Which Language would be beneficial to learn? (school, beautiful, open)

[snitins]

Friends,
Which language do you think will be more beneficial in the coming years career wise, thinking globally (Do not think only in US context) after English.

[Lisa_from_Debary]

As far as where you live in the US, when I was living near Boston, it was French that was offered in the schools, here in Florida and in Texas it was Spanish...

Globally, that is a VERY good question.

I know if you can speak Spanish, people who speak Portugese can understand some of what you say, I believe the same is true of Italian, a word here or there.

[Angel Bear]

Spanish for sure

I've seen these cool things you can load on your iPod and learn languages with I want the Spanish one before I move to CA

[JBrown]

C


I had to add this in order to comply with the ten character minimum

[recycled]

Chinese (mandarin) is my 1st choice. I speak Spanish (fluent) and German (pretty well), both of which are useful in business and travel in the Americas and Europe, but as a language of global business a good knowledge of Chinese would be a mega advantage. It would certainly open a lot of doors. China is emerging as a the other big superpower in business and politics. Spanish would be much easier, but the poll is not about what is easy to learn.
Interesting that years ago French was perceived to be such an important language for international business and politics, now it has been almost left in the dust. I'm not bashing French, au contraire, it is a wonderful and beautiful language. Of course if you are interested in businesses that France is a leader in like nuclear power, high speed rail, wine, architecture, aviation, telecom, French is not a bad choice either.

[kitty71]

I am fairly fluent in French and find that nearly everywhere I travel it helps me. Many countries (particularly in Europe) have French as one of the major languages the citizens speak.

[foma]

From a global perspective, I think it would be Chinese.

From a domestic perspective, I would say Spanish.

[jabogitlu]

I agree with foma. I became fluent in Spanish because (most importantly) I love Madrid -- and I'm looking to be employed in the Southeast or Southwest US.

[dukester2]

I think German sounds like you are hacking when you speak, Spanish sounds too hurried, Asian languages sound like too sing-song, but French sounds so flowing and romantic. I speak a little French..."Chevrolet, hors de voures, french fries, Giuchie giuchie ya ya da da"...it drives the ladies wild.

[Twinkle Toes]

Spanish definitely. Hey, you gotta speak the language of the land, right???