To increase earning potential and open career opportunities, what is one language that you would recommend others to learn? Is your preferred language easy to learn? How has it helped you with your personal life/career?
What Language Other Than English Should All Australians Learn?
MasterNoob on 30/09/2017 - 01:22
Last edited 30/09/2017 - 09:49 by 1 other user
Last edited 30/09/2017 - 09:49 by 1 other user
Comments
I feel as if chinese is the answer to your question but its not the answer you want to hear?
It may be difficult to pickup for someone from an English speaking background but its not impossible. The chinese can pick up english more easily because its everywhere. Its not going to sound like their mother tongue but just like learning mandarin you only need working proficiency in most cases for your career.
And lol at your last point…. think of it this way, learn to speak chinese > get higher paying job > more money = more sex appeal (or just follow rule 1. Be atttactive and rule 2. Dont be unattractive)
@MasterNoob: Re point 1 and 2 - I dont think being asian descent helps in anyway to speak Chinese. I am asian decent.. but to me learning Chinese is still difficult af. Learning language has got nothing to do with your descent (unless you are directly impacted by the said language growing up), but really it all comes down with your commitment in learning it and putting into practice. Australian learning chinese is as difficult as chinese learning english. The only reason point (2) may seems true, is because the Chinese may have seen more English words being used growing up, than the non-Chinese seeing Chinese words. But this is not about being asian descent or not.
Point (3) still don't quite get it. What does sex appeal has to do with potential and career opportunities. I thought that was the main motivation you seek when asking the question? But to entertain your thought, any asian language spoken by a caucasian will make them sound much sexier.. whereas for a person with chinese asian look, it is expected they speak chinese so even if we try hard to speak the language.. we only look like we're meant to speak it.. sigh
@MasterNoob: You think Latin is a more useful language than Chinese!?
I also struggle to see how Latin will make you noticeably more proficient at the English language - if you need to improve your English you'd be better off learning…. English.
Chinese doesn't have the same level of cultural content exports like the Japanese, Koreans, French or Spanish
They most likely do, you just don't understand them (and thus not notice them).
@John: Did you grow up in Australia? I didn't. And I started "learning" in kinder, and the teachers said I was a lost cause.
@MrTweek: Did a research essay in high school on why we (the Chinese) could not export our cultural content as well as the Japanese and the Koreans. Can't remember most of my points now but I can say responsibly that this phenomenon is well accepted in China.
I vote…
No, LOL.
None of those points make sense.
None of those points make sense.
Yep, and to elaborate on why they don't:
(a) it is extremely difficult to speak for those of non-east asian descent
Why would east asian descent help you? Japanese isn't tonal. And it's about what you grew up speaking, not your race or ancestry, obviously.
(b) the chinese will always be able to pick up on english MUCH more easily
Nonsense. English is just as difficult for native Mandarin speakers. In some countries, you can argue that English is slightly easier to learn - not because of the nature of the language, but because it's on TV and stuff. But in China? not so much.
(c) the language lacks sex appeal and therefore there is less motivation to learn the language
Sex appeal? LOL! What makes a language sexy? Do you mean figuratively, like that it's not interesting or cool somehow? The characters and tones make it one of the more interesting languages.
Or do you mean the people speaking it aren't very sexy? You'd have to be pretty damn racist not to admit that asian people can be just as sexy as anyone else…
Don't blame the OP. Blame the media for making Asians an unattractive race.
ie: whitewashing
@ItsMeAgro: I've heard people say Mandarin was actually pretty easy to learn, because it's grammatically very simple. Which is the reason Japanese is difficult, because the grammar is complicated. And English is supposed to be very hard because all the rules are inconsistent and make no sense.
None are as sexy as French though, to a Francophile. Mandarin is probably better if you're into Asian chicks though
You'd have to be pretty damn racist not to admit that asian people can be just as sexy as anyone else…
You've obviously never been to France.
actually if you can speak mandarin, chinese chicks dig you, at least that's what I hear from friends!
sounds like a bargain
I thought the only thing Chinese chicks dig was gold. ;)
Yet another reason to learn French.
