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3rd lang: German, Spanish, or neither? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Var Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4016 days ago 14 posts - 17 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 9 of 34 20 May 2013 at 2:09am | IP Logged | ||
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Paco, thank you for the insightful comments. As you said, no language has "chosen me",
except perhaps French. I have to go by "statistics" (or rather, advice) because anything else would just be a blind guess. Perhaps Korean would have a major influence in my life, or perhaps German, French, or Spanish. I just want to choose the one that is most likely to have a positive influence, that's all. It's a very difficult choice, but c'est la vie. Edited by Var on 20 May 2013 at 2:10am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Paco Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 4086 days ago 145 posts - 251 votes  Speaks: Cantonese* | Message 10 of 34 20 May 2013 at 2:21am | IP Logged | ||
Here you got it. I saw you edited the thread. Let's see what members in your field will say about languages for economics. Edited by Paco on 20 May 2013 at 2:22am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jtmc18 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7054 days ago 119 posts - 140 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 11 of 34 20 May 2013 at 3:43am | IP Logged | ||
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Var,
I can't tell you which language to choose, but I can offer some insights from personal experience. I'm in a rather unique position in that I come into contact with dozens of languages every day- I work in national parks and I meet people from all over the world. I know that your career field may be quite different, but as you are also from the US the languages you're most likely to use are probably the same ones I encounter daily. Spanish- This language has opened an incredible number of doors for me. I encounter it everywhere in the US, even here in Alaska, and I have even received a few job offers thanks to my language skills. There are abundant resources for learning, many countries to our south which speak it, and plenty of eager native speakers with whom to practice. It is practically the second language of this country and the only one I had no original doubts about learning. It is also similar to Portuguese if you want to learn that later on. And, as a bonus, you would benefit substantially from the French you already know. German- I meet dozens of German speakers every day and they can almost always speak at least some English. In many cases, they do not appreciate being offered park literature in German, much less spoken to for any length of time in their language. Several of my co-workers are proficient in German and it is much more difficult for them to practice with native speakers than it is for me as a Spanish speaker. While there's no doubt that learning German is beneficial, I expect that you have to speak it quite well to benefit professionally from it. I have chosen to invest my time in learning other Romance languages for now, but I may pick up German some time just for personal interest. Job prospects are not a motivator for me. Korean- I have met many Koreans and they love to practice their English with me. I have been informed by several that English is now an important subject in schools. I think you'd have to reach a high level of Korean before the language was useful in a professional capacity. Of course, there are many reasons to study languages besides professional or economic benefits. Probably a more important factor for me is how much I can practice the language in my environment- languages are, after all, largely about human interaction, and that's primarily what I enjoy about them. Spanish was a no-brainer for me: I used it three times just this morning (and I'm in Alaska- imagine being in Florida with that skill!). Portuguese would be a good one to know also- I'm hearing it more and more these days. You could probably learn both these languages in the time it would take to learn German alone, to say nothing of Korean. My opinion is worth what it cost you, but I do not regret my choice to learn Spanish. Best of luck in your decision! 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Var Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4016 days ago 14 posts - 17 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 12 of 34 20 May 2013 at 5:19am | IP Logged | ||
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jtmc18, your post was incredibly helpful, thank you. In fact, I think I've gotten as much
advice as I need to make a decision. The main thing going for German was the economics factor, but as you've said (and I heard) German is something you really need to master to be able to use it significantly. Also, it seems that Spanish, and perhaps Portuguese, would offer better opportunities considering my major. Finally, Spanish is the lowest time commitment which is truly important to me as I get situated in college. The only question that remains is when I will begin studying. I'll either start within the month or wait a year or two until I'm comfortable with my workload in college. That's up for me to figure out though - thanks for you help, and thanks to everyone else in facilitating this decision. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4818 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 13 of 34 20 May 2013 at 8:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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First of all, you might want to avoid a few disappointments:
1.Any student going to study abroad in the language of the country goes there to, among other huge reasons, immerse themselves in the language. So, unless the foreign students need money, I wouldn't expect them to give you any practice. 2.This can happen in other situations as well. I can always lie "Me not speaks any Englisch" but you are unlikely to get away with this :-) Secondly, the language and the job opportunities: 1.Don't make a choice entirely based on job opportunities you can see now. Your view is not that broad now at the beginning of the path and many will reveal themselves after you learn the language. And after you finish your university studies. 2.You can already speak English so taking a popular language at all costs is not necessary. 3.Germany is a huge economy now but many people are going there for jobs, they are not waiting for you as their saint savior. On the other hand, there are rising economies where a lot of opportunities are and will be. The whole South America is among them (and Brazil is a leading force). So is Russia or India or Poland. Spanish is surely not a bad language to choose. 4.By the time you are proficient at the chosen language and have your studies finished, the world will be a bit different place and perhaps in an unexpected way. There were times when people would say "learn Japanese, it's going to be sooo important in ten years" and it didn't happen. So what to do: 1.I don't think you have explored all your options. You are choosing a companion for the rest of your life and you have included just a few languages in the choice. And they are not even languages you are too passionate about. Take a bit of time to explore what would various options offer to you. Both those you are considering and others. 2.Choose the one you would enjoy more as you will be more likely to learn it well and therefore use it for the job as you wish. From the list of options you wrote, it seems to be Spanish. And it would be a nice choice. Lots of learning sources, lots of natives many of which seem to prefer it over English, great travel opportunities, probably a lot of job opportunities, a lot of music and literature and movies,... And it will be much easier as you already know French. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Var Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4016 days ago 14 posts - 17 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 14 of 34 20 May 2013 at 9:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks Cavesa.
Regarding my choices being relatively few, it's simply because I am trying to "hedge my bets" for which language would work best for me right now. It is hard to account for "passion" in a decision because you have to truly understand something to be passionate about it -- just as I can't simply look at a girl and know if I love her or not. Spanish culture intrigues me. Korea, China, and Japan have very interesting an diverse cultures, almost otherworldly. The Russian language sounds great to my ear and it has a deep history. Arabic also has a very diverse history with many inspiring philosophers and traditions. In short, I can see myself being passionate about any language. From your and jtmc's post, I'm starting to realize that the ability to talk with friends in a foreign language is massively important. It's the reason I started learning Korean. Because of this, the fact that it is the quickest to learn already knowing French, the promising opportunities in South America, the doors it opens for Portuguese and Italian, the culture, and the opportunity it offers to refine my language acquisition techniques, I agree that Spanish is the best choice. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4818 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 15 of 34 21 May 2013 at 2:12am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, than you might want to treat it like finding a girlfriend. Get to know a few of
those around you a bit in a friendly way, listen to them, find whether you have some interests in common or whether she can open a whole new universe to you and than try whether you'll make a good couple :-) This parallel is not that original, there was even a wonderful funny thread about divorces with languages, I recommend reading it. A good thing to consider might as well be some of the opportunities your university offers, such as going abroad for a semester or a summer stay in an enterprise abroad and so on. These things might be a much better opportunity than foreigners in your courses and many universities support such experience for their students. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6781 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 16 of 34 22 May 2013 at 6:54am | IP Logged | ||
Just curious - do you happen to know why these German speakers don't want to receive park literature in German? I can understand if they don't like speaking with someone in German if they believe that their English is more fluent than the other person's German, but it seems a bit odd to me that they wouldn't even want written materials in their own native language. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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