What's a good language to learn for future job prospects?

[fortheo]

I speak Spanish and basic Portuguese. No idea if this will help me in later life, but we'll see. A lot of people speak Spanish, so it may be of less help to you.

That's the same reason why it may be of use to him.

 

[Sharkey]

Haha you're a fruitloop Sharkey :icon_chee

Y'all probably say "yous guys" too, don't ya? don't ya?

Yousa sure like to push people's buttons, eh? Eh?

Ah, I was just poking some fun at the name of this little city of mine with the loops mention seeing as how I live in Kamloops, BC. Get it? Bah. I'm terrible.

 

[KhabibTheBeagle]

That's the same reason why it may be of use to him.

I meant it more in terms of being hired over someone else, as it won't be an advantage if every candidate can also speak Spanish. You are correct, though.

 

[Kick Strickland]

Depends on the job.

Chinese is a safe bet for business. Russian is a safe bet if you want some sort of job in the government. If you're doing some sort of work that involves socializing with various people in America then Spanish is a safe bet.

If you learn both Chinese and Russian you'd be in high demand for several different organizations.

Another good reply. I am impressed, mayberry!

I really don't know what I'd ideally want to do with it. I would think business would be cool, and that'd be Chinese. But also having a govt job speaking Russian sounds intriguing tbh. It sounds stupid, but I always look for careers that sound impressive, lol. Just being honest. And speaking Russian for the govt sounds impressive as fuck, right? Makes people immediately think of James Bond and shit. I could dig that.

Hey, to give you a head start you could always pick up the Ezio trilogy of Assassin's Creed games if you haven't played them yet. Not only can you learn quite a bit of Italian while playing those games but you can have tons of fun doing it.

haha that's what's up. Haven't played that game, I'm not really a gamer anymore. Last console I had was a PS2 if that tells ya anything. BUT, that's a great point about learning something the fun way, and having it stick. I learned some pretty basic portuguese just from watching mma. Learned a couple Russian sentences from watching Burn Notice and the 2nd Bourne movie, too.

 

[fortheo]

Another good reply. I am impressed, mayberry!

I really don't know what I'd ideally want to do with it. I would think business would be cool, and that'd be Chinese. But also having a govt job speaking Russian sounds intriguing tbh. It sounds stupid, but I always look for careers that sound impressive, lol. Just being honest. And speaking Russian for the govt sounds impressive as fuck, right? Makes people immediately think of James Bond and shit. I could dig that.

I browse around different goverment organizations such as CIA,NSA,DOS, FSI, FBI, basically all the three letter government acronyms and they always seem to be looking for analysts that speak Russian. I severely doubt they're easy jobs to get though.

 

[KhabibTheBeagle]

BTW, I would recommend using Duolingo.com for anyone looking to learn a language. It's effective and easy to use, plus, it's free!

 

[Kick Strickland]

I speak Spanish and basic Portuguese. No idea if this will help me in later life, but we'll see. A lot of people speak Spanish, so it may be of less help to you.

I'm sure it'll come in handy for you at some point. And apparently the different spanish dialects differ quite a lot. I was in Spain for 6 weeks when I was in the Air Force, and we went out drinking in Seville. We had a couple mexicans with us, and one dude from Puerto Rico, and they were our translators. Most of the true Spanish people they tried speaking with, immediately had a look on their faces like they had no idea wtf our guys were trying to say. One of the Mexican dudes explained to me that true Spanish ppl speak with a lisp, and said that they really look down on Mexicans and Puerto Ricans like they are the trailer trash of the Spanish speaking world. That was news to me. He said true Spaniards are really arrogant and aloof for some reason. I figure it's like the difference between England English and American English.

That's the same reason why it may be of use to him.

Haha good point!

Yousa sure like to push people's buttons, eh? Eh?

Ah, I was just poking some fun at the name of this little city of mine with the loops mention seeing as how I live in Kamloops, BC. Get it? Bah. I'm terrible.

Ah I see....it's Canadian humor..........*sighs



lol just messin with ya Sharkey

 

[Kick Strickland]

I browse around different goverment organizations such as CIA,NSA,DOS, FSI, FBI, basically all the three letter government acronyms and they always seem to be looking for analysts that speak Russian. I severely doubt they're easy jobs to get though.

Right on! That is exactly the kind of info I was wanting when I started the thread. Thanks dude. Seriously I am going to look into that. Btw, off the top of your head, do you happen to know what kind of salary those guys get? Just curious. If not, no worries I'll research it later.

BTW, I would recommend using Duolingo.com for anyone looking to learn a language. It's effective and easy to use, plus, it's free!

Cool. Never heard of it but I'll check it out. There was one really popular one a few years ago, can't remember what it's called now...but everybody raved about how it was the best program for learning a language. It was expensive though iirc.



Edit: it was Rosetta Stone. That's what I always heard about, but I think it was pretty expensive and I never tried using it.

 

[fortheo]

Just to give you an idea of what I was referring to when I mentioned government jobs, here's a link to an analyst position from the CIA.

https://www.cia.gov/careers/opportunities/analytical/open-source-officer-foreign-media-analyst.html

The languages they're seeking are :Arabic, Chinese/Mandarin, Dari, Estonian, Hebrew, Korean, Pashtu, Persian/Farsi, Portuguese and Spanish, Russian, Somali/Hausa, Swahili/Amharic, Thai, Turkish, Urdu/Hindi and Vietnamese.

 

[gigantalor]

It depends on what you want to do with it. China's obviously an economic powerhouse, but Mandarin is very difficult to learn as a native English speaker. I would guess that given India's population size and growing economy, Hindi might not be an awful choice, but from my very limited knowledge it seems like they're learning English pretty well.

