Language Most Useful?

[SirGrotius]

Originally Posted by dmash1080

I'm actually going medical. I've got about a year of Spanish..........but I'm just wanting to learn a language for the fun of it.

If for fun, I'd go Latin! Plus, it'll make learning medical terminology easier.

 

[rohde88]

Chinese for legal practice, Spanish for fun. Portuno if I'm feeling drunk.

South Florida is great.

 

[dtmt]

Esperanto

 

[Eason]

OP is going medical, a lot of dr's need to know medical terminology both in English and Spanish. I'd say do spanish.

 

[timotune]

Mandarin all the way.

 

[Nereis]

Spanish. Knowing passable latin terms from medical school will only help you out.

 

[L.R.]

Bumping an old thread. I plan on learning some Russian via Rosetta Stone, so I can at least know the basics. How can I improve afterward? I'll be living in Toronto, so I suppose I'm afforded some opportunity to speak it, but certainly nothing compared to a immersion experience. And immersion would be a hard to come by option, as there are few chances to work there with such basic Russian, outside of poorly paid ESL schools.

 

[imageWIS]

In order of importance (If you live in the Americas): English, Spanish, Mandarin / Cantonese.

 

[L.R.]

Originally Posted by imageWIS

In order of importance (If you live in the Americas): English, Spanish, Mandarin / Cantonese.

Ideally, I'll be working within Europe. I can already read basic French, so I think I'll be fluent (ish) by next year. I'd like to know at least one more major European language, and I view French and English as covering Western Europe fairly well, and perhaps Russian for East. I'd actually prefer to learn Swedish (the culture of Sweden has always interested me), but the language has a limited usefulness.

 

[bigbjorn]

Originally Posted by L.R.

I'd actually prefer to learn Swedish (the culture of Sweden has always interested me), but the language has a limited usefulness.
Yeah, as I've said before, not much use learning a language that 9m people speak, especially when 8.9m of them also speak English. BTW as a Swede, I've got to know -- what about the culture of Sweden is interesting?

 

[rohde88]

Originally Posted by bigbjorn

Yeah, as I've said before, not much use learning a language that 9m people speak, especially when 8.9m of them also speak English. BTW as a Swede, I've got to know -- what about the culture of Sweden is interesting?

Lutefisk, lingonberries, ice racing, tall leggy blondes in saunas?

I'm a quarter swedish heia sverige!

 

[Mr Pelican Pants]

Originally Posted by dmash

As an undergrad, what is the best language to start studying right now?

Chinese? Spanish? Japanese?

Discuss please.

Well, if this is your second language, you should learn the one you're most interested in. Once you master one, really understand how it works and think in it, learning another language, even from a different family, is significantly easier. (Though obviously it's not nearly as easy, after you're fluent in French, to go to Mandarin as it is to go to Italian.)

In any case, the language you're most interested in is likely to be the one you'll progress in the fastest. Learning languages is really about learning how language systems work, and making those systems part of your own second nature. From that point you tend to get interested in languages generally, and your ability to pick up new languages improves. You learn to just "feel" your way around a language rather than thinking consciously about how to say, "my postillion has been struck by lightning" or whatever.

BTW, don't hesitate to start a third language before you've mastered the second. If anything it will help you with both.

On the other hand, you could just learn the language of the country you think has the hottest chicks.

 

[HotlantaHoward]

Most useful in business sense for next 30 years:

1) Chinese
2) Spanish
3) Arabic

 

[k9n]

I decided to try and re-gain my spanish speaking skills and found this blog: http://www.fluentin3months.com/language-hacking-guide/

 

[chevron]

Originally Posted by L.R.

Bumping an old thread. I plan on learning some Russian via Rosetta Stone, so I can at least know the basics. How can I improve afterward? I'll be living in Toronto, so I suppose I'm afforded some opportunity to speak it, but certainly nothing compared to a immersion experience. And immersion would be a hard to come by option, as there are few chances to work there with such basic Russian, outside of poorly paid ESL schools.

Maybe get a cute little Russian language partner on italki.com?