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
Japan actually has a pretty big connection with Latin America, as does South Korea. Japan also has a connection with Spain and Portugal. I think it's from the empire days.
@StoneSin: When I first heard Japanese I thought phonetics are close to Italian and Spanish. They even have a Maffia in Japan!
Knowing Italian, i can say that while Spanish is similar, and i might get the gist of what is being said in Spanish, in general it can be confusing. As far as i can tell it is mainly the nouns that are somewhat similar.
However in terms of how useful it is Spanish is definitely more so as there are more Spanish speakers
Mandarin 100%
One would suggest Spanish also… though that is stretching it.
We are one of the only world nations who's citizens know one language. It is insane.
Spanish is not stretching it. Central and South America is virtually Spanish speaking, and Portuguese, Italian and French are so similar that you can cover half the world. Chinese is good in China and nowhere else.
Most big cities have a Chinatown so I disagree with your comment. You are also forgetting Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan.
Not all Chinatowns are dominated by Mandarin though. You go to Southeast Asia and most of the local Chinese speak Hokkien (especially in PHI, IND & MAS), Cantonese (Singapore), and Hakka(Indochina). Then you go to the West, where the established Chinatowns, like in San Francisco, NYC (Manhattan, not Queens), and Vancouver are almost always Cantonese dominated. I don't intend to take anything away from Mandarin, since it is the most spoken language (first-language usage), but when taking "globalisation" into perspective, I would probably recommend Spanish more.
Also, from my perspective… I am a Filipino working in the healthcare sector (no, I'm not a nurse) and a great deal of Chinese 1st gens (which is most Chinese in Aus) almost always go to someone who speaks Mandarin (or Canto, or Hok, or…) AND Chinese. I had a Caucasian co-worker who spoke fluent Mandarin (and is advertised as such) yet gets very little in terms of Chinese patients seeking him out. I speak semi-fluent Filipino Spanish (and therefore not advertised as such :P ), but I am able to hold a conversation and do my job using it, and during one instance I spoke Spanish well to a couple who were of El Salvadorean descent, who were overjoyed that they found me, and told their Latin community, wherein it seemed all of them made appointments with me (I was strictly "No walk-ins" basis for weeks since my schedule filled up to that degree), and a great majority of which are still my patients today.
Good on you for personally being able to benefit from a second language. However, I think your colleague's experience with getting little in terms of Chinese patients has got more to do with supply than "globalisation". According to the latest census, there are four times more Mandarin speakers than Spanish. So the Chinese can be choosy in selecting their health care professional than Spanish speakers. You obviously serve a niche market.
Going back to the OPs question "earning potential and open career opportunities", it really depends on where you are based and which industry you work for.
I knew someone who worked in Japan for an American finance firm for 7 years and he didn't bother to learn Japanese during that time. Obviously his English skill was the reason why they hired him in the first place.
Agree with most of your comment but..
Hokkien (especially in PHI, IND & MAS), Cantonese (Singapore), and Hakka(Indochina).
Just thought I'd correct you on this one.
Singapore is definitely more Hokkien speaking than Cantonese. In fact, Cantonese is relatively rare in Singapore.
Malaysia is the one that has it all: Cantonese, Teochew, Hokkien, Hakka
Not sure about PHI/IND as I'm not familiar though!
PHI is mostly Hokkien. There are Cantonese speakers but most have learnt to speak Hokkien as well.
According to the latest Singapore Census (2010), out of a 3.4M population there are 1.2M Mandarin speakers. Cantonese speakers are limited to 120K speakers. As @illumination: correctly pointed out, Hokkien speakers(238K) are the biggest amongst the group of Chinese dialects in Singapore.
https://www.singstat.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-docu…
Mr Test Tickles, with all due respect, please refer to Cheap Blokes comments. Just like everyone in this world, you've got things to learn.
I’d say go obscure if you’re looking for a translator or ambassador gig. If not, English is the language of business and entertainment, so just pick a country you’d like to spend time in if given opportunity and learn that.
Any additional language will add a string to ones bow. Spanish and Mandarin would be my picks. I speak a little French, enough to get by.
Despacito!
BAHASA, you don't need to understand and learn 1200 local languages in 17000 islands from your nearest neighbor.
