Speaking in Tongues: What Language Should Brendan Study?

[Brendan]

I studied Spanish for 4 years and have am at an intermediate level, however I haven't taken a course in Spanish in 4 years and I am quite rusty. I've been thinking lately about taking either Chinese or Hindi during my career at ASU, and I'm not sure which I should go with.

 

[miss fortune]

you're going to ARIZONA and not taking spanish?!?! :horor:

Spanish will be more useful at home... and will continue to be so in the future!

 

[Brendan]

Well my thinking is that my future customers will speak Spanish, but my future boss may speak Hindi or Chinese.

 

[JocktheMotie]

I'd go for Chinese. I speak spanish and hate it so much. Should have taken French instead.

 

[Moiety]

Chinese. Invaluable edge.

 

[Forever_Jung]

Français, bien sûr!

Edit: Oh not a choice. Then I'll say Chinese!

 

[ayoitsStepho]

I would severally encourage you to brush up on your Spanish if you're going to Arizona, especially if it's near the border. When I lived near the border in Texas, it became difficult for me to find jobs because you HAVE to know Spanish. I don't know if that would be different from where you'll be at, but that's just some advice. Either way, Spanish is a very good language to know right now in our country.

But if there was another option, I'd go with Chinese .

 

[swordpath]

Spanish would be the most practical, living here in the U.S. if you don't plan on moving to/frequently visiting China and/or India.

 

[eagleseven]

Mandarin Chinese, if you intend to join a multinational corporation.

Spanish, if you intend to stay in the Americas.

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I have a background in Spanish, like you, but intend to learn Chinese in the near future.

 

[kyuuei]

More opportunities to practice spanish out loud, imo, than any of the other languages.

 

[Little Laura]

I find Spanish a much easier language to learn.
I studied Chinese before going to travel overseas and it was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I learned Chinese from a lady who was from Shanghai and then went to rural NW Yunnan. Yeah. Although the characters are the same, there are so many different dialects in the country. No one understood anything I said - I was a Canadian girl trying to speak with a Shanghai accent apparently. They put the character subtitles on pretty much all of the television programming there for that reason, so everyone can follow along, because the characters for the words are always the same. And even my Chinese friend, who was born and raised in NW Yunnan, travelled with me to Southern Yunnan and had difficulty communicating with the locals.

Therefore, I vote Chinese, simply because I feel it is more difficult to learn on your own and you'd benefit from having a real teacher. It would be much easier for you to brush up on your Spanish on your own.