<p>Did you notice how the announcements during the Olympic Games are always in French, English, and the home country? French is internationally important.</p>
<p>In Quebec 99% of people are bilingual and will speak to you in English - after all, Canada has two official languages: French and English...</p>
<p>also Canadian French and the French you learn in school is way different. Kind of like Britain vs. the USA</p>
<p>XavierKnights, the olympic games were also in German in 2004. :)</p>
<p>""It depends where you live. If you live in Canada, obviously you would take French. In the U.S. - Spanish."</p>
<p>I was under the impression that most people from Canada already knew French...at least when I went to Montreal last year most people did (A homeless person asked me for money in French and I looked at him weird. Then he said 'Ah, English', and then asked me for money in English)
Of course I could be wrong. :P"</p>
<p>Most people already know French in Quebec, but in some provinces, taking French isn't mandatory. I know in Windor, (which is right near the USA - Canada border) barely any of them speak French. But in Montreal, nearly everyone speaks French as their first language.</p>
<p>A lot of students at my school take Spanish but I take French and German. German helps you alot when you're learning US history, for me at least.</p>
<p>^ Could you explain why German helps in learning US history? I am curious.</p>
<p>Japanese is the way to go.</p>
<p>Personally I think that if things keep going the way they are, Chinese is the way to go. I plan to study Chinese in college</p>
<p>I take French and find it completely useless. Nothing about French helps you become a successful "global citizen", the languages that dominate that department are English and Mandarin Chinese. Most French people speak English and prefer that you speak to them in English rather than mutilate their language with an American accent. The French spoken in former colonies is also very very different from traditional French and most of middle and lower class people in Cameroon, Haiti, etc. do not speak French fluently. Most French speakers are either French or rich citizens of former colonies, meaning they are likely to speak English as well. Spanish, on the other hand, is spoken fluently by 99% of citizens of Spanish-speaking countries, most of whom cannot speak English, making it useful for business, etc. in the Americas and, increasingly, in the US. As for Japanese, most Japanese people know more English than American Japanese students know Japanese, so it isn't very useful. Take Spanish or, if possible, Modern Standard Arabic or Mandarin Chinese.</p>
<p>leezy23, I'm curious as to why you think Arabic is very useful.</p>
<p>I'm not saying I'm disagreeing with you, I just want you to elaborate. :)</p>
<p>I am not Leezy23, but Arabic is gaining considerable importance with our diplomatic actions of late and, of course, business and the oil industry. During the Cold War, Russian was the language to learn; for the time being, now it's Arabic. And on another note, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world... there is something to be said right there.</p>
<p>I think Arabic is a very interesting language.</p>
<p>I've always wanted to go to Dubai. :)</p>
<p>CIA values Arabic a lot..they need language instructors to teach their employees, they also need Arabic fluent officers to work with Arabs. Like, diplomatic people or 'spies'..whatever.</p>
<p>Jonathan K, Kelsiface speaks my mind. Although there is great variety within the "Arab world" in terms of language, pan-Arab news media and culture is making Modern Standard Arabic more widely spoken day by day. There are over 1 Billion Muslims and their numbers are quickly growing. All these factors will make Modern Standard Arabic one of the world's most widely spoken languages pretty soon. Additionally, Arabic is useful because many arabic speakers do not speak English, which is important. Languages spoken by non-English-speakers are far more useful than those spoken mainly by English speakers like French, German, etc. Plus, Arabic is really cool.</p>
<p>Wow... thanks for your insight. Yes, I agree that Mandarin Chinese will be imperative in the future, which is why I am learning it right now, along with Russian! I was just wondering about the benefits of learning French or German, seeing that the majority of my classmates study those languages. And since Spanish and French are both derived from Latin, it shouldn't be so hard to learn French. In my opinion, Spanish is amazingly simple. The gramatical structure is so close to that of English, you can pick up new vocabulary easily just by listening in to other people's conversations, and it's easy to incorporate into everyday life. But I'd love to take on a challenge.</p>
<p><em>Sigh</em> Stereotyping Hispanics and associating them with McDonalds saddens me. I don't like it when anyone makes condescending assumptions about Hispanics and/or fast food workers. You insult them, and you insult my mother. She works very hard to support us, and with her humble background, it would be painstakingly difficult (okay: impossible) for her to get a more reputable job. Stop being snobby and try to see things from an objective point of view. Some people were born into a lack-luster living, and their conditions prevent them from going beyond that.</p>
<p>yeah mandarin chinese is going to be very important in the future. im chinese myself, but my chinese is terrible. thats why its painful to talk to my no-english grandmother because she's always lecturing me on how terrible my chinese is lol. and my mother's always reminding me that the newspapers say that china is going to be the world superpower in like fifty years so i should really learn it. i'll take in high school, i think.</p>
<p>but for now im taking spanish. this is all my family and friends' fault. practically everyone takes spanish (the others do latin for their sat) because everyone knows how many people in the world speak spanish. i really wanted to take french because i thought it was very elegant and whether u realize it or not, u do encounter a good bit of french in ur life, but nooo i took everyone's advice and took spanish and here in my third year of spanish i still wish i took french :(</p>
<p>oh and jonathan k, hopefully u'll be dead before china takes over? takes over what? the economy or the U.S.? and if china does become more economically powerful than the U.S. then so what? its not like we'll be reduced to a state like a third-world country or anything. we'll still be one the top dogs and that other guy is right, unless ur life is tragically cut short, then u probably will live to see the day.</p>
<p>I'm in Spanish right now. It's a pretty good language, but takes much practice. It's fun and interesting though. I kind of wish I took French though because yeah it's elegant and sounds cool. I kind of wish I took Latin, but mainly only because it's good for the SAT's, it has good literature, and it's kind of fun.</p>
<p>Yup Latin is a pretty fun thing to take. I only took a year of it though, so I could leave early every day in the senior year.</p>