<p>I want to pick up an East Asian Language to go along with my economics major, being that I’m already able to speak spanish and english.</p>
<p>Mandarin Chinese seems the most practical because it is the most widely spoken language in the world, but practically will I know enough Mandarin in 5 years of study to apply it to business and every day life?</p>
<p>Korean seems practical to me because most of my friends are Korean and I know a solid amount about their culture, it is also much easier to learn than Mandarin, but how great will my opportunities to work with Asia be if I learn Korean?</p>
<p>Japan has a bigger economy than Korea and is easier to learn than Mandarin, but I’ve heard that Japan is the easiest of the major East Asian countires to get around in if you only know English.</p>
<p>Can anyone share some insight on the topic?</p>
<p>It’s actually not clear-cut which of the three is the easiest. Korean and Japanese have very difficult (or at least counterintuitive for an English speaker) grammar. The Korean alphabet only has 63 characters, while Japanese and Mandarin have thousands. Mandarin grammar is pretty simple, but the pronunciation is harder than the other two because of the four tones. So I wouldn’t pick based on difficulty, I would pick based on your personal interest and practicality (for which Mandarin and Japanese would both be great choices).</p>
<p>If you want to be fluent enough to conduct business in any of those languages… then you better be talented, because the average person will not make that in 4-5 years. You simply won’t be fluent and assured enough to make your foreign language an actual asset to your work. If you’re looking to conduct business with big companies, expect them to speak English masterfully. No one wants to sit around struggling in their native language with an American who could just save everyone a lot of time by speaking English. In business, your efforts to explore another culture or language are not cute. I think it just irritates most businesspeople.</p>
<p>Personally, I speak Mandarin fluently (thanks Grandma!) but cannot read/write. My perspective is that if you can master the four tones of Mandarin and have a good memory, you can get a good grounding after 4-5 years of intensive study and immersion. The grammar is straightforward and highly functional - there are no byzantine tenses or conjugations to know like there are with romance languages. I’ve seen people who got Mandarin down in that amount of time or even less, but they were pretty much all obsessed with the language and talented/smart enough, too. If you’re going to try any language at all, I think Mandarin is the one. IMHO, besides Spanish, Mandarin may be the only foreign language even really worth the effort of learning (for business). </p>
<p>Bottom line: as long as you speak English fluently (I’m sure you do), you’ll be fine in business. Fluency in Spanish is a major plus, so if anything I would hone my Spanish and leave the Oriental languages to people who have a grasp over it already. Sometimes, those who know foreign languages well and work in business are actually relegated to the lower-level or less flexible jobs involving translation and communications, which sometimes really limits a person’s career or ties him down to his language skill. People at the top often don’t speak other languages and it has never really hindered them. Of course, it all depends on what specific kind of work or career you’re looking for. </p>
<p>Assuming you’re American, you’re probably better off with Spanish anyway. Maybe even pick up Portuguese to cover the whole continent. The few who do master East Asian languages have a ravenous appetite and aptitude for them. Honestly, you don’t sound too mad about any of these languages, and that’s already a sign to me that you might search for a different path.</p>