[.Missy]

Hi.

I've decided I want to learn a new language during uni time.

What language gives the best career prospects?
Or is considered to be good to employers?

The degree I'm studying is Psychology, hoping to get into counselling or get into a law related field

[Einsteinius]

French will be easier to learn and more useful in my opinion

[beansprouts]

Mandarin

[Chazzybish]

French is, along with English, the only official working language of both the EU and the UN. It is also the official language of 29 countries and spoken natively by around 130 million people, and at a high level by at least 100 million others. If you want to go into law, then I'd say French is the way to go as much international law is in French (the recent Julian Assange case focused on extradition law text in French).

While Mandarin is spoken by a larger number of people coming from an emerging economy, beyond that it isn't much use. It is such a difficult language to learn that unless you're going to study it properly (and by that I mean probably at degree level) it won't be worth that much to you. It takes Chinese children years just to learn the different symbols.

[bestofyou]

spanish

not that hard and it is very similar to portuguese which may soon be a un lang. and is also the main lag. of a bric nation

[cgraham15]

Spanish, French, and German are all top ones, but Spanish if you plan to go to America. Arabic would not be useful, as most middle eastern businessmen speak French. Also, Arabic has many different forms, so speaking "Arabic" doesn't mean you'lll be able to communication with everyone from different middle-eastern countries. In the future, Mandarin will be really useful, but it's hard.
I would choose Spanish if you want to go to America, French or German if you don't.

[.Missy]

Thanks guys for your opinions, I've done French for GCSE and spanish up to GCSE. So I'm kind of familiar with them

[Rhi93]

(Original post by Chazzybish)
French is, along with English, the only official working language of both the EU and the UN.

The EU has 23 working and official languages and the UN has six official languages. French and English are only the working languages in the UN Secretariat.

[DeeCFC18]

English, maybe Chinese/Japanese/Korean?

[rainbow.panda]

French, Spanish and German are all very useful and employers are crying out for people with language skills. German is especially useful if you work in engineering.

[roh]

Depends what you want to work in.

Mandarin is useful but there are a lot of second generation Chinese who can speak both English and Chinese for translation etc. and it's very hard to learn.

Spanish seems a good one generally.

If you wanted to work in the EU institutions German and French are the best (working langs along with English).

For the Security Services (particularly MI5, MI6 and GCHQ) Arabic is very useful.

Russian is apparently in demand in business and isn't as totally alien as Mandarin to an English speaker.

[roh]

(Original post by Chazzybish)
French is, along with English, the only official working language of both the EU and the UN. It is also the official language of 29 countries and spoken natively by around 130 million people, and at a high level by at least 100 million others. If you want to go into law, then I'd say French is the way to go as much international law is in French (the recent Julian Assange case focused on extradition law text in French).

While Mandarin is spoken by a larger number of people coming from an emerging economy, beyond that it isn't much use. It is such a difficult language to learn that unless you're going to study it properly (and by that I mean probably at degree level) it won't be worth that much to you. It takes Chinese children years just to learn the different symbols.

Anything international is usually translated into English too, as well as the languages of the parties. ECJ's crying out for legal translators though.

Apparently firms are currently particularly keen on Russian speakers (think of the number of big cases with oligarchs plus all the normal business stuff from our local BRIC) at the moment but this can always change.

Not just French and English at the EU, German also a working language (I staged at EuroParl).

[Chazzybish]

(Original post by Rhi93)
The EU has 23 working and official languages and the UN has six official languages. French and English are only the working languages in the UN Secretariat.

If you want to work at the European Union, you have to speak two of English, French or German. 'In addition, you must have French or German to at least A-level (A - C) standard.' True this does not necessarily apply to all aspects of the EU, but it's pretty much accepted that French or German is the best way to go unless you want to be a full-on translator/interpreter.

(Original post by roh)
Anything international is usually translated into English too, as well as the languages of the parties. ECJ's crying out for legal translators though.