@Munki: my only real experience was with a Chinese girl back in 2003, a pretty serious relationship; she suggested that spending $5k-$6k on laptops for her Dad and brother as 'hello gifts' would be a good idea to get them onside. I questioned the need for this, and she said "It's Shanghai, that's how things work". I pointed out she (and I, at that time) might live in Shanghai, but she was from Wuhan and that's where her family lived. A shrug was the only reply. Eventually things fell apart because I was divorced and had a child, and her Dad and brother were against her marrying someone with 'such poor Western morals'. Later I heard both her Dad and brother had affairs, and got divorced, tearing the family apart… karma? I think so!
@Munki: I think it was mostly the Chinese dudes back in the Gold Rush days… But I think they may have moved on since then.
I feel like everything you said there was a setup for the final point.. which I applaud profusely!
Way to undermine your own post. clap clap
Username checks out.
What language would you consider oozes sex appeal please?
pick up english MUCH more easily
English is bloody hard especially when it comes to homophones:
- A bandage is wound around a wound
- The door was too close to the table to close
- I decided to desert my dessert in the desert
Dont forget the usual… the're, their & there. :-)
Actually, I'd argue that homophones are fundamental in Chinese. Most "words" (or rather, characters, as Chinese doesn't really have a strong concept of a word) are homophones to several others.
That's not to say a native Chinese speaker would find English easier - English is still nonsensical in many ways, to foreign learners.
There is really a good one I heard:
I saw a saw saw a saw.
Goes both ways though, example:
https://www.yellowbridge.com/onlinelit/stonelion.php
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jtiw721RAg
I thought for sure you must be trolling but then I read your other responses and looks like you're not which actually makes it worse. All your points are invalid and extremely ignorant. You got one thing right though and that is your username.
He is making reasonable points and backing them up with reasonable explanations, which contributes to the discussion. Why need to neg?
Which part is reasonable? 100 negs can't be wrong.
@Hunter14: I am from China, so I can't say whether it is true that it would be harder for non-Asians to learn Mandarin.
I agree that Chinese can pick up English more easily, for that English language is part of the compulsory curriculum in Chinese primary and secondary schools. Every one in China that went through the education system in the last decade or two had English education. I won't say it's very good, but there is foundation. It might not be a fair comparison, but I can say confidently that I have never met an English speaker who can speak Mandarin as well as I speak English.
On the topic of cultural export, it is widely accepted in China that we don't export our culture as well as the Koreans or Japanese. Some one mentioned that the media made Asians an unattractive race, and I'm pretty sure that I've seen research papers discussing this phenomenon. Regardless of whether we should blame the media or whether Asians are truly unattractive, such a perception does exist.
It's a combination of ignorance and the demeaning way he made his points that got him the negative votes.
Yes, more Chinese people know English than vice versa but is because as you said, like most Asian countries, English is a compulsory language learnt in school. If we did the same with Chinese in Australia then I'd imagine the numbers will even up. I grew up speaking some Chinese but came to Australia at a young age so it was easy for me to learn English. Just from a neutral perspective, English is one of the hardest language in the world to learn. It's not one of those subjects where you can learn most of it from lessons but you need experience speaking it to get the correct pronunciations of some words which are not pronounced as they are spelt. Mandarin is also complex with the different tones so I don't think one is significantly harder or easier to learn. Also, he speaks like he's too good to learn Chinese but then expects a potential Chinese business partner to know English. Kind of a self entitled mentality.
He mentions he wants to learn another language for career progression and earning potential but then says Chinese lacks sex appeal. Why does he need to make that statement for? Even if true, what's that got to do with his career?
https://www.quora.com/Is-it-worth-learning-Mandarin
- China is the second biggest economy in the world—and Mandarin is its official language.
So let’s be real—learning how to speak Mandarin opens a LOT of job opportunities and a whole market / commerce that opens a lot of doors to you. - China is a beautiful place to travel to, and learning the language allows you to really explore.
My absolute best memories are the ones I have of running around China, exploring—-ordering a bunch of street food, or climbing insanely tall, sacred mountains or getting just plain lost in Beijing. Seriously, it doesn’t getting any better and my Mandarin made it a thousand times more fun. - It’s the best exercise for your brain.
