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Nonsense. Many academic disciplines require a knowledge of French and/or German. Linguists still refer to Latin as a "power language" even though it's been dead for quite some time. The great thing about French and German is that they're key languages. If you know German, it's not too difficult to pick up Dutch, Afrikaans, or Scandinavian languages. If you know French, it's not too difficult to learn Romance languages like Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, or Romanian. Although the Middle East and Asia are increasingly important, Europe should not be neglected.</p>
<p>I would stick with French in high school and then learn Chinese or Arabic in college. With your background in Spanish, learning French shouldn't be that hard.</p>
<p>The most useful languages to learn are arguably French, Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, and Japanese.
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<p>Please give me examples of academic disciplines that require knowledges of either French or German beyond specialized vocabulary.</p>
<p>The big five Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and Romanian) all descend from Latin, but their grammars have changed considerably when compared to Latin (e.g. lack of declension, loss of the six cases, etc.).</p>
<p>I agree that German and French have many similarities with their language brethren.</p>
<p>European languages shouldn't be neglected. I never suggested that. The OP was curious as to how useful French would be in comparison to Arabic and Chinese. My answer was that it will not be as useful. France hasn't been a true world power since the Suez Crisis. The U.S. Government is apprehensive of China and is involved with some tensions in the Middle East. Languages in these regions will prove to be useful.</p>
<p>French, Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, and Japanese.</p>
<p>Like I previously wrote, the Suez Crisis did it for France. If you want to learn Spanish to be able to communicate with South American immigrants in the U.S., then it's not really a foreign language anymore. Spain itself is not a big player in world politics. Almost everyone in Germany speaks good English. I'm not belittling their language, but I do have doubts that German is important as a world language. Since the fall of the USSR, the demand for Russian has dropped. But that doesn't mean that Russia no longer has influence; it does. Chinese, Hindi, and Arabic could all prove to be very useful as China and India are vying for influence in East / South Asia, and we are heavily involved in the Middle East. The U.S. does not view Japan as a threat in any way, shape, or form. Japan is involved in world politics, but there's no demand if there's no security threat.</p>
<p>Demand for languages changes. Like A-San said, Russian used to be in very high demand. With respect to the U.S., a language becomes important when the corresponding nation or group poses a threat. There may be some anti-Americanism in the member states of the European Union, but we're not engaged in any wars over there, and we don't view any of them as security threats.</p>
<p>I think non-European languages should be emphasized more because they are more difficult to learn than Romance languages and the other Germanic languages. If one studies a Romance language seriously (ie. four intensive hours a day), then one can become proficient in about half a year. It takes almost two years at the same level of intensity to become proficient in Arabic or Chinese. Now is the time to study these languages.</p>