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Portuguese vs Hindi practicality | ||
Tags: Hindi | Portuguese | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| osoymar Tetraglot Pro Member United States Joined 4531 days ago 190 posts - 344 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Portuguese, Japanese Studies: Spanish, French Personal Language Map | Message 9 of 31 26 February 2014 at 6:41pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I would call it 2 birds with 1.8 stones myself, although my Spanish is pathetic.
Regardless, as so many other people have said, number of countries is not really the best metric for choosing a language to learn. You're passionate about Hindi and you're already on this site, so I fully expect you to crush this program and blow away your teachers. If the extra year is a financial concern, that is significant. If you're just worried about spending too much time in college then... what are you in such a hurry for? As for usefulness, generally the less-spoken a language is by non-natives (and to some extent by non-heritage speakers), the more valuable it is. Advantage: Hindi. International relations is incredibly broad. Do you have a more specific career direction? (I'm a decade out of college and have no career direction whatsoever, so "no" is an acceptable response) If so, you may be able to get some sense of the usefulness within that specialized field. Otherwise, do Hindi. Make it part of your life. No language is going to be the golden ticket to a life of unfettered success, but you won't regret it regardless. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 3877 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 10 of 31 28 February 2014 at 7:54am | IP Logged | |||||
Let me attempt to give a healthy dose of realism in this thread of "follow your heart and interests". There is a difference between what we would like to do, and what we have to do to make a living. Sure, Hindi would suit you better, but what about when you are 25, no job (or a crappy job) in this economic depression? Unless your family is well off, and a job is optional for you, then you can do whatever you want. If you sacrifice now, and get a good position, you will have the rest of your life to travel to different countries, get immersed in different cultures, learn different languages etc. If you follow your heart now, you might end up at mcdonalds. And note that if you are really serious about international relations, you might need to learn at least one other language (French?) to at least compete with US natives whose parents are Portuguese immigrants and thus who speak Portuguese at home. Come to think about it, you might need to learn Portuguese, Spanish and French. Realize that there are loads of people who speak more than one language natively due to their families, and thus who have had years of another language experience over you. Assuming you learn Portuguese, there is going to be another kid entering university who speaks Portuguese at home, has learnt Spanish in high school, and is going to learn French as a foreign language in college, and simultaneously perfect his Spanish. When he graduates, his resume is going to have Portuguese, English, Spanish, French. Will your resume be competitive? Edited by Gemuse on 28 February 2014 at 7:55am 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 3877 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 11 of 31 28 February 2014 at 7:59am | IP Logged | |||||
The question is why would CIA etc hire someone who has learnt Urdu as an adult vs just hiring someone who knows Urdu and has been speaking at home. Now, if he learns Urdu+Arabic+Fench, that might make him competitive. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6392 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 12 of 31 28 February 2014 at 10:06am | IP Logged | |||||
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Gemuse, I think this applies much more to choosing to study languages vs something else than to choosing a specific language.
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| Hungringo Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 3783 days ago 168 posts - 329 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, English, Spanish Studies: French | Message 13 of 31 28 February 2014 at 10:42am | IP Logged | |||||
I am no expert on spy agencies, but read not so long ago, that US intelligence services are desperate to find NON-NATIVE Urdu, Arabic, Somali, Farsi etc. speakers because: 1. there are not enough native candidates 2. natives don't pass security screening. In short if you grew up in a Pakistani village, chances are that CIA won't trust you. Edited by Hungringo on 28 February 2014 at 10:42am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 3877 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 14 of 31 28 February 2014 at 11:20am | IP Logged | |||||
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I was thinking about US citizens, born and raised in US who speak these languages at
home due to their parents. But good to know that there are not enough such speakers, But even here, think how much more in demand he would be if he knew both Urdu and Arabic, instead of just one. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 3877 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 15 of 31 28 February 2014 at 11:24am | IP Logged | |||||
He/she is not studying languages for the sake of it, he/she is studying languages with the expectation that it will help in her career. In such a case, the languages chosen matter. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6392 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 16 of 31 28 February 2014 at 12:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
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A good knowledge of any language will be useful. Instead of learning several languages it might be better to learn more non-language skills, especially since the OP doesn't appear to have much/any interest in Arabic or even Spanish. Besides, the combination of Portuguese and Hindi is much more unique than Urdu-Arabic or Portuguese-Spanish.
See also: Which language should I choose? Should I choose linguistics as a major? Edited by Serpent on 28 February 2014 at 1:12pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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