<p>I'm thinking about minoring (or even majoring) in a foreign language in college, most likely either Spanish or Chinese. If I eventually decide to do so, which of the two do you recommend? I'd obviously be a lot more proficient in Spanish than in Chinese after four years, but I think that Chinese is a much more useful language. If I were to study Spanish overseas, the places south of the border are all too dangerous to live in/study in, and that leaves Spain, which is too useless a country. China, though, seems very romantic :).</p>
<p>The problem is, Chinese is apparently viciously difficult. Any advice? Has anyone here seriously studied a language in college? If so, what was your experience like? Did you study abroad? Were you proficient (if not fluent) in your language of choice by the end of college?</p>
<p>First, I find your statement that all Central/South American countries are too dangerous to study in silly and borderline offensive. Some are more dangerous than others, but some are really just fine.</p>
<p>That said, it sounds like the only thing holding you back from Chinese is a perception of it being too hard. It certainly would be harder than Spanish. But I think the factor that will make or break your success in Chinese, is whether or not you really desire to learn the language--and it seems like you do. </p>
<p>Another suggestion I have is to look into the reputation of these programs at your particular school. That will make a big difference in how you feel about them.</p>
<p>Hey aristotle - how about Greek?</p>
<p>"... and that leaves Spain, which is too useless a country."</p>
<p>What? </p>
<p>I agree with pinnipotto, your statements are rather ignorant.</p>
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First, I find your statement that all Central/South American countries are too dangerous to study in silly and borderline offensive. Some are more dangerous than others, but some are really just fine.
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<p>Yeah, I guess you're right; I was half-joking, anyway. But the fact is that they're not exactly places you'd go to on vacation (save for the touristy areas (i.e., Cancun)), nor do they have very good universities (with the possible exception of Mexico's UNAM).</p>
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I agree with pinnipotto, your statements are rather ignorant.
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<p>I was sort of kidding about that too, but Spain is a pretty small country, and it's not very influential in world affairs. If I were to learn Spanish, I'd only be able to use it with migrant Mexican workers who don't speak English very well, and in Spain. I don't think that either Spain or the countries south of the U.S. will be very influential in 50 years.</p>
<p>I had seven quarters of college Chinese, plus three or four quarters of Chinese conversation classes. After college, I spent a year in Taiwan. The classes were extremely time consuming, and very demanding (more demanding by far than anything I encountered in three years of law school). I got to the point where I could recognize about 2,000 characters before I threw in the towel (not enough to read the newspaper without a dictionary) before I threw in the towel.</p>
<p>Chinese has what linguists call "significant tonality," meaning that changes in pitch are intrinsically a part of the word, not just something you add for emphasis the way you do in languages like English or Spanish with "insigificant tonality." Most Westerners really struggle with the tones. (I struggled less than my peers, but I have a freakishly good ear; I have perfect pitch, and used to play music for a living. Most of the Westerners in my Chinese classes, on the other hand, seemed to have a lot less trouble learning characters than I did.)</p>
<p>I learned to speak fairly well after living in Taiwan for a year.</p>
<p>Pragmatically, it's much more difficult to find a job if you're fluent in English and Spanish, as Spanish is very common. Chinese, from what I've found, is becoming the most useful, for international relations and the like.</p>
<p>"I'd obviously be a lot more proficient in Spanish than in Chinese after four years"</p>
<p>Not necessarily. You can achieve the same level of proficiency in Chinese as in Spanish; you just might have to work harder.</p>
<p>"Chinese is apparently viciously difficult."</p>
<p>It really depends. It's different for everyone, but generally it tends to be difficult for English speakers. So, what's your native language? If it's English, it's likely that it'll be difficult for you, as the structure of the Chinese language (in fact, most of the Asian languages and other isolates, too) is very different from that of English. Then again, there are some English speakers that pick up Chinese with ease. </p>
<p>It also depends on your attitude toward academics. Do you prefer challenges, or the easy way out? Chinese would probably be a challenge, as it has tones, completely different grammar, ideograms (hanzi), and a whole lexicon of vocabulary that won't contain any roots familiar to you (unless it's a borrowed word of some sort).</p>
<p>Personally, I'd say Chinese.</p>
<p>Here's a good discussion on "useful" languages:</p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=324441%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=324441</a></p>
<p>@kyledavid80</p>
<p>Yeah, my native tongue is indeed English, and I have heard that English speakers (and Westerners in general) have a very difficult time learning the language. I've studied Latin and Ancient Greek for about 6 years now (hence the "aristotle", kollegkid), and so Spanish would probably be pretty easy to pick up. However, I am interested in international relations and politics, so Chinese might be a better option.</p>
<p>@Greybeard
Were you fresh out of high school when you started studying Chinese?</p>
<p>Wait, I guess I might be confused or something, but why is everybody saying "Chinese" like it is a language? I thought Chinese wasn't a language, but the languages spoken in China are Mandarin and Cantonese.</p>