Don't sleep on French. There are a lot of former French colonies all over the world where French is the language of business, and a lot of them are growing very quickly, both economically and in population. It's also easy to learn as an English speaker.

Maybe just my opinion, but don't waste your time with Hindi.

Most/all of the younger generation speak English. I doubt anyone uses Hindi for business over there.

And if their economy is growing, it's mainly because they speak English.

Most/all of the Indian folks I've ever worked with over the years when talking to each other, either speak English (if from different areas) or their state language (e.g. Telegu, Tamil, Marathi, etc).

 

[gigantalor]

When I was younger I had a friend who learned Japanese. Went from being a part-time student/security guard making about $7/hr to making six figures as an English teacher in Japan. That was over 20 years ago, though, so the opportunity he had may not be all that available anymore.

I've heard that if you go to Japan to teach English, you'll only "get by."

Not sure you're gonna make "six figures" over there, unless it's Yen.

But I'll defer to someone with experience. I've often wondered if that's something I'd want to do, mainly for the life experience.

 

[Kick Strickland]

Just to give you an idea of what I was referring to when I mentioned government jobs, here's a link to an analyst position from the CIA.

https://www.cia.gov/careers/opportunities/analytical/open-source-officer-foreign-media-analyst.html

The languages they're seeking are :Arabic, Chinese/Mandarin, Dari, Estonian, Hebrew, Korean, Pashtu, Persian/Farsi, Portuguese and Spanish, Russian, Somali/Hausa, Swahili/Amharic, Thai, Turkish, Urdu/Hindi and Vietnamese.

Nice, I'll check it out. Thanks dude!

I actually know a few Estonian words because I dig this singer from there named Kerli and I've watched a bunch of her interviews and shit. It's weird how you can pick up things like that just from things you do for fun.

 

[fortheo]

I've heard that if you go to Japan to teach English, you'll only "get by."

Not sure you're gonna make "six figures" over there, unless it's Yen.

But I'll defer to someone with experience. I've often wondered if that's something I'd want to do, mainly for the life experience.

I think sharkey was talking about 20 years ago or so. My uncle had similar success when he went to japan; he made good money and eventually became head of the English department at a good university. Now a days If you go to teach English in japan you will be making just enough to get by. It is a good experience though because it solidifies the language you're learning while you gain valuable experience in a different culture. It makes you very marketable when you look for similar jobs back in the U.S.

There are a vast amount of students going into the American school system whose primary language isn't English, so naturally Teachers of English as a Second language do have value in America too. Long story short: If you can teach English in Japan, then you'll have a good case for getting the ESL jobs in America when you return. Then you can climb the ladder in America, especially if you get into a university setting.

 

[Kick Strickland]

But I'll defer to someone with experience. I've often wondered if that's something I'd want to do, mainly for the life experience.

You could look into the Peace Corps. I checked it out a few years ago, but they require a Bachelors degree, or maybe an associates, I can't remember. From what I understand, you'd make next to nothing for 2 years, but you would get a lot of cool life experience. And to me, that's more valuable than income.

 

[gigantalor]

You could look into the Peace Corps. I checked it out a few years ago, but they require a Bachelors degree, or maybe an associates, I can't remember. From what I understand, you'd make next to nothing for 2 years, but you would get a lot of cool life experience. And to me, that's more valuable than income.

Yeah, maybe if I was young. But I have a wife and kids. Might be something I'd wanna do later. Always thought it'd be cool to move to Japan and immerse myself. I don't speak any Japanese, though. But I'm the kinda guy that would work hard to pick it up if I lived over there. I do have a Bachelor's degree and many years of development (mostly Java) experience. Sometimes, the thought of doing something different sounds nice, though.

 

[gigantalor]

BTW, I've actually been working on learning Spanish. Took a year in HS and a quarter in college (long ago). So, some of it was review. Although, I've been slacking off lately, need to get back on it. In the US, I think that may be more practical.

I try to use it when I go to Mexican restaurants and groceries. But I feel kinda foolish, since they speak better English than I do Spanish. But I like to practice.

 

[genecop]

Chinese, they r taking over...

 

[Sharkey]

I've heard that if you go to Japan to teach English, you'll only "get by."

Not sure you're gonna make "six figures" over there, unless it's Yen.

But I'll defer to someone with experience. I've often wondered if that's something I'd want to do, mainly for the life experience.

Just basing it on what my friend said at the time. Obviously I wouldn't know for sure how much he made since it wasn't me who experienced it first hand, but I don't know why he would lie about that. He really was never the bullshitting type when I knew him and certainly wasn't the type to do so to try to impress people. We're also talking about something from 91 or 92, so it's entirely possible that the demand was much, much higher at that time. Not sure. This would have happened in the pre-internet age as well, so if he was making that kind of money maybe that had something to do with it. The world was a whole lot larger back then.

 

[gigantalor]

Just basing it on what my friend said at the time. Obviously I wouldn't know for sure how much he made since it wasn't me who experienced it first hand, but I don't know why he would lie about that. He really was never the bullshitting type when I knew him and certainly wasn't the type to do so to try to impress people. We're also talking about something from 91 or 92, so it's entirely possible that the demand was much, much higher at that time. Not sure. This would have happened in the pre-internet age as well, so if he was making that kind of money maybe that had something to do with it. The world was a whole lot larger back then.

Yeah, I understand. And I wasn't questioning your story. Hope it wasn't taken that way.

I was just saying that what I've heard lately is that it may not be so lucrative.

 

[DaleBoca]

I don't know how people can only know a single language. That's always been baffling. Learn Spanish, don't try to learn something that will take you years to learn.

Arabic, Russian, anything from China, forget it. If you haven't been brought up in those countries and cultures don't think you can just just learn it. Even Spanish will be difficult for somebody that only speaks a single language.