Which foreign language(s) would you suggest that your kid learn?

[Anonymous]

Depends on sector. Spanish is not very special because while somewhat marketable there are so many people who speak it.

French has been most widely useful-works in most of Europe and helped in Africa.

-multiple language speaker

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spanish, obviously. I speak French but Spanish is the unofficial second language of the U.S. and the first language of most of this continent.

+1. Took French in school and was useless. I’m in healthcare and Spanish would have been immensely practical and invaluable. I would think that would apply to many service sectors.

DS is in a Spanish immersion school. We did not even consider French, Mandarin, etc….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Latin. Seriously, it helps them understand English so much better.

And you can talk to Julius Caesar.

Somebody always suggests Latin, and it’s such a stupid suggestion

Sorry, this is just not a smart take. It wasn’t my primary foreign language, but it was very useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Chinese.

Yeah, good luck with that!

+1 Does anyone who tries to take up Mandarin gain proficiency if at least one parent doesn't speak it in the home? Not from what I can see. Seems like a colossal waste of time. Spanish is much easier and more useful.

We have 2 kids, one studying Chinese and the other Spanish. Parents speak several other languages (one parent immigrated here as a teenager) but neither Chinese nor Spanish. Chinese takes much longer to develop but if you or your kid are committed, they can learn to speak well over a long time. My kid has a great tutor and listens to podcasts - he speaks much better than I did at similar levels of 3 other languages. There are also a ton of online ways to enhance your conversation skills.

Talk to most adults who took high school or middle school Spanish. They don’t remember anything beyond Adios. Is Spanish easier to learn for an English speaker? Will your child waste their time if the language isn’t reinforced either in the home or through other enrichment? Most probably yes.

I took middle/high school Spanish remember lots of what I learned. Now, calculus, is another matter. I don't consider it a waste of time at all and I can easily help my kids with their Spanish homework. Same for my husband. I can read anything in Spanish because I know how the letters and words sound even if I don't know all the meanings so I never mispronounce words, names, etc. That has value. I have never had a need to read Mandarin characters.

[Anonymous]

Spanish - my son is a doctor in a big city and it has really been helpful. I studied French and I’ve been to France three times and I barely used it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Latin. Seriously, it helps them understand English so much better.

Latin will also help them in science classes. This is true from medical fields to any majors that include biology such as environmental conservation.

Agree with this! Sadly our high school just decided to eliminate all Latin classes, right before school started.

I agree with this as well. It always gets ridiculed for being dead, and many schools don't offer it, but Latin is SUPER helpful with English. I totally rocked the SAT thanks to my Latin classes. And in a strange twist, when I took German in HS, I was the only student who instantly understood cases.

Everything I need to know about English grammar I learned in Latin.

[Anonymous]

With every language there is a new culture to learn. Which culture do you think your child is most interested in? I took French over Spanish because I enjoyed a European culture more than Latin America. Although, Spanish would have been more useful in communicating with some workers we have had at the house. Another family member learned Farsi (they were told it's more useful) and now gets sent to the Middle East all the time even though they request other parts of the world. They wish they learned a different language because they dislike the Middle East and its culture. Not to say it's bad, they just that they don't like it. Think about which culture your child would enjoy more and they will enjoy learning that language more. Sometimes learning languages is about usefulness, other times it's about what you enjoy. With so many languages in the world, why not learn the one you would enjoy the most?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Latin. Seriously, it helps them understand English so much better.

Latin will also help them in science classes. This is true from medical fields to any majors that include biology such as environmental conservation.

Agree with this! Sadly our high school just decided to eliminate all Latin classes, right before school started.

I agree with this as well. It always gets ridiculed for being dead, and many schools don't offer it, but Latin is SUPER helpful with English. I totally rocked the SAT thanks to my Latin classes. And in a strange twist, when I took German in HS, I was the only student who instantly understood cases.

Everything I need to know about English grammar I learned in Latin.

Truth!

[Anonymous]

I took 5 years of French in MS/HS. I remember very little and am certainly not conversant in it. Which is why I really don’t think it matters. If you don’t keep up the skill through college/work you will lose it, like anything else.

[Anonymous]

Spanish
Arabic
Mandarin

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With every language there is a new culture to learn. Which culture do you think your child is most interested in? I took French over Spanish because I enjoyed a European culture more than Latin America. Although, Spanish would have been more useful in communicating with some workers we have had at the house. Another family member learned Farsi (they were told it's more useful) and now gets sent to the Middle East all the time even though they request other parts of the world. They wish they learned a different language because they dislike the Middle East and its culture. Not to say it's bad, they just that they don't like it. Think about which culture your child would enjoy more and they will enjoy learning that language more. Sometimes learning languages is about usefulness, other times it's about what you enjoy. With so many languages in the world, why not learn the one you would enjoy the most?

Yikes. Just to clarify, the ME is not a monolith. I'm sorry that your friend doesn't like going to Iran (?) but the countries vary widely in culture - Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, UAE, Qatar, KSA, Jordan, etc. - are different cultures that share a common language but vary widely in culture, customs, laws and lifestyle. Iran is a different culture, country, and language altogether.

I have no issue with your friend not like where s/he is being sent but we need to start recognizing the different cultures and countries of a region. It's much the same when we reference Africa. For some reason, Americans seem to think of the 54 countries in Africa as being the same thing. They're not. They are quite different and one country is not the same as the other.

[Anonymous]

My son is about to start French immersion school. We (his parents) both speak Spanish but we figured he can always pick that up if needs to since romance languages have similar grammar,etc. His school also introduces Russian in 6th grade as 2nd language.

[Anonymous]

Whichever language the child is interested in and is offered at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just let our kids choose. It’s pretty useless anyway. I’m not sure why everyone says to take Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish and haven’t had any issues because of it.

I think you're missing the point. Of course you can get by just fine being monolingual. But you don't know what opportunities you missed by not speaking another language. Personally, speaking more than 1 language has perpetually yielded benefits. I do get that there's a certain segment of the population that may not even be interested, though.

My problem with this is that it’s assuming you can get beyond monolingual with the type of education offered in middle/high school. Most people take their four years of Spanish or whatever, have few opportunities to really utilize it, and forget it by college. It’s a very different story when you are raised in a bilingual household or have other truly immersive ways to develop language fluency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Latin. Seriously, it helps them understand English so much better.

Latin will also help them in science classes. This is true from medical fields to any majors that include biology such as environmental conservation.

Agree with this! Sadly our high school just decided to eliminate all Latin classes, right before school started.

I agree with this as well. It always gets ridiculed for being dead, and many schools don't offer it, but Latin is SUPER helpful with English. I totally rocked the SAT thanks to my Latin classes. And in a strange twist, when I took German in HS, I was the only student who instantly understood cases.

Everything I need to know about English grammar I learned in Latin.

Truth!

DP. I think Latin is highly overrated in this regard. I got 800s on the English part of the SAT and the English SAT 2 and a 5 on the English AP, all without any study beyond my actual schooling, and I speak French because I studied an extent language from middle school through college. It's fine to study Latin if you enjoy it, but its usefulness is exaggerated.