Apparently firms are currently particularly keen on Russian speakers (think of the number of big cases with oligarchs plus all the normal business stuff from our local BRIC) at the moment but this can always change.

Not just French and English at the EU, German also a working language (I staged at EuroParl).

I said that French and English are the only two working languages at BOTH the EU and the UN - that's the benefit, you could work at either one of the institutions.

It's true that international law is translated, but the case I mentioned dealt with a lot of text in French. Case history is not necessarily translated. This was based around European extradition law using precedents set by other countries in the French language. (Disclaimer: I am yet to study law).

Edit: probably a failure on my part to stress the 'both' aspect of this. Basically, yes there are other languages you work in at the other institutions, but French is (aside from English) the only main one that is common to them both.

2nd edit: reminded of this debate recently on Intelligent Life. Might find some useful points of view there!

[roh]

(Original post by Chazzybish)
If you want to work at the European Union, you have to speak two of English, French or German. 'In addition, you must have French or German to at least A-level (A - C) standard.' True this does not necessarily apply to all aspects of the EU, but it's pretty much accepted that French or German is the best way to go unless you want to be a full-on translator/interpreter.





I said that French and English are the only two working languages at BOTH the EU and the UN - that's the benefit, you could work at either one of the institutions.

It's true that international law is translated, but the case I mentioned dealt with a lot of text in French. Case history is not necessarily translated. This was based around European extradition law using precedents set by other countries in the French language. (Disclaimer: I am yet to study law).

Edit: probably a failure on my part to stress the 'both' aspect of this. Basically, yes there are other languages you work in at the other institutions, but French is (aside from English) the only main one that is common to them both.

The history doesn't come as standard, though it's often translated. The Assange case was before UKSC so was dragging stuff up from all over the place (and then ironically the judges decided on a point counsel didn't even raise based on one of the most used treaties in the whole of international law, hence the objection like in Pinochet, Dinah Rose just upping her rate a fair whack), as happens when you're looking for a slight advantage at that level, but in most judgments from the ECJ/ICJ you'd be able to get a translation into English of the whole lot. Disclaimer: I did this all in France so only have experience where it's been in English to French rather than vicea versa.

Langs can be useful in law in terms of research/document prep (rather than communicating with people in other offices, for which they're always useful), but more as a trainee than later on. There are fairly simple reasons behind this, namely that the client would rather pay for a specialist legal translator (who would probably cost about the same as a trainee by hour, maybe a bit more) to do the job then send it back to the firm than paying an associate's or, even worse, partner's hourly rate for something that can be done cheaper elsewhere.

[Chazzybish]

(Original post by roh)
The history doesn't come as standard, though it's often translated. The Assange case was before UKSC so was dragging stuff up from all over the place (and then ironically the judges decided on a point they didn't even raise based on one of the most used treaties in the whole of international law, hence the objection like in Pinochet, Dinah Rose just upping her rate a fair whack), as happens when you're looking for a slight advantage at that level, but in most judgments from the ECJ/ICJ you'd be able to get a translation into English of the whole lot. Disclaimer: I did this all in France so only have experience where it's been in English to French rather than vicea versa.

Langs can be useful in law in terms of research/document prep (rather than communicating with people in other offices, for which they're always useful), but more as a trainee than later on. There are fairly simple reasons behind this, namely that the client would rather pay for a specialist legal translator (who would probably cost about the same as a trainee by hour, maybe a bit more) to do the job then send it back to the firm than paying an associate's or, even worse, partner's hourly rate for something that can be done cheaper elsewhere.

Thank you for that insight! We could talk about the complexities of the Assange case and Rose's prowess as a barrister for ages, but I feel it's best to stay on topic :P.

I think the point about research is quite important. I would argue that because French is so widespread across the globe that knowing it opens you up to greater research possibilities from a larger variety of sources. Of course, however, it really depends on in what field you intend to work and if you have a preference to a particular country. The article I mentioned highlights the benefits of French to diplomatic work, which is probably where someone could find the greatest advantage.

