<p>I need to fulfill foreign language requirement. I want to either learn Chinese (my native language is Korean btw) or improve my spanish skills (took it in HS for 4 years)</p>
<p>I think I wouldn't have much use for Spanish, because I don't think I will be going to Spain (well, maybe) or to latin america.</p>
<p>China is close to korea, so I can visit often, and China has a large population and a booming economy. However, I'm not sure if I can master Chinese in a way that I think I would be able to master Spanish if I kept it up in college.</p>
<p>Also, where can I take math/econ classes during summer?</p>
<p>Chinese probably isn’t worth learning. Everyone there (in the business world) speaks English, and it’s easier and more expected for Chinese to learn English than vice versa. </p>
<p>I’d go with Spanish. It’s the second most spoken language in the world, and Latin America includes virtually all of South & Central America other than Brazil. Spanish skills are also useful in the West and Southwest US.</p>
<p>So become trilingual. It’s not so difficult, and it’s pretty awesome to be able to read stuff like Descartes or Nietzsche in the original language.</p>
<p>Being a native Chinese speaker myself, I think you ought to take Spanish. Spanish is both more useful (what “pandem” said) and much more easier to master.</p>
<p>Either one could be useful or not just depending on what you plan to doing in the future. Contrary to what others have said, Chinese would be useful if you plan on going to or working in China. I have a friend working in China right now and believe me it is very useful. So just take what you feel like taking. Or take them both. Personally I love learning new languages so I took Chinese and Japanese (I also speak Korean).</p>
<p>The OP speaks Korean and English, you quoted him learning high school Spanish. Which most people would understand that quoting a phrase about HS spanish and saying become trilingual when they speak two languages already, usually means to learn the language that you are quoting about. Technically, the OP is Trilingual as anyone who has studied three languages is trilingual regardless of fluency. People generally assume trilingual means fluent, but by definition, one does not necessarily have to be fluent. Also the OP is discussing either Spanish or Chinese. Where did German and French come from?</p>
<p>I would pick Spanish (and I did, my final exam for my last spanish course is this week). I picked it because it is such a commonly spoken language in America, even all the way up in the midwest where I live. I encounter spanish speakers all the time in my line of work and learning Spanish has made me a much more valuable asset to the organization. We do occasionally need someone who speaks Chinese, but not nearly as often. I suppose what is most useful for you depends on what kind of work you’re going to be doing.</p>
<p>My future career plans will probably have something to do with going into the finances area, which is one reason why I might learn Chinese. I think it’s more likely that some bank/financial institution that I’m working for has a branch in China rather than in Spain/Latin America. Besides, I would much rather go to China than to Latin America (I’m not being a racist btw)</p>
<p>hmm I’m not sure if learning Chinese for 3/4 years at college would allow me to be fluent enough. If I could be fluent, then Chinese FTW.</p>
<p>“I’d go with Spanish. It’s the second most spoken language in the world”</p>
<p>Yea…that’s wrong. Maybe the second most spoken in the U.S. but English and Chinese are definitely 1 and 2 for most spoken languages in the world.</p>
<p>Just take the Spanish placement test and try a new language…French (or any other romance language) would also be easy since its similar to Spanish. If you think you can handle Chinese…go for it. I’m sure many companies with clients in other countries will need people fluent in Chinese</p>
Which one of the hundreds of Chinese languages? Only Bejing (population of 22 million) uses Standard Mandarin taught in US colleges as a first language.</p>
<p>The different dialects within mandarin have differences compared to, say, American English, British English, Aussie, etc. (according to my Chinese friends)</p>
<p>Would 3/4 years of Chinese study and possibly some time abroad make me fluent enough in Chinese if I put enough work into it?</p>
Mandarin is only one of the many dialects spoken in China. I am less concerned about the regional variations of Standard Mandarin than all the non-Mandarin dialects.</p>
<p>University of Pittsburgh offers a summer language institute in Chinese (Mandarin). It’s under East Asian languages. There are many colleges across the country that offer intensive language courses. Middlebury is always mentioned, but there is a little college in Wisconsin called Beloit that also offers language study. You might also search the STARS program if you want to study Chinese because scholarship money is often availble.</p>