<p>@petlover small parts of Switzerland and Belgium speak French, but almost everyone there also speaks English fluently. Monaco is pretty inisgnificant. Either way, Mandarin is a language of business and one used internationally. Also with China’s rising power it may be a good idea.</p>
<p>@almost I’m pretty sure that it’s at least compulsory in England in primary schools now. I was so glad when I could give it up 2 years ago I may go on holiday to France at least once a year, but that doesn’t mean that it’s actually useful in terms of life.</p>
<p>The comment about Japanese - kind of, but really not really. Japanese uses Chinese characters, yes, but it uses ancient ones that Chinese doesn’t use now. And Chinese characters are not the only part of the writing system.</p>
<p>Also they are just different languages. Even if it did use the same alphabet (or equivalent) it doesn’t make it understandable. Like comparing Greek to Ancient Greek.</p>
<p>Mandarin, there are lots of english words derived from french words, which wouldn’t make it very difficult to learn in the first place. And Mandarin is pretty hard, so Mandarin.</p>
<p>As one who speaks both Mandarin and French as a native English speaker, and as one who has worked and studied on both France and Taiwan, I am a bit taken aback at many of the assertions made here. My first point is that if students have interest in both, don’t turn this into an either/or proposition. particularly if you are American. Both French and Mandarin are international business languages. In much of Africa as well as the Middle East, French is often spoken where English is not. In the smaller cities of China, you had better know Mandarin, but English is spoken very commonly in the larger cities and in Taiwan everywhere. Unless you’re going to work for a Chinese company on China, it’s not going to give you a huge advantage unless again you’re working in a smaller city.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine what not having learned either language would have meant to my life. Without Mandarin, I could have never met my wife. Without French, I could never have completed my Ph.D. and I would never have been able to discover my family roots in northeast France. which were on the verge of being lost forever due to our Americanization. Worst of all, I would be ignorant of the nuances of the two best cuisines in the world–just kidding, but they’re delicious!</p>
<p>@CSIHSIS
The problem is not that they use ancient kanji that chinese don’t even use (which I don’t think Japanese do use the ancient ones since every time there are kanjis I know what they mean).
The problem is that they seldom, if ever, use kanji for everything and that some of their kanji have been simplied or modified from the original ones (they may still look similar though and you can guess the meaning). So knowing Mandarin won’t help you reading Japanese. I can read Mandarin, but I can’t read Japanese.</p>
<p>By the way, Mandarin will be a useful business language with the rise of China but it probably will not replace English as the international trade language. Why? Because English had been used as the trade language ever since Great Britain was the strongest country, not since the U.S. It will take a long time for Mandarin to become one. This is only my speculation, it may be wrong.</p>
<p>Mandarin, since I’m Chinese and feel like a failure for not knowing the language already. I took class for eight years before quitting because I couldn’t understand a thing. I did learn Japanese though, and while it was beneficial to have some kind of background in Chinese, Japanese is a whole other beast.</p>
I may go on holiday to France at least once a year, but that doesn’t mean that it’s actually useful in terms of life.</p>