What language besides Spanish should I study - French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Greek, Latin, etc
I am going to double major in Languages and International Business. I have already begun taking Spanish and I have to chose another language from this list - French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Greek, Latin, Japanese, or Chinese. What would you go for?
Wow that's crazy. I'm doing almost the exact same thing as you. I'm a double major (Int. Business/Spanish) and I plan to start a minor in another language. I will more than likely be picking Chinese. The Chinese economy is growing tremendously and they will likely become the next world superpower.
If you're willing to be risky and want to pick something that's difficult and completely different from Spanish I'd say go for either Chinese or Japanese. Although Japan's economy is not quite as big as it was in the 90s it's still has a lot going for it. While both of these language prove to be really difficult they will both be rewarding. If you'd rather play it a little safer though and want something that resembles English or Spanish then go for either French or German. Although these languages are a lot easier, that by no means makes them less beneficial. French and German are both considered International languages. After English, French is the second most studied language in Europe still. I believe that German is a close number 3. French can get you far as it's spoken in several parts of Canada, plus Haiti, much of western and nothern Africa, France (obviously), Luxembourg, Belgium, and Switzerland. It's also spoken in many other countries as a second/third language. German is also gaining a lot of ground in Europe and along with English and French has become a language of Business. It is very commonly spoken throughout much of Easter Europe. According to wikipedia.org there are over 100 million native German speakers with an additional 20 mil 2nd language speakers.
So in my opinion, you can't go wrong with any one of these four languages. Try researching the languages cultures and see what interests you the most. Remember though, just because you choose to major in a certain language it doesn't mean that you have to give up learning the ones you did not choose. Like I said, I'm a Spanish major and plan to start a minor in Mandarin Chinese. However, I've also been learning Portugueses on my own. On my own now I've studied Portuguese for about 8 months and have reached about the same level of fluency that I have in Spanish (I'm currently in an Advance Spanish college class and have studied the this language for 4 years). Never limit yourself. The sky is the limit. Work hard and enjoy learning the languages.
Buenas suertes ; )
11 Responses to “What language besides Spanish should I study - French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Greek, Latin, etc”
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November 24th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
I was told Italian is very similar to Spanish, so I would go there. However, if you want to diversify, then may I suggest an Oriental language?
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November 24th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
well i was gona say Arabic but its not on the list,,
i would suggest French its so close to Spanish than Italian…..
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November 24th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
I would recommend Japanese or Russian. I know that the FBI, and other intelligent agencies are wanting and looking for people who speak Russian and Korean. Japanese would be helpful because not to many people take it and there are more and more businesses coming to America that are Japanese. So with either one I don't think you could go wrong. =)
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November 24th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Italian and Spanish are so alike I'd go with somethign different like French or German. If your interested in translating there's big bucks in Chinese and Japanese. I would stay away from Latin also, it's a dead language, and noone speaks it.
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November 25th, 2008 at 12:14 am
Well, French is hard. I took it, and even though I am Romanian(Romanian is a latin based language, close to French)it was very hard, even though it's such a beautiful language.So I don't avise you to take it… Better take Italian.. It's as easy as Spanish.
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I speak a Romanian, Spanish and some French.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:21 am
Definitely Japaneses, Japan is one of the worlds superpowers, and Japan means business, if you can get a business in a country with loads of people like Japan, then yeah that would be really good, so go for Japanese, no doubt
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November 25th, 2008 at 12:45 am
French would be the easiest for you to do because you alread know how the Spanish language is set up and they are similar in that aspect. However, if you want to be a risk taker go with either Russian of Japanese.
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Good luck.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:24 am
If you're already studying Spanish, then I'd suggest French and Portuguese. Knowing Spanish definetely facilitates learning French and Portuguese. This is because A)you'll see some similar Spanish words in French, and B) Portuguese sounds almost the same as Spanish. I'd go with German too. German has alot of similarities with English. It makes it easier.
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I'm also studying French and Portuguese. Being fluent in Spanish has helped me alot.
November 25th, 2008 at 2:09 am
Wow that's crazy. I'm doing almost the exact same thing as you. I'm a double major (Int. Business/Spanish) and I plan to start a minor in another language. I will more than likely be picking Chinese. The Chinese economy is growing tremendously and they will likely become the next world superpower.
If you're willing to be risky and want to pick something that's difficult and completely different from Spanish I'd say go for either Chinese or Japanese. Although Japan's economy is not quite as big as it was in the 90s it's still has a lot going for it. While both of these language prove to be really difficult they will both be rewarding. If you'd rather play it a little safer though and want something that resembles English or Spanish then go for either French or German. Although these languages are a lot easier, that by no means makes them less beneficial. French and German are both considered International languages. After English, French is the second most studied language in Europe still. I believe that German is a close number 3. French can get you far as it's spoken in several parts of Canada, plus Haiti, much of western and nothern Africa, France (obviously), Luxembourg, Belgium, and Switzerland. It's also spoken in many other countries as a second/third language. German is also gaining a lot of ground in Europe and along with English and French has become a language of Business. It is very commonly spoken throughout much of Easter Europe. According to wikipedia.org there are over 100 million native German speakers with an additional 20 mil 2nd language speakers.
So in my opinion, you can't go wrong with any one of these four languages. Try researching the languages cultures and see what interests you the most. Remember though, just because you choose to major in a certain language it doesn't mean that you have to give up learning the ones you did not choose. Like I said, I'm a Spanish major and plan to start a minor in Mandarin Chinese. However, I've also been learning Portugueses on my own. On my own now I've studied Portuguese for about 8 months and have reached about the same level of fluency that I have in Spanish (I'm currently in an Advance Spanish college class and have studied the this language for 4 years). Never limit yourself. The sky is the limit. Work hard and enjoy learning the languages.
Buenas suertes ; )
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wikipedia.org and my own personal experience. I plan to learn Spanish and Chinese in school but also am or plan to learn Portuguese, French, Italian, and Japanese, and German.
November 25th, 2008 at 2:52 am
I'd chose Greek. Will you be traveling anywhere? I've heard that learning languages that are similar can be confusing in the long run.
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November 25th, 2008 at 3:33 am
german
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