Marketable / useful foreign language for film industry

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

<p>I have an Associate’s degree in Video Production and am currently working on a Bachelor’s degree in Media Arts. My passion is filmmaking, and I would like to work as a screenwriter, director, visual effect artist, or anything for film industry in the future. </p>

<p>I also really like learning foreign languages; I am a native Japanese speaker and am fluent in English, and I have always been interested in German. I’m now thinking about double majoring in German along with Media Arts, but I am wondering if German is a “marketable” language for film industry or a “useful” language for a filmmaker to know. </p>

<p>If I double major in a foreign language, the scholarship I have been awarded will cover my study abroad to the country where the language I am studying is spoken, so I would like to take advantage of it and go to Germany. However, I want to find out if there’s any other option I may want to consider as a filmmaker. I enjoyed taking a Spanish class this summer, and it’s probably one of the most marketable and useful language to know if I continue living in the U.S., but I’m not that interested in the Spanish-speaking countries if I study abroad. I think French might be good as French films are pretty popular and I myself like some. Studying abroad to France would be nice, too. </p>

<p>What do you guys think? Any suggestions will be appreciated!</p>

2

<p>did you look at this link?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visual-arts-film-majors/1186556-25-best-film-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visual-arts-film-majors/1186556-25-best-film-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;
or are you going for language, not filmmaking?</p>

<p>how can you be Japanese and not flipping “R” and “L” at all?
how long have you been here?
how do you do it? (I am here 20+years and no way no how)
this means you got good ear and good eye for learning language.
far as I know, learn Spanish and Chinese. more people, more needs.
I don’t know filmmaking but general show-ey working place in US, it is important and big pus if you can talk to people who actually do grinding works for you, not only those who spins words and counts money (they all speak Hollywood, so you are covered)
thou I can see the dilemma… which should I go for?
those with Charlotte Gainsboug or Wim Wenders???
are we thinking about the same thing? no?
oh… OK
good luck!!</p>

3

<p>@bears and dogs:</p>

<p>I didn’t look at that link because I am already attending a college and majoring in Media Arts. If you read my post carefully, you would not be asking a question like that. I don’t need to look for a film school, and I don’t think you could major in a foreign language at a film school. Please focus on my question. </p>

<p>Just so you know, not all Japanese get confused with Rs and Ls. I’ve never actually had any problem pronouncing Rs in English.</p>

4

<p>now I am confused
you asked for ANY suggestions.
and I found the link in the thread informative and interesting.
sorry if I offended you
I do this all the time before figuring out what kids are really really asking.
aren’t you the one called SCAD your dream school?
but took fullride to some LAC and thinking about gradschool in film?
am I wrong?
I thought if your eventual goal is to work for film, you might want to check out foreign film schools and what their graduates are doing, how are they coming over to work or people going over from here to work, all the while you are in the city/country studying language.
you don’t have to major in it to learn language, but you can’t get money to study abroad unless you are majoring it, is what you are saying?
does it have to be language?
what is the exact restriction the school is giving you?
like, there must be certain cities or schools you have to chose from given list, no?
say, coming to LA or Denver would be totally different experience while you might be learning the same language.
I don’t know if assumed “marketability” of the language could be the good way to choose what to learn or where to go.
it is easy for me to just say
“why not go to France (or Germany) because it’s better for you!”</p>

<p>what do you really want to do?</p>

5

<br>

<br>

<p>Yes, I wanted to go to SCAD, but I ended up attending a liberal art college that offered me a full-ride. </p>

<br>

<br>

<p>Yes, I have to major in a foreign language to study abroad. My college is saying my full scholarship is paying for it, so I decided to double major in a foreign language. </p>

<br>

<br>

<p>It can be International Business, International Relations, or some other majors as well, but like I said, I am very interested in learning foreign languages. I tried to teach myself German a long time ago, and it was hard for me. I took Elementary German class at a community college, but the teacher sucked and I didn’t get to actually learn it. </p>

<br>

<br>

<p>My college already has connections with universities/colleges in other countries, so I will attend whatever school they offer in the country if I go study abroad. </p>

<br>

<br>

<p>No offense, but did you actually pay attention to every words I said in my previous post?? I explained what I want to do for a career. </p>

<p>All I need to know is if German is marketable/useful language for filmmaking or if there’s any other languages that are better choice.</p>

