Chinese Language Now

16 Responses to “Our management college is going to teach us French,German or Mandarin.Which language will help my career most?”

1. transl8r Says:
   November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

   Practically speaking (and I know you don’t want to hear this part of the answer, no one does) you will NOT learn good Mandarin during a college course, especially if it is an ‘additional’ course and not your major. You do NOT learn fluent Mandarin within four years of college study.

   At least with French or German, you have a fighting chance to become relatively fluent within the years you are in college. To become fluent in Chinese will involve spending time in a Chinese-speaking environment or at least doing a lot more study on your own or preferably with tutors.

   Between French and German, it depends on what you see yourself doing. Also consider that if you already speak Spanish, for example, French would be relatively simple to learn. Both French and German are, frankly, fairly ‘dead-end’ languages because they are spoken in a very limited number of countries, and especially in the case of German, many Germans speak pretty good English (with French you do have some African nationals who speak good French plus their native tribal language(s) but don’t speak English well).

   Think about what you intend to do in the future specifically. It’s also possible that the experience of learning a language — any of the three — is more important at this stage than specifically which language you choose. Having that experience and knowing something about how YOU learn languages most efficiently (I’m assuming you do some exploration about this idea on your own during your studies too) will jump-start you in the future if you find you need to learn a specific language for a specific job opportunity.

   Chinese is often touted as the ‘magic bullet’ to ‘get great jobs’ but it isn’t so. You will not get special consideration just for your Chinese unless you are dead fluent AND have other things to offer, like an MBA or other advanced degree, or great work experience. I make my living with Chinese, and I love it, but I wouldn’t recommend it to you in this particular situation for practical reasons. You’re competing with a whole bunch of American-born Chinese with fluent Chinese AND those advanced degrees. French and German — not so much.

2. wannabepker Says:
   November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

   german

3. junpower00 Says:
   November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

   It really depends on which country you will be in most contact with in the future. Looking ahead, which one do you see yourself using ?

4. ice100 Says:
   November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

   I’d say Mandarin as its the most widely spoken langauge in the world. After that I’d pick German, plus its pretty easy to learn.

5. Kazz Says:
   November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

   That will depend highly on what your chosen career will be…

   If you are going to import and sell items I would suggest Mandarin – if you are into wines and upper class I would say French and if you like me have German background I would say German (also its not that hard to learn)

6. CNJRTOM Says:
   November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

   I would go with German. They should really teach you Spanish but I guess that’s not glamorous enough.

7. Lynn Says:
   November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

   depends on ur future plans but i would recommend mandarin

8. cYber_buRn Says:
   November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

   I love french, french fries and french kiss.

   French is a romoantic language if you will learn it. But it will help a lot if you learned many language especially dealing with those people who doesn’t know how to speak english.

   Once you are in US you should know how to speak english. It sucks when those hispanic don’t speak english while they are here in Florida.

9. Dane P Says:
   November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

   good question. I’m about to start an MBA and want to think about another foreign language, too…

   Mandarin seems the obvious answer. China’s economy is on the cusp of major breakthrough.

   But after that, what do you want to do, and what will you use your language for? Do you see yourself making the 19-hour flight to China? Do you see yourself comfortable travelling to a place where personal space and privacy are nothing like here?

   A lot of the world speaks French (although honestly, I’d go Spanish myself, but I already know German) at least passingly. But French isn’t a huge language outside of France in the business world. Germany’s economy is on the upswing too.

   Me personally, I’d do Spanish, then Mandarin.

10. SkEmE414 Says:
    November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    mandarin is the most important

11. hottotrot1_usa Says:
    November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    What city do you plan to work in?

12. Somebody else Says:
    November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    Probably Mandarin, but it all depends what type of job you actually have, where you work, and what you’re hoping to do in the future. If you’re doing a lot of business with the Germans or French speakers, then obviously you’ll want to choose one of those languages. But Mandarin is, as someone already pointed out, the most spoken language in the world. If you learn to speak Mandarin well, you will never have trouble finding a job in the business world. China is becoming increasingly important in the world, and that trend is likely to continue at least for the rest of your lifetime.

13. ozperu Says:
    November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    Mandarin

14. Omniquester Says:
    November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    China is a huge trading partner with the rest of the world and is an emerging market with over a billion people. Also many residents in the European Union already speak English. I would pick Mandarin. Be warned it’s a tough language to learn.

15. JavaJoe Says:
    November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    It depends where you’re located in the world and who you have the most contact with.

    For Europe, I’d say either German or French. Both will help you if you happen to be stationed in, or in frequent contact with people in Europe. It’s your choice, I’d say German might be easier for a native English speaker to learn.

    Then comes Chinese. Unless you do a lot of business with the Chinese or plan on doing so in the future, there’s probably little use for it.

16. moon Says:
    November 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    for all the reasons detailed above, yes choose Mandarin. French (although a beautiful language) isn’t the business language and German is not that widely spoken.