I am at a loss here. I don’t see any language would be practical for someone working in a cubicle dealing with people who speak English. I am in Texas where there is a large Hispanic and Chinese community, but 99% of the people I would speak with as a bookkeeper and accountant will speak English. I’ve heard employers like to see difficult classes being taken. Should I study a harder language, Arabic, Latin, or Mandarin, sacrificing a better grade for a lower one in a more challenging course?
Unless you have some interest in studying abroad in a certain country or a special interest in any particular language, I would choose a language that is common in the area that you live in or plan to live in. You never know when knowing a second language would be helpful, and I would pick a language that has a fair chance of coming up a lot. Maybe you’ll have Spanish-speaking clients or maybe you want to pick up a part-time job tutoring Chinese or translating/interpreting. Maybe you’ll change your mind about where you work. Maybe you’ll have a job where you need to speak to clients/customers/patrons and knowing a second, common language is not only helpful but extremely advantageous when applying to jobs. I’ve had friends who have gotten jobs mainly because they were fluent in Spanish or Mandarin. I had one friend that made really good money from part-time jobs tutoring young kids in Mandarin. Or, you know, you never know when you’re just going to run into someone who is, say, Spanish-speaking, who you want to ask a question. You’re much more likely to run into someone who speaks Spanish better than they speak English than someone who speaks Latin. Or maybe you want to visit Spain or China or wherever, and knowing a little bit of the language can help. When I was in France, even though I was in really tourist-y areas the entire time, my high school French came in really handy when I was trying to talk to someone who didn’t understand what I was saying in English or when I needed to read a sign or whatever.
Employers aren’t going to be impressed by a “hard” language, but it can be valuable to put fluency in a language on your resume (provided you are actually fluent in that language). Being proficient in Spanish is going to be a lot more valuable to an employer than being proficient in Latin. Your GPA is going to be more important to an employer than seeing that you “challenged” yourself by taking Arabic, especially if you never reach proficiency in that language. The employer will likely never even know you took those classes. They typically don’t look at transcripts.
If you are just taking a language to fulfill college credit (i.e. you have no personal interest in any particular language and have no prior experience in any language), then I would just take Spanish. It’s going to be easier than some like Mandarin or Arabic (provided you have no prior experience) but is (most likely) going to be more practical than something like Latin.
An “easy” language will get you to a higher level of proficiency in a given amount of time than a “hard” language.
For example, starting from a first language of English, four college semesters of French or Spanish is likely a significantly higher level of proficiency than four college semesters of Mandarin Chinese or Arabic.
Of course, if you have academic, career, or personal goals where a specific language is useful, then it would make sense to learn that language. For example, if you have an accounting practice, a customer may come in and want some help with a family business or taxes or something. Then the customer needs his/her immigrant parents to come in and explain something about whatever the accounting needs are, and the immigrant parents’ English is not so good.
These are really good points. I was envisioning a work environment where I was in a cubicle and not facing the customer. Where the only people I’d converse with were people who spoke English unless someone was lost and wandering around the office (then there is Google translate, haha). That’s the type of accounting I envision, perhaps it will be customer-facing, though.
The problem with learning Spanish is that it is common. There is a glut of Spanish speaking employees which lowers demand (unless increased trade with Cuba changes it for some reason). There is lots of oil business Spanish speaking countries, and I am in Texas… There is also a lot with Arabic speaking countries. Then again, China is a major trading partner with the US.
I’ve heard part of the reason some degrees are in higher demand is that they require more work than others. Communications is an interesting field but employers would say that a student who graduated from an Engineering program proved their ability to be trained. The Latin I took was when I was Liberal Arts major thinking of going into Theology (considered a “soft major”). You are probably right about the employers not looking at transcripts, but I could put a volunteer Mandarin or Arabic translator position on there.
The trade off is really the greater proportion of Spanish speakers in Austin, Tx (glut) and the lesser proportion of Mandarin speakers here (demand?). I would also throw Syrian into the equation. Especially, as been mentioned, that there could be money to be made tutoring. However any tutoring will require more fluency than can be gained in that little time. Still, glut… Spanish speakers are a dime-a-dozen where I am.
I understand the value of learning. It is great to learn another language. As far as it being a requirement, I think that employers would be better served if I took an English grammar class. I passed English 101 with an A (Three times. It didn’t matriculate.) I realized that my grammar wasn’t A quality. I had no clue what a semi-colon was. They would also be better served if I took a VBA class. That’s just me on a soapbox. The reality is that I need to take a language.
Thanks
True, Spanish native and heritage speakers who know English well are common enough that it is not really distinctive to have that ability, unless you go into a profession where such bilingual ability is both uncommon and needed.
Perhaps you want to consider whether your intended lines of work have a need (from a customer service standpoint) for speakers of some non-English language, but native or heritage speakers of that language are uncommon in those lines of work. Of course, also consider the amount of course work you will need to get to a reasonable level of proficiency.
I really don’t think there is a glut of Spanish speakers unless you work in the barrio or at a border station in Texas?
If you plan to live in Texas after college, you may want to learn Spanish. How would you use latin? Mandarin, yes because of the products going back and forth to Texas, but Latin?
I speak, write and interpret the “glut” of Spanish that you’ve mentioned, and have been bilingual for all of my life and hence, many positions. I receive an additional stipend for speaking Spanish because they would have to hire two of me to serve our clients. All of my family members live in Texas and are bilingual. They are often promoted because of their good English and Spanish grammatical skills. Which means that they could correct this sentence:
My dd has been informed that in her competitive job market, they want her to start using her Spanish skills to attract more clients. We’re in California. If you decide to move to upstate NY, or any regions near Canada, then you may want to learn French.
I’m also bilingual in English and Spanish and it’s very helpful in the Pacific Northwest where I am I can communicate with pretty much everyone everywhere. From my experience in Texas there were not that many Spanish speakers. Looking at a business stand point I’d probably learn an Asian language or Arabic. From a practicality view I’d learn the second most popular language where I lived or in my business place.