Speaking portuguese allows me to easily pick up on spanish conversations. Portuguese is a difficult language. There are a lot of sounds that native english speakers have trouble producing. Itā€™s a lot of nasalized sounds, but if you do well with french it shouldnā€™t be too much of an issue.</p>

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<p>Someone in an earlier post asked about Portuguese and Italian. I speak Spanish fairly well and I can ALMOST understand an Italian conversation (and I have not studied Italian). I certainly can get the gist of what they are saying. The number of cognates (i.e. basically the same word meaning the same thing in both languages) is large and the grammar is similar. I have heard that learning Italian isnā€™t hard at all for a Spanish speaker.
That, however, isnā€™t what the OP wanted to know. :slight_smile:
I agree with the earlier poster - being fluent in French is much, much better than being so-so in two languages. Otherwise Iā€™d a vote for learning one or more of Spanish, French or Portuguese, because if the wheels come off the globalization bus, we will again be oriented toward the Americas and especially the NAFTA countries (plus they can be learned twice as fast as a non-IndoEuropean language). (Side bonus of French - gets you extra points toward getting Canadian residency).</p>

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<p>You mentioned Spanish or German.</p>

<p>Spanish, hands down.</p>

<p>German is extremely useful - but most Germans speak English really well. Those in business often speak English exceptionally well. If you speak German with German clients, you will earn brownie points (if you speak well).</p>

<p>Spanish is extremely useful. They speak it in Spain, Mexico, Central America, South Americaā€¦and increasingly in the US. So with one language you cover a whole bunch of foreign national and regional markets, as well as the domestic market in the US.</p>

<p>And there are still a lot of Spanish-speaking business people that donā€™t speak English nearly as well as they should.</p>

<p>Pick German if you really like Germany - if you might live there for a bit some time in the future, for example. Pick German if you are going to focus your studies on something tied to Germany - automotive technology, ship building, European finance-related topics in areas where Germany has a lot of influence.</p>

<p>As for lesser spoken languages - Russian - useful. But Russian falls into your Chinese/Japanese category in terms of time (easier maybe than Chinese and Russian, but youā€™re still looking at a heavier investment).</p>

<p>Brazil is up and coming. Portuguese would be helpful.</p>

<p>Widely-spoken languages will increase your marketability overall - i.e., Spanish</p>

<p>Lesser-spoken languages will give you an advantage in a ā€œkey accountsā€ sort of way - they can help you to get jobs working with specific clients in specific countries. (I have seen that a lot with law and finance).</p>

<p>Only other thing I would suggest is this - pick a language that interests you, too. If Chinese were easy to learn and you chose Chinese (and became fluent) - great. But not so great if you want to live in France and your company sends you to China.</p>

<p>The only exception to that (in my view) is if your career is your ultimate priority - and so you are willing to live anywhere that will advance you career. </p>

<p>Good hunting!</p>

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