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Language Most Useful?

TheIdler

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Nobody I know who has studied Chinese or Arabic, no matter how useful it was, ever called it "fun". You're going to be a doctor, you're in the middle of Florida...Spanish is going to hit the sweet spot of useful and fun.

FTFY:
Originally Posted by Matt
"you need Spanish to pick up hot Latinas in Florida". Yes, you will get by without it, yes, a lot of hot Latinas will speak to you in English, and then they will turn and confer with their hot Latina friends, and you will have no idea what they are saying. This is not ideal.
 

Eason

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Studying languages is for chumps, learn by immersion doing it. Leaning/speaking Chinese has been a blast for me, I honestly don't know how any foreigners can live in China without being fluent, you just miss so much.
 

Lord-Barrington

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Originally Posted by Eason
Studying languages is for chumps, learn by immersion doing it. Leaning/speaking Chinese has been a blast for me, I honestly don't know how any foreigners can live in China without being fluent, you just miss so much.

That's great advice for students.
 

El Argentino

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(having learned spanish), I'd have to say Arabic, Farsi, Portuguese, or of course, Mandarin. Echo all the sentiments about business possibilities, as well as the above quote about learning by immersion. Best way to learn is to get pinned down in a real-life situation and speak your way out of it.

I've got American friends that are bilingual in each, and constantly think that each of them are totally in shape to use their abilities business-wise in emerging third-world countries. Tons of money there, no doubt. I suppose Spanish too, but it's just so common now.

Personally, I'd love to learn something like Catalan or Gallego. Just to do it.
 

globetrotter

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for somebody whose going to be a doctor living in the US, I'd say spanish - as a matter of fact for anybody living in the US who wasn't in international business, I'd say spanish.

for somebody who wants to do international business - I'd say learning a very little bit of 4 or 5 languages is much better than learning one language well. if you study arabic for a year, you probably won't get to speak very well, ditto mandarin. what you really need is to be able to talk to a taxi driver or a waitress, more than actually have a conversation.

hindi is the worst language in the world to learn - every indian that you would want to speak to speaks english, and there are many dialects in india. on top of that, hindi itself changes from region to region, so you could put a hard year into studying it, and never find anybody who you can really speak with
 

mkarim

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Originally Posted by globetrotter
hindi is the worst language in the world to learn - every indian that you would want to speak to speaks english, and there are many dialects in india. on top of that, hindi itself changes from region to region, so you could put a hard year into studying it, and never find anybody who you can really speak with

+1.

Most Indians would rather speak their local language before Hindi.
 

globetrotter

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Originally Posted by mkarim
+1.

Most Indians would rather speak their local language before Hindi.


and very often if two indians from differnt regions talk, the common language will be english before hindi
 

dmash

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Thank you for all the responses thus far!

Question regarding immersion though. I know this is the absolute best way to learn it....but I find it hard to do this still being in undergrad. It's not like I have 10k saved back to just go hang out over in Spain or China for a few months.
 

TheIdler

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Put a Craiglist ad out for some Spanish speaker who needs to improve their English, and do some kind of language exchange a few times a week. Meet for an hour each time, half an hour of Spanish and half an hour of English. Protip: The more attractive she is, the more dedicated you'll be.
 

deadly7

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Originally Posted by globetrotter
hindi is the worst language in the world to learn - every indian that you would want to speak to speaks english, and there are many dialects in india. on top of that, hindi itself changes from region to region, so you could put a hard year into studying it, and never find anybody who you can really speak with

Northern dialects are often similar to Hindi. South Indian languages are incomprehensible to someone that knows just Hindi, though.
 

medtech_expat

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Originally Posted by dmash1080
Thank you for all the responses thus far!

Question regarding immersion though. I know this is the absolute best way to learn it....but I find it hard to do this still being in undergrad. It's not like I have 10k saved back to just go hang out over in Spain or China for a few months.


Go to your foreign studies office, they should have details on various scholarships and/or programs available. If you would consider a 6-month sabbatical, Rotary International used to sponsor students to study abroad, live with a host family and even provide a stipend. I did this in high school, but not sure if available to undergrads.
 

Mr. White

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You might keep your TV and car radio on Spanish stations.
 

Crane's

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English, Spanish, Mandarin covers the majority of the world as far as languages go. Russian wouldn't be bad if you're involved in business in Eastern Europe.
 

ppllzz

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Originally Posted by ashpool
Java and C++ are pretty useful imo.

+1.

everyone speaks english nowadays. you can't code in arabic or mandarin.
 

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