Most logical foreign language to learn. (apartment, university, taxes)

[Yeledaf]

Originally Posted by sierraAZ

The most logical language to learn for all of us would be Esperanto, but it never made it and it never will... Not as long as anybody having the upper hand wants his language used. Esperanto is a very simplified language based on Latin roots, so it's really easy to learn. Granted, it lacks the fine nuances of any language.

When I was a kid, my Mom took some classes and I went with her. Still remember two sentences:

_____ estas urbo.
_____ estas villagio.

Anybody can figure what it means, right?!

Urshay. Atsthay easyay. Utbay otnay ikelay igpay atinlay!

[Cornwell]

haha that made me laugh. Mostly I guess I gotta look at what would make me marketable in the future. If I want to be an economic analysis I have to go with a country that would probably have a decent economy in the future. Thats what has pointed me to Russia/ China. But for all I know Italy/ or Germany might even start to boom again. When I start taking my college courses I wanna focus on a certain country for my area of international business because I plan to minor in that.

[CMDallas]

I know both, it depends... Chinese can be difficult but is very 'Caveman-ish'. Spanish is closer to english but it can get confusing.
Like Chinese is like cave man talk.
They have literal translations like:
Ni Hao (你好）- literally meaning: You Good- Actual Translation: Hello
Ni Hao Ma (你好吗？）- You Good?- How are you
Ni Chi Ma (你吃吗？）- You eat?- Have you eaten?
To learn Chinese you must also understand the culture so in that sense, Spanish would probably be easier.
Both have many speakers. Spanish for example has difference between life and death, as well as sentence order.
Pescado- Fish (to eat)
Pez- Fish (alive)
or
Yo Tengo un mano azul- litteral: I have a hand blue- Real: I have a blue hand
Many things in Spanish are also implied...like:
Soy Medio Chino- Litteral: am half chinese- Real: I am half chinese
Many word can also be used in different ways like:
Por Su sientimiento- Litteral: Through your feeling- Real: However you would like
Then there is also Conjugation which may also confuse you a little.
They Are both hard languages, Chinese writing is hard to get down, and they also have tones in addition... for example
妈 ma- means mom
馬 ma- means Horse
Say the tone wrong (they're 4 tones) and you call your mom a horse. The Chinese have many Homophones too which may also throw you off.
Chinese does not have conjugation but neither language would be a walk in the park. I'm not sure what to tell you as both Languages would allow you to communicate with 1 billion people VS basically a whole continent, as well as parts of the rest.
Chinese is spoken in: the PRC, The ROC, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. It is also taught in many other countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand... Mandarin that is, all the other dialect are basically useless... Except Fukien...Fukien spoken Widely throughout Taiwan and the Philippines as well as Malaysia...but still relatively useless...
Spanish on the Other hand is spoken Throughout the US and Canada. Many people in Brazil speak Spanish and the rest of the countries with the exception of a couple speak it as well. It is also spoken throughout Europe (Primarily Spain), a little in Africa, and Asia (mainly The Philippines).
That being said, French could also be taken into consideration be spoken in The Americas: Quebec, French Guiana, Parts of Louisiana, and a few other areas, Asia: Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Africa: all over, and Europe: Mainly France and Belgium I believe.

[mead]

I'm pretty sure that simplified Chinese characters are used in Singapore.

Traditional Chinese characters are used mainly in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, and many signs/stores in Chinatowns in the Western world (as the Chinese began to arrive prior to the development of the simplified characters).

Originally Posted by lndigo

Are you basing this off experience? Cantonese has nine different tones that are a must while speaking, while Mandarin only has one. Since written Chinese is based off Mandarin, it's much easier to learn Mandarin while learning written Chinese, whereas Chinese and Cantonese have different grammatical structures. Simplified Chinese is used in Mainland China, while Traditional Chinese is still used in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and most everywhere else Chinese is use.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by Yeledaf

Urshay. Atsthay easyay. Utbay otnay ikelay igpay atinlay!

Is this supposed to mean you don't get it...?!

urbo - city
villagio - village

How hard is it for an English speaker...?!

[piperspal]

Just throwing in my .02 - my nephew sent me a link to the progress of Dubai from 1990 to present. Almost scary what oil money can do. Dubai is well on it's way to having the world's tallest building, world's largest hotel, world's largest man made islands-resort, an amusement park twice the size of Disney, world's largest airport...you get the idea. Although English will probably be widespread there, as will be (and is now) French; Arabic will be the cultural-wave language in the decades to come. Chinese will have a strong showing due to the economic & population output of China. For my money, if I was a young college student, I'd be fluent in at least 3 languages in countries where money will rule over all else.

[ProLogic]

If you plan on doing business in the western hemisphere, apart from English, Spanish is your best best.

[DontH8Me]

Originally Posted by ProLogic

If you plan on doing business in the western hemisphere, apart from English, Spanish is your best best.

If by "doing business", you mean working as a sales clerk at Payless Shoes in El Monte, CA, then the above statement is entirely correct. Somehow, I think the OP had something else entirely in mind when they asked.

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by DontH8Me

If by "doing business", you mean working as a sales clerk at Payless Shoes in El Monte, CA, then the above statement is entirely correct. Somehow, I think the OP had something else entirely in mind when they asked.

You just offended about 75% of the Western Hemisphere.. oppress much?

[Cornwell]

I really don't think any hispanic countries are really in my interest tho. And I already can communicate decently in spanish (I live in texas and worked manuel labor over the summer... you pick up things). Thats why my focus is on other countries. I wanna kind find a niche when I get out of college to focus on If I plan to become an economic analysis