Sleepy_Sentry

There was just a huge thread about foreign languages and business a month ago. Search it and you'll find some good info.

I thought about doing Chinese, but for now am opting for Spanish. I realized that in the time it takes me to get any sort of proficiency with Chinese, I could master three Romance languages.

I think Chinese is useful but there is too much hype surrounding it. For one, anyone in China you could end up working with will know English. People who take Chinese are betting China will be a huge power in the future. While the country will no doubt be more powerful ten or twenty years from now, I think we will trade less with it then people speculate. The region is already oversaturated with factories and outsourcing and I think China will lose markets to other rising bigwigs like Brazil and India.

Did I mention Chinese is difficult? Keep in mind that even with four years of study, you will have very basic skills in the language. You will also be competing against native speakers in the United States.

So while everyone might be saying Chinese is the best language to learn right now, I think I'll stick with something else.