6

<p>gizzy, I don’t think any foreign language is especially helpful for a career in U.S. film production. I suggest being well educated (and especially having a chance to live and study in a different country) is very important to the artist you one day become, but the language will not matter much if at all in terms of future work–if you intend to work in the US film industry.</p>

<p>Since you get to choose, why not select a country that calls out to you. Perhaps do research on which country (France, Germany, Spain?) has an active current and vital film-making community? But in the end, I suggest this is more a decision that will add to the depth of your education and not so much add to your future film work prospects.</p>

7

<p>hey gizzy, </p>

<p>If you plan on staying in the states, the most marketable foreign language would be English. That said, any other foreign languages you know would be valuable skills to have under your belt.</p>

<p>Depending on what your ultimate goal is, many film shoots take place in foreign countries. If you become any type of producer, knowing the language and culture of the location of the shoot can be very helpful when wrangling permits and communicating with the locals. In that case, just about any major European (French, Italian, etc) or East Asian language (Mandarin, Cantonese) would be a good choice. </p>

<p>Also a lot of film production work, especially post production is out-sourced these days to countries like China and India. If you desire to become a vfx or post supervisor in a foreign country, knowing the local language would be a must. Countries like China and India also desire to develop their own production studios for local work and often seek state-side expertise.</p>

<p>That’s the practical side of what you are asking, but just as important is the breadth of experience and cultural knowledge you would gain from studying a foreign language (study of the culture and history is usually half major as well) will only make you a more rounded filmmaker. And definitely, go study abroad! I speak Spanish, English, Japnese, Mandarin and a smattering of a few other languages so I may be a little biased in my suggestions ^_^</p>

8

<p>If you are going to be working in LA, Spanish would be helpful imo.</p>

9

<p><<<bears wrote:=“” this=“” means=“” you=“” got=“” good=“” ear=“” and=“” eye=“” for=“” learning=“” language.=“” far=“” as=“” i=“” know,=“” learn=“” spanish=“” chinese.=“” more=“” people,=“” needs.=“” don’t=“” know=“” filmmaking=“” but=“” general=“” show-ey=“” working=“” place=“” in=“” us,=“” it=“” is=“” important=“” big=“” plus=“” if=“” can=“” talk=“” to=“” people=“” who=“” actually=“” do=“” grinding=“” works=“” you,=“” not=“” only=“” those=“” spins=“” words=“” counts=“” money=“”>>></bears></p>

<p>Hi bears! What a lovely, gracious response. You are a wise woman and your advice is priceless, especially about working well with everyone.</p>

10

<p>gee thanks colcon
I seriously wonder tho, are art parents/adults simply more forgiving and creative to decode what I write or trying to say?
this OP obviously was not so pleased of what I said.
I was OK with most young art kids, but did have trouble with few in the past.
Of course I could have said it better, like the way madbean did.</p>

<p>now that you brought it up, here are what I was told at the parents’ IVY thread.</p>

<p>“This is what happens when you write in a foreign language and then use the English language translator on the word processing program. It doesn’t make any sense.”</p>

<p>"Some loose screws… "</p>

<p>actually the mean-est one basically said
“don’t post if you can’t write better, we speak English here”
which seems gone now. </p>

<p>and here is my personal favorite,
“Bears and dogs, I followed Jack Kerouac, I read Jack Kerouac, Jack Kerouac was a favorite of mine. Bears and dogs, you’re no Jack Kerouac.”</p>

<p>so of course I went off topic talking about Kerouac, and no one seems to know what I was talking about (wouldn’t you guessed) or maybe haven’t read his book after all.
I think I figured out enough, how it works there. let them be and let me be.
no one is forcing to read anyone’s posts.
hate the poster, skip the posts. or have fun virtual dueling! (it is, too bad, sort of fun thing to do for many folks and bystanders taking each sides. I wonder what do they all do for living all day/nite long plus weekend shifts besides posting. … hey, that’s me I am talking about myself :eek:</p>

<p>actually, I already know quite few’s occupation by just reading what they say, or tried flat out lie that exposed by someone else. people are complex. even in mere college sites.)
sorry
super off topic.
I shall be quiet, but really, THANK YOU!!</p>

11

<p>@Bears and Dogs It is unfortunate CCers responded to your posts in that way.</p>

12

<p>No offense, but this is somewhat of a ridiculous thing to ask. Outside of the languages you specified, Chinese is in itself a useful language. Of that which you considered neither language holds any practical advantage over the other. You’ll have to decide based on some other factor than usefulness in the film industry.</p>