How to decide which foreign language to study?

[starwatcher]

in HS I took Latin. In college I took german because I was born in Germany and am 1/4 german. Now I am expanding my german and learning japanese cause I love the culture and language. I used to have japanese neighbors and would love to look at their books and wish that I could read them they looked so cool.

 

[MAH4546]

I'm a language geek - I've studied Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Hindi, Urdu, German and Greek - in addition to having spoken English and Spanish naively.

Spanish has the huge advantage of being very useful in the United States.

German is a Germanic language, like English. It does not make the sciences any easier.

Italian is great because it is very similar to Spanish, but with much simpler grammar structure, so somebody who might have difficulty in learning languages might find Italian easier to grasp. It is also the closest living language to Latin, and a very strong understanding of Italian can be helpful for complicated English-language vocabulary.

Portuguese is like Spanish, but can be very, very difficult to pronounce. Though mastering Portuguese is a great way to master various vowel sounds, something that can become useful in other languages.

Greek can build vocabulary skills in English, given the strong number of Greek-rooted words, but is complicated in its grammar.

Hindi is a great language to learn because it is very simple and straight forward. It uses a different alphabet, but is otherwise Indo European, so it is not difficult to grasp. An English speaker can become proficient in Hindi with one year's study; Arabic or Chinese needs easily 2-4 years.

The "usefulness" of European languages is ever decreasing as English-language education has become increasingly mandatory in Europe. The average Scandinavian, IMO, speaks better English than most Americans.

 

[Sonya]

OK, I am a French teacher so I say study French!

But really, since it can take a log time to learn a language make sure your kids are interested. Also don't assume that Spanish is the way to go since we will need a lot of Spanish speakers. We will but we also need people to speak other languages. Think about the career your child wants. If it is engineering for example, they might need French, German Arabic, or Chinese. My DH works for a large engineering company and that is where they have projects going on.

No matter what is chosen it WILL help with English scores. I tell my students, think about the word "famished". Some of you don't know what that means. But you know the French word for hungry, "faim". Put them together and you can make an educated guess!

 

[Cindy B]

My kids have had 5 years of Spanish (elementary school).

In middle school, they had a choice of either French or Spanish. They both chose Spanish.

For high school, my son had a choice of Latin, French, Spanish or Italian. He picked Italian. He was tired of Spanish, but wanted something similar to Spanish.

 

[GoodFairies]

German will not help with the sciences in any way that I can think of.

Unless the person plans on becoming fluent in a language, what he/she does for a couple of years in middle or high school isn't going to help in any career. I would allow the student to take whatever he/she is interested in or feels he/she will do well in.

 

[kgle]

German will not help with the sciences in any way that I can think of.

Unless the person plans on becoming fluent in a language, what he/she does for a couple of years in middle or high school isn't going to help in any career. I would allow the student to take whatever he/she is interested in or feels he/she will do well in.

I agree, I took 2 1/2 years of Spanish in high school and because I haven't used it since I speak VERY broken Spanish. No way could I have a conversation in it.

 

[kirbsam]

german is useless. study spanish, mandarin chinese or arabic if you want to help in a career.

 

[Pigeon]

I so wish our school offered Mandarin. Over a fifth of the world's population speaks it, and it could potentally be a huge asset.

My first career was in chemistry. I took German in high school and for a year in college and it was a total waste. Almost none of the modern scientific literature is published in German. Yeah, there are a few classic works of chemistry written in German, but you certainly don't need to read them in the original.

Since our district doesn't offer Mandarin, I think Spanish makes the most sense.

 

[MiniGirl]

Interesting thread, and also very timely for us. We homeschool and are getting ready to add a language to our studies. My dd (9) wants to learn Japanese, but she gets discouraged easily. Also, since my youngest will also be using whatever program we buy and has no interest in Japanese, I'm thinking of letting them decide between French and Spanish. We're in Florida, so Spanish is practical. I want them to have a choice though, so I'm adding French. If in a year or so, my oldest still wants to persue Japanese then she may.

 

[iggbees]

i'm a grad student in molecular biology and studied biochemistry in my undergrad. german would not have helped me one bit. latin, would be a better choice in the sense that most scientific words stem from latin. i would not have really enjoyed taking latin as a teen though. i took spanish instead. i never use it anymore though, although it sure helped when i took a trip to spain. haha.

i do know a lot of scientists that go to germany for an exchange in graduate school to learn techniques and whatnot, but i also know people who have been to other places as well. it's kind of a carp shoot. it really depends on what sort of science you are actually studying. most people i know who go to germany are chemists, not biologists.