<p>No reason to argue about semantics, but nonetheless, it is generally accepted to refer to the Chinese language simply as Chinese, I mean, at least at my school they title the course simply as Chinese (followed by number and/or level). Furthermore, Mandarin and Cantonese are not the only forms of Chinese, there's also Wu (which has more speakers than Cantonese), Min, and plenty others, often based on region, but hmmm...</p>
<p>When people talk about "chinese" it is generally accepted that they are speaking of Mandarin because it's the language most prominent in China's cities, and is the "official" language. Note that in writing though, Canto and Mandarin are the same, it's just the pronunciation that's almost completely different.</p>
<p>I agree with the above. While the term "Chinese" to refer to the predominant language spoken in China is a bit sloppy, it's still generally accepted that Chinese = Mandarin.</p>
<p>Yeah, the vast majority of people who speak Chinese speak Mandarin, and generally, Chinese does mean Mandarin. However, the "1.3 billion people speak Chinese" statistic is a bit skewed due to some mutually unintelligible dialects.</p>
<p>Sorry that I came off a bit harsh in my previous post, since you were joking. I still think you should go for Chinese, since you seem more interested (no interest in continuing in Latin and Ancient Greek?). But it's really up to you. Ultimately, the decision could end up being made by scheduling conflict or full classes.</p>
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Sorry that I came off a bit harsh in my previous post, since you were joking.
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<p>No, that's OK; I can be kind of douchey sometimes ;).</p>
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I still think you should go for Chinese, since you seem more interested (no interest in continuing in Latin and Ancient Greek?).
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Well, I am more interested. Oh, and there's no way I'm continuing Latin/Greek; studying dead languages is interesting and all, but it has absolutely no practicality. I think it'd be a waste of time.</p>
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But it's really up to you. Ultimately, the decision could end up being made by scheduling conflict or full classes.
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Well, it might just come down to that, though I suspect that Spanish would be taken by more people than Chinese.</p>
<p>If you're passionate about Chinese, go with that. I've tried studying Japanese on my own, and even though they're different, I can tell you that East Asian languages are next to impossible to learn on your own. But for Spanish, I've learned a lot of mine outside of class with media sources and the Internet, and these are not as readily available in Chinese. If you're learning Chinese, go with Mandarin because that's what most people are going to understand and use, especially in business transactions.</p>
<p>As for studying abroad, either gives you a wide variety of options. For Chinese you can go to China, Singapore, Hong Kong, or Taiwan, and maybe a few others. If you're concerned about safety, Spain and Argentina are good choices, as are many other countries. Safety is an issue everywhere. Foreigners often think of the US as a dangerous place. If you don't do stupid stuff you'll most likely be fine, and it's a good experience to go to a country less privileged than your own. And Spain isn't a useless country, and it's not tiny. The cities in Spain are huge; Madrid is the size of Los Angeles (approximately, so don't correct me). If you look on YouTube, a large percentage of the videos are from Spain, an obvious sign of economic prosperity (no debating on this either; this thread seems to go off on tangents a lot).</p>
<p>You have to check because many colleges have very limited Chinese options. As far as I know, only very large universities (i.e. Ohio State) have Chinese majors/minors. Almost every college has a Spanish major. If there is no major or minor, the courses often don't get you to the point where you could study abroad.</p>
<p>Alright, thanks for clearing that up for me guys. And for the for the record, I wasn't trying to start a huge semantics debate. lol :)</p>
<p>Aristotle, sorry, but I'm really not understanding any of your statements about the Latin American world. I can't believe you're dismissing all the countries "down there" as a non-influence. Your statement about only using the language with Mexican migrant workers is offensive and reeks of ignorance. Your dismissive attitude may be tolerated on this board or wherever it is you live, but it doesn't make it any more acceptable.</p>
<p>whatever place you are most interested in.</p>
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but I'm really not understanding any of your statements about the Latin American world. I can't believe you're dismissing all the countries "down there" as a non-influence.
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Yeah, see post #5 for the offensive language bit. Anyway, most of the countries in South America and Central America are politically less than influential. I don't see how that's controversial, exactly. I'm interested in political relations, and I'd want to learn a language that's up and coming in the next 50 years.</p>
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Your statement about only using the language with Mexican migrant workers is offensive and reeks of ignorance.
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<p>Why is it offensive? It's absolutely true. The only people in my community (largely white suburb on Long Island) who speak Spanish are migrant Mexican workers, and those would be the only people I'd be able to converse with in Spanish. The problem is, though, that most of them don't speak English well, I wouldn't be able to gauge my progress with them, and they probably wouldn't be able to give me detailed and accurate feedback.</p>