You've just said language, which one?
It's pretty clear they are taking about intronesian.
Is it, what about Malaysian?
I don't know man, the country is split.
Saya cakap bahasa inggris. 😁
You’re good looking English language? scratches head
cakap not cantik…
cakap means “good looking” (male or female”), “cukup” means sufficient / enough - at least that’s how it’s used?
@pennae: Is that Indo? Because in Malay, cakap = talk. That's the thing with learning Indo and then using it in Malaysia. Half the time, Malaysians will struggle to understand what you're saying.
@pennae: I've never heard cakap being used to mean good looking, as someone who grew up in Malaysia speaking Bahasa Melayu. I know that indos use bicara instead of cakap when they mean "speak" but I've never come across cakap=cantik. I've just asked an indo speaker if that was the case, and she looked at me like I was an idiot.
R u sure you're not mistaken about cakap? You've got cukup right at least :)
@Kenb0: cakap has double meaning in indonesian, depends on which context u intend to use. cakap = skilled, handsome/pretty (another form of this one is "cakep") or cakap = speak/talk.
cakap (v) = to talk
cakap (adj) = talkativecakep (adj) = good looking (informal)
disclaimer: I'm Indonesian…
yes, Indos don't really use the word cakap, but that applies to any language, literal translation may not always be the best one for the specific context…
@hal9000: Based on 4iedemon's response, it sounds more like the proper usage in indo is cakap=speak, cakep=pretty and its just lazy usage of speakers/writers to use cakap to mean cakep…along the same lines that lazy english users use you're/your or there/their, etc interchangeably
I’m an Indonesian teacher :) ya, Malay/Indonesian gets funny at times!
Saya pun boleh cakap bahasa Inggris. Awak Malaysian ke?
Banyak tahun dulu.
@greenpossum: Ah. Saya dari Singapura. Saya ambil bahasa Melayu as second language. Bahasa kedua? I barely passed my Malay.
@greenpossum: Bandar terbaik? Di mana saya tinggal ke? Apa ini, bandar terbaik? Favourite city? Saya suka semua.
aku nak berak
Indonesian and Malaysian are like cow pox and smallpox. They are similar enough that if you get one you can deal with the other.
(Indonesian is based off trade Malay)
Hahaha. I’ve not heard that analogy before!
Actually the nearest neighbor is East Timor, so need to learn Tetum.
Given your subsequent criteria:
a) easy to learn and speak, especially for those of non East Asian descent;
b) easy for the Chinese to pick up
c) oozes sex appealThere can be only one answer: Esperanto.
Fluent bogan. Them bogans multiplying like rabbits. So more than a few getting horizontal lambada there.
This being OzBargain, the answer is whatever language you can learn for free in the least amount of time.
Duolingo.com is the place to look for free courses. Mandarin, Hindi and Bahasa Indonesia are all still in production. The Spanish and French courses have been complete for ages and those languages are much easier than German or Russian. There's plenty of others, you really should just choose whatever takes your fancy because you have to like the language to keep motivated.
Look into the Lingodeer app if like duolingo but want to learn Mandarin, Japanese or Korean on mobile.
Sounds like you need to aim for a 'Romance' language and diversify from there…. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages
'To increase earning potential and open career opportunities' really depends on what field you're in.
Korean is the new Japanese i.e. useful in technology.
Spanish is popular but only in the Americas. If you're not going to do business there, it's no more useful than Italian.
French has always been useful in the fashion industry but don't underestimate how many people outside of Europe speak it. Not just French dependencies in the Caribbean and the Pacific, a growing proportion of Africans use French everyday. In 20 years the number will be even higher and those people will have more money.
Similarly Russian is the lingua franca of all the former Soviet countries. So if you want to trade with Central Eurasia…
As some people have said above, Mandarin is hard because it's tonal. I don't agree that you have to be of Asian descent, I think you'd just have to start young.
As some people have said above, Mandarin is hard because it's tonal. I don't agree that you have to be of Asian descent, I think you'd just have to start young.
this.
I taught English in Japan for 4 years. adult students had great difficulty with differentiating between "L" and "R". - basically they couldn't hear/pronounce "R" Toyota Corolla = Toyota Cololla.
but the kids I taught could pick up the tonal difference and could pronounce "L" and "R".