I’ve tried other romantic languages—none compare to the challenge that is Chinese. It’s like you’re doing Crossfit compared to your friends who are >just doing regular strength training at the gym. You wanna brag cause you know you’re just in better langauge shape. #fact - It has the coolest stories.
Mandarin has exposed me to such great proverbs, life lessons, etc. I feel much wiser now that I’ve been exposed to Eastern culture and Eastern thought.
All in all, go for it—and if you get stuck in a rut, just fine someone who is a native speaker who speaks better than you and you’ll be fine.
A lot of great points here. Except for the crossfit part. Don't think you'd want to be bragging to your mates that you do crossfit instead of strength training :P
- China is the second biggest economy in the world—and Mandarin is its official language.
Nah probably Hindi/Punjab/Bengali given their population is giving the Chinese a run for their money.
The thing with Indian languages is, too many Indians can speak English for you to really need to learn an Indian language to do business or make friends. All universities are in English there.
Mandarin? Not so much.
On OzBargain — definitely Mandarin.
- dealing with large number of Chinese warehouse sites and negotiating deals with their reps, ie GearBest, Geek buying, BangGood etc.
- I suspect a significant portion of OzBargainers are actually Asians.
- Whirlpool sends the most referral traffic to OzBargain (amongst other websites). OurSteps is close 2nd, which happens to be a Chinese forum in Australia and has a dedicated bargain forum.
- Even Cashrewards has an official WeChat account doing marketing in Mandarin and providing Chinese support.
- Not just how much crap we buy from China, but it's interesting to see how much Australia-made crap we are trying to sell to China (not just mining, but also retail).
- Mandarin also happens to a language I speak :)
how can i work for Ozb ?
Why do you suspect that large numbers of Ozbargainers are Asian Scotty?
I only have a small sample. Often I post prizes (PayPal or T-shirts) and the recipients have Asian sounding surnames.
@scotty: I have that suspicion too based on common grammatical patterns I observe, e.g. using present tense where the past is called for, forgetting plurals, etc.
I suspect this because Asian are known for their hard-bargaining skill. I grew up in Australia, and I suck at bargaining. Hence why I need OzBargain in my life, to help me be a better Asian. :')
@RoughMetaphors: Actually it also happens with other Asian languages where there is less emphasis on tense and number compared to European languages.
@Warier: I don't get downvotes. From my point of view, you're right. I know people of Asian descent who are born here and half of them don't consider themselves Asian.
Are stats for the top referral sites public scotty?
NI-HA0000!
Knee how?
Tricky question, but both answers will be GOOD right?
Definitely Mandarin. Luckily my husband speaks native english/mandarin/cantonese, so I'm planning on his help to learn some Mandarin, I say only some because it's so damn difficult for an english speaker, his step-father managed it though! I know someone said Hindi because of India's population but population is irrelevant when you're still a third world country. As for sex appeal? Well, who knows what has sex appeal? A lot of people would say French, but to me French is a disgusting language that sounds like somebody spitting wet farts into my ear lol.
but to me French is a disgusting language that sounds like somebody spitting wet farts into my ear lol.
Arabic sounds like their clearing their throat to spit.
Lets not forget hearing German and Russian. That ought to get one wet.Einz weinz teinz shiza … German sounds crap. Every word ends like you have to clench your butt hole as you say it. Sorry, but true.
Madam, China is a developing (third world) economy as well. The same as India. So your point isn't valid and you're not treating the Indians fairly.
India's nominal gdp per person is ~$2000 vs China's ~$9000, in PPP terms its around $8,000 vs $16,000. They might both be poorer than Australia, but China is much richer than India (overall).
Was
@ilikeradiohead: They might both be poorer than Australia but their economy is growing at a super fast rate while our wages alone haven't changed for ages. Don't even get me started on economy, job market, so called 'welfare', 'infra', and so on. You need to serious visit India and China to see what you are ignorant of.
You wouldn't want to learn Hindi, not because of the position of any country at economy level, but rather because lot if not most of Indians living in Australia can comfortably speak and understand English and you wouldn't need to learn another language to communicate with them. And the same goes for people doing business in India. If they're the ones that you'd like to get in touch with for any financial benefits, chances are very high that they would already know English lot better than people in China. Not criticising anyone here, just shading some light.
I know someone said Hindi because of India's population but population is irrelevant when you're still a third world country.
