which languages to learn and why?

[JupiterJan]

AIBU to say everybody should be able to speak a few words of Mandarin and Hindi? AS these are two of the 3 most spoken languages in the world.

I want to learn another language now, partly for fun, but also for possibly travel and career opportunities. Should it be one of these? Or is there another language you would recommend, and why?

I am expecting people to say no to everyone learning a bit of Mandarin and Hindi, but I am interested in why we don't as it seems logical that we should

Drat, my grin came out as gin. We're pretty advanced in making gin too though!

For professional progression depending on your industry I would say Chinese or Arabic.
European languages are nice to have but most Europeans have enough English for you to muddle through, so if it's for personal interest then fine but in a professional context unless you master your second language you will probably find it gets switched back to English once the niceties are over.
Only problem with Arabic is I think there is a "formal" Arabic non native speakers are taught and I'm not sure whether actual Arabic speakers speak that variety?
If I were going to learn another European language it would probably be Spanish, I'm French so it doesn't seem too far removed, plus it's spoken by so many people in different places.
Scandinavian languages, Dutch, German, these are nice languages to study for your own personal interest but these are also probably the Europeans who master English the best.

European languages that often get forgotten in these conversations are Russian and Cyrillic languages, central and East European languages, which nobody ever seems to want to learn and would probably be very useful as I'm not sure English is mastered to the same widespread extent as in western European countries

There are many many people, working people, who can barely afford a trip to the next town. Those who can’t afford a holiday. There are many who have never been abroad in their lives.

No we will not be learning some language from the other side of the world. No matter how much your elites want to revenge colonise. Even the French that I learned, and was very good at, was only useful to me for less than 10 years of my life.

European languages that often get forgotten in these conversations are Russian and Cyrillic languages, central and East European languages, which nobody ever seems to want to learn and would probably be very useful as I'm not sure English is mastered to the same widespread extent as in western European countries

https://www.ef.com/wwen/epi/

Language teacher here too. Spanish or Arabic for me. Depends totally though on who you are mixing with / where you go.

A few words will not go far but is always appreciated!

My Arabic is not very good but is understood by most Arabic speakers.

European wise, French is also a good one.

Learning languages is not just for holidays.
It can help with job prospects, very important- helps against congnitive decline with age and can help better executive function, can open door to learning other new things like cultures, other languages etc.

I live in France and work in a French speaking professional environment. I have mastered French as has another English speaking colleague of mine. Some have not. On one of the projects I am working on now we switch to English not for my benefit but for that of a Dutch guy who has obviously mastered English but not French despite living here for quite a few years. The reality is that even living here you can get by reasonably well with only limited French and the only foreigners who learn it properly are the ones who really want to.

I would say that German is of limited use if you want to converse with Germans because they tend to speak such good English, but in Eastern Europe in places like Poland you quite often meet people who speak German but not English, so it can be a useful lingua franca.

Also languages teacher. I speak: French, Spanish and Italian fluently.

They're useful for holidays and the translation work I pick up.

I know a few words in Danish, Greek, Japanese and Gaelic. Personal interest only. Is that useful? Only for me to amuse myself.

I have A' level German. I can tell you about the Caucasian Chalk Circle but I couldn't order a meal.

If you want a well-paid career using a language, then you need a far more "interesting" combination than mine.

Chinese and Japanese are always attractive on a CV. Hindi less so because English is a state language in India and Hindi native speakers almost always have far better English skills from birth than any English speaker who has learned Hindi will have in that language.

I wouldn’t say that. I now live in a German speaking country. I would say 95% of people I talk to can’t speak English.
It’s probably different in the capital, but here in a regular small town, I couldn’t get by day to day using English at all.

@Normalsizedsalad
Interesting, this confirms my suspicion! Of course the Dutch are top, they are almost innately bilingual it seems :)

No one is suggesting languages are some niche holiday cultural indulgence for the holidaying rich. I’m from an extremely poor background, had never left the country and had barely left my home city (neither parent had ever had a passport) until I went to work as an au pair in France with my bad school French aged 18. That was a steep learning curve, but gave me the confidence to go home and win a scholarship to do languages at university, and subsequently to live and work abroad.

