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To complete my bachelors I need 2 years of a language.
I initially was hesitant, but have become intrigued about learning a new language as time has passed by.
The safe play is Spanish. It's a universal language in the sense that it isn't broken into regional dialects like an arabic language.
It is useful in the US, and with the changing demos it will become even more valuable.
Also swimming in the back of my head is arabic, just because I see the value in a government type of position, and its a language not many are fluent in.
Depends on what you want to do with your degree and physically where you want to be. I took French in high school and passed the proficiency test to not have to take any in college. If I could do it over again, it would be Spanish. That's primarily because I've lived in AZ/Texas my whole life.
The fact is unless you really work at it and keep up your skills post college by conversing in your second language frequently with someone else (ideally a fully fluent native speaker), you're going to lose so much of it it's not going to matter.
I studied spanish, and I still study it after college. It is the most practical language to learn in the US, because you will be able to speak with native speakers. The other reason I chose spanish, is because it will be much easier to learn italian, portuguese, and the other romance languages.
It would kind of depend on the major in terms of finding a language that can complement it. for example
Arabic: good to know for journalism and gov't work
French: culinary and fashion
Spanish: non profit and social work where you'll be working w/ the public
Chinese: I suppose int'l business, not really sure
I took French, but only for personal reasons, nothing to do w/ my major.
French: once you master French, will be easier to learn other language like Spanish etc.
Chinese: for business purpose.
Spanish: similar with other language like Italian and sounds beautiful
currently I'm studying Chinese and just start Spanish
To complete my bachelors I need 2 years of a language.
I initially was hesitant, but have become intrigued about learning a new language as time has passed by.
The safe play is Spanish. It's a universal language in the sense that it isn't broken into regional dialects like an arabic language.
It is useful in the US, and with the changing demos it will become even more valuable.
Also swimming in the back of my head is arabic, just because I see the value in a government type of position, and its a language not many are fluent in.
Spanish is probably most convenient for jobs domestically. Keep in mind though, native spanish speakers with the same qualifications are applying for the very same jobs now as second and third generation kids from Hispanic families are graduating from colleges at higher rates
Arabic is interesting, and worthwhile but emcompasses an entirely different method of dedication. The difficulty with Arabic is that you have to enitirely wipe out any habits and logic that you would apply to Romance and Germanic languages. In addition, in order to fully grasp, appreciate and practice the language you have to enculturate yourself within Arabic society by either living amongst them or traveling there and staying for an extended period of time. Othewrwise you'll just end up talking to yourself and reapeating it verbatim on a computer program or CD isn't enough.
The problem with attracting government jobs with Arabic is that you will have to have a strong degree of use and understanding of the language in order for it to actually be an asset for employment. You will be tested on this and MANY native Arabic speakers have difficulty passing those tests. Now I'm not telling you any of this to discourage you, quite the contrary--but just to prepare you for what to expect if you decide to move forward with this commitment.
Myself personally, if I had to choose a language it would either be Russian or Farsi (which I'm already studying). Russian primarily because I have a major interest in Soviet/Cold War politics and many of the documents and insider research materials have not been translated into English. I've recently returned from Russia with A LOT of books and documents from the early 20th century and I'm currently in the process of reaching out to a lot of people to help translate the material.
To complete my bachelors I need 2 years of a language.
I initially was hesitant, but have become intrigued about learning a new language as time has passed by.
The safe play is Spanish. It's a universal language in the sense that it isn't broken into regional dialects like an arabic language.
It is useful in the US, and with the changing demos it will become even more valuable.
Also swimming in the back of my head is arabic, just because I see the value in a government type of position, and its a language not many are fluent in.
You are majoring in accounting or business, right? Your second language will be the hardest to learn, after you have 2, the 3,4,5 etc come "at a discount" so to speak.
Spanish would be useful domestically, and particularly if you live out West it's handy to know. Arabic might be a high-risk high-reward option - plenty of oil money and business dealings, but as noted you will have to get your head into a completely new place where it has not been before. But, my experience knowing Russian pretty well after only 15 years of independent study is that if you learn one of the less-studied and harder to learn languages, it really buys you an entree into that culture that people who don't make the effort can't get.
Chinese is another high-risk, high reward option.
Both Arabic and Chinese are sought after by the security apparat, with one of those and an accounting degree, if you are so inclined, you could be taken seriously by one of the 3-letter organizations. If you want to go there.
Study the language of the culture that appeals the most to you. There is no really wrong answer, just different degrees of good.
the easiest one for an english speaker would most likely be french, a fair % of the words are exactly the same , pronoucing them smartly is the key.
verb tense and gender are an oddity for an english speakerfor sure
french wont help you much with the truer romance languages though, frenchfolks like english speakers jokingly just try to add an o an a or i to their own words.
Right now, I am learning Chinese. Pretty obvious as to why. I've also studied Spanish for several years. Again, self-explanatory.
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