Not sure if you are referring to India as a third world country, but in that case you are seriously underestimating economic power of India and probably unaware the basic facts about Indian economy, leave aside details of their job markets and consumer markets.
Btw, India hasn't been a third world country for ages - it's been a developing country (2nd world) ever since I remember. Income disparity kills the per capita of the country but if you were to compare the 'best' of so called increasingly unemployed and ever-expensive first world (well, most of it) to the 'best' of theirs in terms of income, education, living standards (including but not limited to affordable and easily available service sector), etc then it's far ahead of many developed countries. This will be interesting read for you if you haven't been there ever:
1) https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/6-surprising-facts-ab…
2) http://www.livemint.com/Politics/HY9TzjQzljCZNRHb2ejC2H/The-…I was forced to learn French at School and I called it a disease in the throat. Guess how much the French like me?
As a westerner who lived in China and learned Mandarin I have to say it's not worth learning. Most educated Chinese can speak better English than I can Chinese and the only time It was useful was when I was living in China , and trust me you don't want to live in China. That's why they're all moving over here.
Catalan.
lol. Try Basque you will bite your teeth out!
Well, China was the world's superpower until the last 200 years
I would hardly call the Qing dynasty a superpower………….
what has "5000 year old civilisation" got to do with this topic?
anyway, if the someone wants to learn Chinese/Mandarin because they are interested in the 5000 years worth of culture, customs and history of China, then I think it is a worthwhile pursuit.
however, if someone thinks that they will make a quick buck or get a promotion because they did a crash course in Mandarin, tell them they are dreaming.
@FW190: What does the ''human race managed to survive for so long'' got to do with learning Mandarin? Don't be upset no one wants to learn bogan.
What does the ''human race managed to survive for so long'' got to do with learning Mandarin?
it has got to do with the part where lots of people (above my reply) here is going on and on about "LEARN MANDARIN!" as if earning money from China is the only option, to which my reply was "everyone is so quick to kiss China's ass", and that ''the human race managed to survive for so long'' w/o the RMB, I hope I have made it clear enough for you?
PS by "bogan" I assume you mean English? well according to government data, there are nearly 200k of Chinese students studying here in 2016, obviously they see some value in learning "bogan".
They study here not to embrace the Australian culture, but to exploit and take advantage of cheap property and a less competitive socioeconomic environment.
inst USA the biggest at 24% and China at 14% ?
The major problem is mandarin may be important for talking but English remains the language of science. Chinese isnt a very practical language for scientific work or communication in the same way simple alphabets like English are.
I guess it may be useful for talking but for technical stuff its going to be English for a long time, even the Japanese in the end use English for technical stuff like circuit diagrams etc.
Id say mandarin aswell
i prefer orange and grapefruit
Still mandarin for me ;)
I prefer mandarin duck.
If a frequent world traveller, surely command over Spanish can really help?
Spanish as it is virtually all of central and South America, and is similar to French and Italian so can be used and understood in over half of the world.
That's exaggerating a bit. It's similar, but I've had virtually no success communicating with non-Spanish speaking French people in Spanish. Even in border towns in Brazil, a Portuguese speaking country surrounded by Spanish speaking countries, they've barely understood any Spanish I've tried to use (not helped by my poor accent, granted!).
I'm still glad it's my second language though - it's just as important that you choose a language you love as it is to work out which is more "useful". If you don't like it, you're unlikely to do particularly well at it.
You're better off learning Portuguese instead of Spanish*- generally speaking Portuguese speakers can understand Spanish better than Spanish people can understand Portuguese, this is due to Portuguese being a more complex language with many more sounds and rules
*Castilian Spanish
@rodripa: If Portuguese speakers can understand Spanish better than Spanish speakers can understand Portuguese, it makes far more sense to learn Spanish (even if there weren't far more Spanish speaking countries).
Well it all depends which Spanish you mean, because Castillian from Spain is quite different from Argentinian or Mexican spanish.
@ninetyNineCents: I have no idea what you're trying to say? Spaniards, Argentinians and Mexicans all understand each other despite some grammatical differences and different accents.
Mandarin obviously, China being the biggest economic house of the world. But I can't speak it unfortunately..