<p>I am interested in both Spanish and Italian and considering minoring in either one at the college level. Also I have already taken 3 years of High School Spanish so I am somewhat familiar with it. And with so many people taking Spanish these days and major/minoring in it I thought perhaps Italian would be a good one to take because it would maybe give me a unique edge in the job market? </p>
<p>My major is going to be Political Science (international politics) and it requires me to take a foreign language so I figured I might as well make a minor out of it. </p>
<p>I plan to study abroad and looking at my options there are more Spanish speaking countries I am interested in opposed to the one Italian country there is. </p>
<p>Can anyone offer me insight?</p>
<p>If you could see yourself wanting to do business in Italy, or possibly move there permanently, then shoot for Italian. Italian just seems like a fun language to learn, plus I already like a lot of the culture having a good amount of the ethnic heritage already in me.</p>
<p>Cool. Im thinking of doing both!</p>
<p>I would choose Spanish. For one thing, Spanish is spoken by hundreds of millions of people in about twenty countries. Italian is spoken only in Italy and some parts of Switzerland. You have a lot more opportunities for international work if you choose Spanish. Second, I heard that Spanish and Italian are very similar linguistically. If you decide to go to Italy, your Spanish skills will help get a good grasp of Italian. Third, you already know a decent amount of Spanish, you might as well go further and learn more on the subject. It only makes it easier for you.</p>
<p>However, if I were you, I would focus on both Spanish and French. French is an important language for international politics because it’s an official language of many international organizations. In addition to being spoken in Western Europe, it is quite expansive in western Africa and parts of the Middle East. It’s also a Romance language with historical ties to both English and Spanish so it should be helpful.</p>
<p>If you really want to go the distance, start learning a “critical language”. These are languages deemed important for national security by the Department of Homeland Security. They include Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, Korean, and several South Asian languages. They are difficult to learn, however, so learn it only if you are really interested.</p>
<p>Italian would be more fun I think, and if you want to do anything with a humanities grad school-wise it is more often a requirement than Spanish as a modern language.</p>
<p>While most international businessmen and diplomats will speak English, your going to have a harder time finding a prominent Italian that doesn’t speak it than you would finding a Spanish speaking businessman who doesn’t. So this is something to consider.</p>
<p>Either way, the vast majority of people you will come into contact with in the business/diplomatic field, will have some grasp of English, and if Italian seems more fun to you I would do it if you are going to focus on stuff like that.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you plan to work with the working class or others who aren’t wealthy, I would go with Spanish. In most Western European countries, you will be able to find someone who speaks English, this isn’t true of the Latin American nations.</p>
<p>Of course, you could just learn both.</p>
<p>“In most Western European countries, you will be able to find someone who speaks English, this isn’t true of the Latin American nations.”</p>
<p>I disagree. English is taught in nearly every Latin American school as a second language, straight from first grade in some countries. You will only have a hard time finding English speakers in undeveloped areas, like you would have a hard time finding English speakers in undeveloped areas in Europe. And believe me, there are plenty of undeveloped areas in both places, just like there are plenty of developed areas in both places.</p>
<p>Like it was pointed out above, you would be valuable because there are many less people who speak Italian as a second language than there are Spanish-as-second-language speakers. However, I think a critical language would be ten times more important, like Xinio said. Consider Arabic and Mandarin especially.</p>
<p>Even though many people learn Spanish, there’s no lack of demand for Spanish-speaking professionals. There are still more opportunities for people who know Spanish than those who speak Italian, unless, of course, you plan on working in Italy or with Italian clients.</p>
<p>Though you could feasibly become fluent or proficient in both languages. They’re very similar and share tons of vocabulary, after all. It doesn’t really matter if you have a minor in the languages, just that you know them.</p>
<p>Metallika, I must respectfully disagree with your point about finding English speakers. I’d say one is much more likely to find English speakers in (Western) Europe than Latin America. There are underdeveloped area in both places, but education is much less accessible in most area of LA, save for maybe a highly developed country like Argentina.</p>
<p>I agree that Arabic might be the best choice, though.</p>