foreign language that's gonna help with the study of law?

Graduate School Law School
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<p>So I am an international students coming from China who are starting college at Pomona College this fall, and I am considering which foreign language to study at Pomona. Since I plan to go to law school after I graduate, I think I should pick a foreign language that is going to help with my future study of law. Currently I am thinking about Latin, coz I heard that the study of law is going to involve a lot of 'old English'. So can you guys provide me with some insider info?</p>

<p>BTW, I can already speak Chinese Mandarin, Cantonese and English.</p>

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<p>Latin trains your analytical reasoning and fine tunes your attention to syntax and the meanings of particular words.</p>

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<p>Latin certainly has no direct usefulness. There are maybe fifteen latin phrases, and they’re easy enough to learn. Kwu is right that Latin might have some indirect effects, but so would something useful like Russian (which also features declension) or even Spanish (which also features a consistent phonetic system).</p>

<p>By FAR the most important language skill is English. For most law students, a 10% improvement in English skills is worth more than another language entirely.</p>

<p>Beyond that, I’d take something useful. I’m privately of the opinion that there are five useful languages in the world, and you already speak two of them. So if I were you, I’d pick from among: Spanish, Russian, and Arabic.</p>

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<p>Thank you for your insight! kwu and bluedevilmike</p>

<p>@bluedevilmike: French isn’t on your most-useful-languages list? I thought French is pretty widely used, like in many African countries?</p>

<p>Arabic sounds pretty fun.:)</p>

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<p>Here’s a thread I participated in last summer that I think has a lot of good points: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/739197-foreign-language-lawyer.html?highlight=language[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/739197-foreign-language-lawyer.html?highlight=language&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>In terms of actually studying law, rather than practicing it, I think Latin is helpful–but not for the reason you mentioned. Yes, there are some Latin phrases, but you’ll pick them up pretty easily whether you took Latin or not. Latin forced me to read very closely and taught me how to really study…both useful skills for law school. But in terms of my actual practice now (as a public interest lawyer), improving my Spanish would’ve been more valuable (with ASL and Amharic close seconds).</p>

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<p>(googles Amharic)</p>

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<p>Well, if you are proficient in French as well as English you could apply to Canadian law schools like McGill.</p>

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<p>you know, I think I googled it last time you mentioned it. Hopefully this time I’ll remember.</p>