I myself had great difficult differentiating in Japanese with the tonal difference between "tsu" and "zu"
random languages in the other countries.
I've used French when in Vietnam, German in Turkey,
Agreed with both of you.
First pick: English, always.
Consecutive picks: Depends.
However, the most used and useful languages seem to be:
Mandarin
Spanish
RussianArabic
Hindi
FrenchGerman
Japanese
PortugeseMost people (>90%) barely speak one language.
But there are many (>9%) who can speak two languages very fluently, as they come from migrant families.
Those whom (>1%) can speak three are usually based in Europe (eg Swiss) where English, German, French, Spanish languages live alongside less common tongues like Italian, Hungarian, Polish, Greek etc etc. And there are people with three fluent languages who come from bilingual families.People who can speak four or more languages (<1%) are people that actively sought to learn another language.
Four is usually the limit for most people, however, there are some who can happily learn 8.
And of course there's the autistic and gifted people that can learn in excess of 40 languages.I think, if possible, people should strive to learn three languages: English, Mandarin, and <user's choice>.
And yes, the error in the percentages was deliberate.
To increase earning potential and open career opportunities
Kotlin
Is it really that widely used yet?
Klingon.
Dothraki
High Valyrian for sure, Valar Morghulis.
half the quadrant is learning "Klingonese"
Yep - I heard they're looking for a new captain for the new Enterprise.
My bet would be Mandarin and Indonesian. Indonesia is set to become a bigger trading partner and obviously geographically they are quite close so that makes sense and Mandarin seems sensible as more trade moves from traditional western sources to China.
I think both would be challenging and fun to learn but honestly my mind just swims when I look at Chinese (Mandarin?) characters because it looks so complicated.
Yes - you can quickly become conversational in Indonesian. It uses the Roman alphabet, there are no tenses, and it’s phonetic. But then it takes years to learn the nuances. It’s a fun language to learn and Indonesian people respond well even when you butcher the language ;)
Google translate :)
the language of the future - Esperanto
Spanish and French, life is not all about business negotiations.
chinese, so you can sell houses directly and avoid paying agents
Python
As you'd expect from an uncle of snakes, he speaks parseltongue.
can you speak parseltonge to my danger noodle?
But pythons don't say much before they compress. 😁
I think they should relearn English first.
I'd just focus on english.
However if I was to learn a language overnight, with zero effort, i'd choose mandarin
Wouldn't you rather sleep overnight?
If I could learn a language in one night and I only missed out on one nights sleep, I think that's a pretty good deal;)
O_o
I'll rephrase that as it wasn't clear. If I had a choice to learn a language (by magic, aka zero effort) - i'd choose mandarin. I don't think it's an easy language to learn - but i think it would be the most "useful"
Trying to get To speak englis is hard as it isn't bro….
I have been putting off learning a language as i wait for a miniturised computer like device that will fit in my ear and translate what is been said to me.
If we all have one of those learning multiple languages will be unnecessary.
I read a lot of sci fi.babelfish solves all :)
Pretty cool. Something like that would get me a beer pretty easy i think. Save paying for a few lessons before travelling or taking a phrase book with you
I read a lot of sci fi.
You need to read "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Universe", which is the first of the five books in the trilogy.
Babel Fish - The Oddest Thing In The Universe - The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - BBC
I have had that on my list for years.
Unfortunately its a pretty big list.
Learn body language.
Programming language.
Learn Angular, too much Java speaker in IT.
Forget Angular, by the time you've finished learning it there will be two new versions out which change everything. They have to rewrite it completely each time as they keep realising it's crap.
Find something less opinionated, choices allow you to learn more, and use that knowledge outside of that one particular framework.
Chinglish Chenglish
What about singlish lah?
is singlish hor only on jestar route to singapore ah?
@leehungfei: http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0944/2486/products/TCE_-Little_Red_Riding_Hood_Lah-_1_grande.jpg?v=1440117766
Ruby or Python
underrated but knowing a programing language could be critical for many career paths in 10 years.
Went to Japan recently. Went to a few places where at least one person could speak English and/or Spanish. I was surprised by the Spanish bit, until I kept hearing a number of tourists around the city speaking Spanish.