Most useful language for commercial law?

Hi, I'm hoping to become a commercial lawyer and wondered what language would be beneficial to be fluent in. Obviously any language is a bonus but what languages are widely used/needed nowadays?

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Reply 1

The Warsmith

German is especially good because it's not as common

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Reply 2

Mad Vlad

Original post by spurs9393

Hi, I'm hoping to become a commercial lawyer and wondered what language would be beneficial to be fluent in. Obviously any language is a bonus but what languages are widely used/needed nowadays?

English.

Reply 3

Jubz1

Well, after English, Chinese is rather beneficial but it does mainly restrict you to China. Spanish on the other hand is widely spoken in both Americas. Hindi as well is pretty useful in the general area of India and the surrounding countries

Reply 4

German123

Maybe French or Spanish.

Kazakh.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'd really like the challenge of learning a language with a new alphabet. What would he the most useful out of:
- Russian
- Chinese
- Japanese
- Arabic

I'm personally quite interested in Russian but what one do you think would be most useful for commercial law?

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Reply 7

Juichiro

Original post by spurs9393

Where do you plan to work?

Reply 8

yabbayabba

Probably a western European language - French, German or Spanish.

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Legalese.

Original post by Juichiro

Where do you plan to work?

I'd like to work for a magic circle firm in London, but presumably all of these firms have international connections and offices around the world

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Reply 11

Juichiro

Original post by spurs9393

I'd like to work for a magic circle firm in London, but presumably all of these firms have international connections and offices around the world

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Japan is in recession so I would leave it out of the list. So you have Russia, Chinese and Arabic. All of them are similarly hard to learn. Research on what languages are used in magic circles firms in London. Ideally, you want a language that is in demand but it the easiest out of those 3. Writing and reading Chinese beyond daily life vocab is notoriously hard so make sure you are ready to spend years learning it before you get anywhere near proficiency.

Reply 12

spurs9393

Original post by Juichiro

I think Russian is quite popular due to the oil market although relations between UK/EU & Russia are deteriorating which may affect business? Equally with Arabic there are new markets especially with oil...

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Reply 13

Juichiro

Original post by spurs9393

Yeah, I think Arabic is a safer option.

Reply 14

TimmonaPortella

Original post by spurs9393

Hi, I'm hoping to become a commercial lawyer and wondered what language would be beneficial to be fluent in. Obviously any language is a bonus but what languages are widely used/needed nowadays?

French seems to be the second most useful international commercial language. I base this on that a lot of international arbitration seems to take place in France, a lot of material seems to be written about it in France, a lot of barristers and solicitors who do international work seem to speak French, etc.

Reply 15

spurs9393

Is a South American language worth studying?

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Reply 16

shazzaxyz

Original post by spurs9393

I would definitely say that Chinese mandarin would be the most useful. China has the pretty much fastest growing economy and business sector in the world right now and by the time you are working as a lawyer knowing how to speak to clients from this country will prove very valuable because not only will it help you gain business because you can make your clients feel at home and welcome but will also mean that you have a much wider range of people that you are able to work with than most of your competitors will.

Reply 17

spurs9393

Original post by shazzaxyz

Are there any places in and around London where you can learn Chinese? I'm looking for evening classes but some of them are quite expensive...

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Reply 18

shazzaxyz

Bloomsbury square has a lot of language schools but I think they are for foreign people learning English, not sure.

Reply 19

ncp

None, unless you're willing to live in that place and invest years of learning. Becoming fluent is one thing, becoming business and technical fluent in areas is another kettle of fish.

IMO if you have a few years of a language already, run with it. If not, your time is better invested elsewhere IF its for commercial law or for practical use in a technical area like commercial law.

I know a girl who had started learning French at 11, did GCSEs, A level and has done it at University as a joint honours. She's also worked in France in law so you can get a picture of the time commitment.

As for Chinese, absolutely no way. I study it at as a hobby but if its for commercial law, don't go there.