<p>Spanish or Chinese? If Chinese then what is the hard part? If Spanish then what is the hard part?</p>
<p>Spanish. All the verb forms seem complicated (although I never took formal Spanish).</p>
<p>Chinese, China will soon overtake the EU and America in economics… Sad truth, the century of deficit spending killed the American economy.</p>
<p>Spanish is the easiest for a native English speaker. Use depends on what you will do, but there is currently more use for Spanish in the United States. If you want to do international work, both are very good.</p>
<p>
China is a less stable version of the USSR with a looser grip on power. You give them too much credit. This “China scare” will be over in a decade or two.</p>
<p>What if you already know Spanish like me? I want to learn a third language. I have no preference so I want to learn the most practical/useful.</p>
<p>I want to be a software engineer btw.</p>
<p>Japanese I would say. Just because. But most importantly, learn assembly. It will help you so much.</p>
<p>chinese may be more useful in the long run depending on what you want to do, though spanish is very commonly spoken so that would be useful too, and it’ll be a lot easier to learn. so i think they’re both good choices, so it depends on your personal preference and what you want to do in life (for example, chinese may be better for business, especially international business, while spanish might be more useful if you want to do social work here or in central/south america). it really just depends on you, so do whatever feels right; you really can’t go wrong. :)</p>
<p>
Deep. Spoken from the mouth of an expert in… ?</p>
<p>Spanish, if you live near the border. It comes in handy. It’s definitely easier if you’re a native English speaker. If you’re looking towards also learning some other romance languages (i.e. French, Italian), this is the way to go.
Chinese, if you’re looking towards international relations/business. It’s much harder if you’re a native English speaker. I know few Americans who have proper Chinese accents.
And for those doubting China’s emerging power, you never know…</p>
<p>I enjoy davidthefat’s posts. Chinese > Japanese > Assembly.</p>
<p>Would be very surprised to see China lose power within a couple decades. And for the record, they lend us a lot of credit.</p>
<p>did you see what i did thar?</p>
<p>If you’re asking, Chinese is too hard.</p>
<p>Ironic that our salutorian missed out on being valedictorian because of his B- in Spanish.</p>
<p>Spanish is much easier and is very useful but Chinese is much more useful especially in business and looks great on applications.</p>
<p>^ That too. Chinese is more challenging than Spanish, what with the ridiculously skewed AP Chinese curve in favor of native speakers.</p>
<p>
They’re currently still just a regional power. They probably won’t lose that, but everyone overestimates them and thinks they’ll be a superpower.</p>
<p>And no, China does not loan us any money. US banks buy treasury notes, hang on to them for a while, then sell them to other banks and governments. Many end up with China, but many others end up with France, Britain, private banks, though China has more than each of the others. And the US could say that any notes held by China are worthless if it wanted to see them crash into a depression (it would hurt us too, but not nearly as much), but it doesn’t, since the trade benefits both countries.</p>
<p>In all seriousness, I am teaching myself assembly. You will not realize how much it helps you, even in high level programming languages.</p>
<p>They have already said this above. Spanish is the easiest, hands down. Chinese is probably the most useful in the future, but it’s ridiculously hard if you don’t experience the Chinese language often. Most kids who take the AP Chinese exam are Chinese sooo duh. (This is coming from a Chinese guy)</p>
<p>I took Spanish in HS but I wish I took French. It seems a lot more fun and it sounds better to my ear. I found Spanish to be boring because you have: Beisbol = baseball; Cocina = food; Bibliotecha = library… etc</p>
<p>Spanish helped me a lot in music because many musical terms stem from Spanish. Idk how… it just is.</p>
<p>Chinese banks buy up and hold a large proportion of American Treasury Bonds - $1.16 trillion ([China</a> now owns $1.16 trillion of U.S. debt - EconWatch - CBS News](<a href=“http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503983_162-20037535-503983.html]China”>http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503983_162-20037535-503983.html)). So technically, they are indirectly financing American expenditures?
China dumping American bonds (more likely than US defaulting) would likely hurt both economies deeply, but I’d consider China to be in better position - its government can get things done (socialism can work) - in comparison to our budget snafus. </p>
<p>Relevant SNL:
[Hulu</a> - Saturday Night Live: G-20 Cold Open](<a href=“http://www.hulu.com/watch/193066/saturday-night-live-g-20-cold-open]Hulu”>http://www.hulu.com/watch/193066/saturday-night-live-g-20-cold-open) [Hulu</a> - Saturday Night Live: China Cold Open](<a href=“http://www.hulu.com/watch/110317/saturday-night-live-china-cold-open]Hulu”>http://www.hulu.com/watch/110317/saturday-night-live-china-cold-open)</p>
<p>I’ll look into it one day.</p>
<p>
To call the Chinese government socialist is to have a deep ignorance of either what socialism is or what the Chinese government actually does.</p>
<p>And not really, China would crash without US trade.</p>
<ol>
<li>French: 24 points</li>
<li>Spanish 21 points</li>
<li>Arabic 13.5 points</li>
<li>German 12 points</li>
<li>Russian 11 points</li>
<li>Italian 10.5 points</li>
<li>Hindustani 9.5 points</li>
<li>Mandarin 9.5 points</li>
<li>Portuguese 8 points</li>
<li>Swahili 6.5 points</li>
<li>Japanese 5.5 points</li>
<li>Turkish 5.5 points</li>
</ol>
<p>[The</a> Twelve Most Useful Second Languages for English Speakers](<a href=“http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-twelve-most-useful-second-languages-for-english-speakers.html]The”>http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-twelve-most-useful-second-languages-for-english-speakers.html)</p>
<p>Personally, I would switch Spanish and French.</p>
<p>Good facts, but the points are entirely arbitrary. And shouldn’t languages with the same point totals be tied (ie, Hindi and Mandarin)?</p>