It depends where you go on holiday.

I speak some Greek (always appreciated out there) and, if I was learning another, then I'd go for Spanish!

I also did this but unfortunately au pairing is a lot more difficult than it used to be thanks to Brexshit!

The languages that have been most useful in my career have been French and, to some some extent, Russian. I live outside the U.K. in southern Europe and whilst English has been relatively useful, it was my fluent French that got me most of my jobs. Lots of people were learning English but fewer people were learning French to the level required in my industry. Russian has been useful as a had a stint of working closely with Eastern Europe, and Slavic languages have a lot of common words or roots. I can read Cyrillic which also helps to a small extent when holidaying in Greece 😁

I think what helps the most as opposed to choosing a specific language is that another language opens doors and facilitates comprehension of other, similar ones. See Russian example above. Also, with a fluent knowledge of Latin based languages I find I can get by in Spanish and understand a bit of Portuguese, which has helped when dealing with South America. I’ve not studied either if these languages but find it easy to pick up words and phrases, and understand them to varying degrees when spoken.

Very few deaf people use BSL so it isn't that easy to practise with someone proficient.

For anyone wanting to learn a bit, I found the site easy to use
https://www.british-sign.co.uk/

So depressing that this mindset still exists. Language learning is not an elite activity. It’s not just for going on holiday. It can enhance your career opportunities, but at the very least can expand your mind and improve neural pathways, which help you with problem solving in life in general. Knowing and using more than one language can also help stave off dementia.

Most of the world’s poor speak more than one language - eg. India, Africa etc will speak local dialect (and maybe also neighbouring ones), the country’s official language, plus English or French or what the colonial language was at the time. Hardly an elite activity there.

Really. How do you think learning languages has benefitted my job prospects? As I explained it has been of little value at all. The only times they were called for at work brought no extra pay nor prospects: we’re supposed to take on extra work and responsibility for fun nowadays.

My dh, on the other hand, found his lack of languages no barrier to his continued employment. We all need penises, not politically correct skills.

Travel is the preserve of wealth and therefore the elite. You clearly have never lived in poverty.

Learning language is not "politically correct skill". 🙄
I said it can help with job prospects. Not that it always will. Many companies are looking for people who speak other than English language when they deal with business in other countries/people who do not speak English well.
The fact that you never needed it doesn't mean no one does.

I'm learning BSL because there's a large deaf community around where I live. I'm not planning on going abroad so wouldn't need any other languages.

I work for a German company in a country that has both German and French as their official languages. So I speak both even though my job is in English. I understand a lot of Dutch because of my German.
French I learnt at school in the UK from the age of 7 until I left. I have been dabbling in German for a while but because of Brexit I‘m going for the test so I can have a European passport again.
I don’t think I would bother with a language that I couldn’t practice frequently. I use all of mine on a daily basis. The French I learnt at school was ok but not nearly enough for „living“ in French.
I have learnt basics in Croatian and Spanish that I can say hello, please, thank you and order coffee. I would like to learn more and luckily work in a company with 65 nationalities so could practice regularly.

Im currently learning German with Duolingo. My ‘holiday German’ is pretty good, my DP is fluent. It’s a useful language to me, mainly for ‘fun’ travel but also a bit for work.

Im currently trying to decide if my current most regular exposure is in german speaking Switzerland however, which to the uninitiated feels like what Geordie first felt like to this southerner of no discernible accent, is helping or hindering! Regional differences are certainly very interesting.

I started with Duolingo and completed the course - I feel that the whole course doesn't take us much beyond the basics though, and there's a lot of pointless stuff! I love Easy German on YouTube, Seedlang, DW Deutsch and also find listening to German music helps too (there is good stuff out there), as well as watching films/tv etc.

PS There are so many dialects, but I love hearing Austrian German the most! I think it's like the Western Isles Scots accent in a way, for some odd reason (I speak more 'standard' Scottish English lol).