Ultimately, I think it is a personal preference, but I'd say French and Spanish are probably the 'best' languages to pick for someone from the UK who does not wish to become a fully-fledged translator. The other languages are simply not spoken as much or are too difficult to learn in comparison to their benefit.

[-silverfox-]

Mandarin and French.

[roh]

(Original post by Chazzybish)
Thank you for that insight! We could talk about the complexities of the Assange case and Rose's prowess as a barrister for ages, but I feel it's best to stay on topic :P.

I think the point about research is quite important. I would argue that because French is so widespread across the globe that knowing it opens you up to greater research possibilities from a larger variety of sources. Of course, however, it really depends on in what field you intend to work and if you have a preference to a particular country. The article I mentioned highlights the benefits of French to diplomatic work, which is probably where someone could find the greatest advantage.

Ultimately, I think it is a personal preference, but I'd say French and Spanish are probably the 'best' languages to pick for someone from the UK who does not wish to become a fully-fledged translator. The other languages are simply not spoken as much or are too difficult to learn in comparison to their benefit.

Basically Rose is sh*t hot and if you as the other side have the woman who did Pinochet case (Claire Montgomery, also sh*t hot) make damn sure she is there on the day the hearing is handed down, no matter how mundane you think it may be!

French is useful in diplomacy. In the UK I still think German can be useful in business, because as we all know Germany does rather well economically and is on our global doorstep.

[Chazzybish]

(Original post by roh)
Basically Rose is sh*t hot and if you as the other side have the woman who did Pinochet case (Claire Montgomery, also sh*t hot) make damn sure she is there on the day the hearing is handed down, no matter how mundane you think it may be!

French is useful in diplomacy. In the UK I still think German can be useful in business, because as we all know Germany is does rather well economically and is on our global doorstep.

They're both excellent - I also think it's excellent to see two high-profile women barristers! Didn't Lord Phillips call Rose 'Miss Montgomery' at one point? I imagine he probably wanted to slide under his desk at that point.

German can be useful but other than Germany there are few countries that actually speak it. I think you could get a greater benefit with French/Spanish.

Having said that, knowing any language to a good standard is always excellent and will always be a huge advantage to your favour. This should be highlighted to all young people, I believe, as numbers of language students continue to fall!

[om4]

(Original post by cgraham15)
Spanish, French, and German are all top ones, but Spanish if you plan to go to America. Arabic would not be useful, as most middle eastern businessmen speak French. Also, Arabic has many different forms, so speaking "Arabic" doesn't mean you'lll be able to communication with everyone from different middle-eastern countries. In the future, Mandarin will be really useful, but it's hard.
I would choose Spanish if you want to go to America, French or German if you don't.

Most middle eastern businessmen speak English as all businessmen and the only countries that speak a bit of French as part of their dialect is Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Lebanon is the only middle eastern country that has French as part of the dialect.

[roh]

(Original post by Chazzybish)
They're both excellent - I also think it's excellent to see two high-profile women barristers! Didn't Lord Phillips call Rose 'Miss Montgomery' at one point? I imagine he probably wanted to slide under his desk at that point.

German can be useful but other than Germany there are few countries that actually speak it. I think you could get a greater benefit with French/Spanish.

Having said that, knowing any language to a good standard is always excellent and will always be a huge advantage to your favour. This should be highlighted to all young people, I believe, as numbers of language students continue to fall!

Indeed he did, and got slapped down by the counsel who was there from that side. To be fair having just found that his judgment (his was leading) was a colossal balls up on one of the most high profile cases of the year it's likely he wanted to slide under the desk already!

Yeah, though I don't really agree with it, or its use at least, generally,I think encouraging langs is definitely a positive of the English Bac. We are shockingly bad at them.