<p>If your school offers a language major, then it’s fine to take it. Many schools don’t - like, if you major in Spanish, it’s more about the culture than the language. Honestly, I love languages, so I think it’s a fine major. Absolutely it is valuable to be able to talk to people from all different places, no matter what career you choose.</p>
<p>[pro</a> tools school](<a href=“http://www.cogswell.edu/program_dat.htm]pro”>http://www.cogswell.edu/program_dat.htm)</p>
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<p>Eh, not really true. Outside of Hong Kong, English capacity in China lags significantly behind Japan, Korea, etc.</p>
<p>The only 21st century great power (superpowers are dead) for which learning the language is truly unnecessary is India (English is truly widespread in urban areas, half of India speaks a language other than Hindi, etc…)</p>
<p>Unless you’re going for anthropology or rural NGO work, English is enough.</p>
<p>Having lived in and traveled throughout both China and India, I can say this with some confidence</p>
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<p>Poor assumption I think.</p>
<p>I would strongly suggest Chinese from a business standpoint. Second would be Spanish, but as you already have that down perhaps explore other romance languages such as Portuguese, French or Italian, or maybe look at German.</p>
<p>I would also suggest Chinese. Even if the people you’re dealing with or doing business with do speak English, it’s incredibly helpful to be able to speak the language and understand the culture. It makes a huge difference–I can tell you with confidence as a foreigner.</p>
<p>And Chinese isn’t easy, but it’s definitely doable. I know a woman who started learning the summer after highschool graduation, and became fluent after 4 years of (intense) studying. All the Chiense people I’ve seen with her praise how perfect her Chinese sounds. FYI, thanks to her fluent Chinese–which again lets her understand the culture and the people much better–she got marketing jobs with Coca Cola, Nike, and other big companies.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t rule out any language because of how “difficult” it seems. Honestly, that’s a poor reason to avoid something, and second of all, it is just the perception of it being so difficult that puts it in high demand.</p>
<p>Mandarin Chinese I agree will be most useful to a business student, since that economy is being designated as one of the rising economies. And it’s not true that “most” of the people over there speak English “well enough” - many of the Chinese who come to this country speak English well, and many upper-class Chinese speak it well, but it’s also true that many business employers will want employees who can speak Mandarin fluently to smooth business relations. Because let’s face it – if you’re going to pay someone millions of dollars, wouldn’t you like it if they made you feel comfortable by sending someone over who spoke your native language?</p>
<p>Other languages that will be good for business have already been mentioned – German, French, Russian, and possibly Arabic (although I’d say Arabic is better for those interested in governmental relations, and other Middle Eastern languages - Urdu, Farsi, etc.).</p>
<p>I do not recommend Portuguese, as the only large countries that have Portuguese as a major language are Brazil and Portugal and some African countries – besides, if you already know Spanish you could easily pick up Portuguese on your own.</p>
<p>Japanese could also serve you well.</p>
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The one thing “insanely difficult” about Chinese, for native speakers as well as foreigners, is the writing system. Learning to read, and certainly learning to write, does require great effort.</p>
<p>As for the spoken language, the dirty little secret is that, for many Americans, it is actually an easy language once you get over the fundamentals. However, you must make an effort to build a solid foundation in the first several weeks so that you form good pronunciation habits. The tonal pronunciation system is very unfamiliar to westerners, therefore many students never master it, but it really is not all that hard if you take a deep breath and give it a solid effort in the early stages. You have to log a lot of hours in a language lab or with a native speaker practicing the tone distinctions over and over until you get them right. There are little tricks like pronouncing “2nd” (rising) tone as a question, or “4th” (falling) tone as if you are saying, “Oh, sh%t!” Be slightly theatrical with it. Then it quickly becomes a lot of fun to learn. </p>
<p>Japanese is another story.</p>
<p>The fact that it’s difficult isn’t why I wouldn’t recommend it. </p>
<p>Because it’s so difficult, it’s not going to become a global language like English did, no matter how powerful China becomes. </p>
<p>So while it may be useful to some extent in China and the surrounding area, the Chinese are better at learning English than the English at learning Chinese. If you want to become fluent, you’ve got a long road ahead you.</p>
<p>While I have no doubt that Mandarin will never surpass English as a global lingua franca (at least not within the next several centuries), it’s still HIGHLY useful.</p>