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Old 10-11-2018, 09:56 PM   #1
FlamesAddiction
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Default Most Valuable Second Languages to Know

What do you guy and girls think the most valuable second languages to learn will be for a Canadian growing these days?

Obviously French is important, at least in Eastern Canada. I am sending my girl to a French school next year as we currently live in Quebec.

But I would like to introduce her at a young age to at least one other language that will provide value.

I was thinking Mandarin or Japanese, although both might be difficult. I am also wondering if Japanese still carries the same value these days as it did in the 80s and 90s. I also thought about Arabic, but I heard it is extremely difficult.

I was also thinking German, and from what I have been told, it tends to be easier for an English speaker to learn.

Does Russian carry much wait these days?

I speak Croatian/Serbian, albeit at probably a junior highschool level, but honestly, I don't see it as hugely valuable for her to invest a lot of time in.
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:00 PM   #2
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Mandarin by far if you're just solely basing it value which I assume you are meaning $$.
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:00 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction View Post
What do you guy and girls think the most valuable second languages to learn will be for a Canadian growing these days?

Obviously French is important, at least in Eastern Canada. I am sending my girl to a French school next year as we currently live in Quebec.

But I would like to introduce her at a young age to at least one other language that will provide value.

I was thinking Mandarin or Japanese, although both might be difficult. I am also wondering if Japanese still carries the same value these days as it did in the 80s and 90s. I also thought about Arabic, but I heard it is extremely difficult.

I was also thinking German, and from what I have been told, it tends to be easier for an English speaker to learn.

Does Russian carry much wait these days?

I speak Croatian/Serbian, albeit at probably a junior highschool level, but honestly, I don't see it was hugely valuable for her to invest a lot of time in.
The 2 most difficult languages in the world are Mandarin and Finnish.

I would go with German.
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:05 PM   #4
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Hockey.
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:06 PM   #5
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Esperanto.
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:06 PM   #6
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:07 PM   #7
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Wouldn't this be better served in the Off-Topic forum ?
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:07 PM   #8
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I'd pick Mandarin and Spanish, seems like most places in the world speak either one of these languages.

Learning Mandarin shouldn't be too difficult if she starts at a young age, the problem is she has no one to practice with at home.
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:12 PM   #9
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If you are already sending your girl to French school, then a good second language for her to learn is English.
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:15 PM   #10
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Wouldn't this be better served in the Off-Topic forum ?
Totally.

Could a moderator move this for me please?
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:17 PM   #11
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:20 PM   #12
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Mandarin by far if you're just solely basing it value which I assume you are meaning $$.
Yeah, I am thinking about future career opportunities.

I plan on growing her up bilingual (French and English). We speak English at home, and you can easily get by with either in the Ottawa/Gatineau area. I think both will be like "first languages" to her. But I would like her to learn something else that might be useful in the future. Children are like sponges when it comes to languages. If she doesn't have a knack for it, I won't force it, but I want to nurture the opportunity as much as possible.
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:20 PM   #13
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:21 PM   #14
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As China’s global footprint continues to grow and the US brand continues to lose its luster, I would say Mandarin would be the smartest choice. Here in Calgary, several big companies have been bought up by Chinese conglomerates and this will likely start to happen more and more around the world. China has a chance to be the premier business superpower by the next century.
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:22 PM   #15
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Mandarin no question
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:23 PM   #16
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Quote:
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Mandarin by far if you're just solely basing it value which I assume you are meaning $$.
Quote:
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The 2 most difficult languages in the world are Mandarin and Finnish.

I would go with German.
I heard Arabic and Hebrew are the most difficult for English speakers (could also be because of the writing), although Icelandic looks pretty intense.
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:23 PM   #17
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I have heard that for someone in business these days, English, Spanish and Mandarin are the three most important languages.
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:28 PM   #18
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The other Romance languages will be easier to pick up when she knows French. I would pick an Asian language, either Mandarin, Japanese, or Korean. Depending who’s around, it might be hard to get in practice and start slipping.

Also, just as a note, we had a family friend who spoke no Mandarin and went to China for a couple of years and now has a pretty good mastery of the language. So, even if they don’t learn it now, it’s not impossible to pick it up through immersion later in life.
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:30 PM   #19
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For six billion people the answer is English.
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Old 10-11-2018, 10:31 PM   #20
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