If you will be living in the U.S., I say Spanish will have the widest applicability. If you want to work in diplomacy or intelligence, then so-called in demand or hard languages set you up, i.e. Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Urdu, Pashto, etc.

The teachers of any of the languages will need to focus on building your child's conversational ability. I recently learned Polish (already speak Russian) at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI). This was my first time in language learning since joining the Foreign Service 15 years ago as most of my career has been in Russian - speaking or non-language designated jobs, and I have to say I was very impressed with the emphasis on practical speaking and comprehension skills. That is where the focus needs to be in order for your child to begin to develop fluency. It does no good, IMHO, to learn declensions, verb conjugations, etc. That can come in the rubric of learning to speak. If the language learning can occur in small groups or one-on-one even better.

As your kids get older, they should be put in positions - work, volunteer, etc. - where they can use their langugage skills. When I was learning Russian I volunteered at the JCC to help resettle Soviet Jews in the U.S. It helped tremendously with the Russian.

Good luck!

Curious:
1. Which languages would work well for a career with the State Dept?

I have a neighbor who is first year college working on Chinese and Econ with hopes of going to the State Dept. She is not a native Chinese speaker (just learning it for the first time in college), but she is 1/2 Korean! Will studying a language (seriously) in college be enough to get into the State Dept.?


2. 11:33 or others with insight -- what do you think of Arabic? Still recommend Spanish over Arabic? We don't have access to elem. programs in Arabic, but we do have access to MS/HS level classes.

Plaintiff's-side attorney here, knowing Spanish definitely gives me a leg up over my competition who merely have receptionists who speak Spanish.

Russian

Chinese and Arabic

Anonymous wrote:Language teacher here--- he should take whichever language interests him most-- even a little. Having a desire for it is the only real way to get any kindof linguistic and cultural proficiency. And, that will encourage him to continue with the language in college as well.

I am someone who struggled with languages and want to second this. My school only offered one useless language and I had a hard time and it gave me a "no good at languages" self-image which made it harder to learn later when I got to another school. OP, pick a language your kid will want to do, and do everything you can so that they don't see themselves as bad at languages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard German is pretty good for business.

And for free college!! Germany offers free higher education, but student needs to be fluent.

wait, free even for foreign (US) students? then German it is for my DC!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard German is pretty good for business.

And for free college!! Germany offers free higher education, but student needs to be fluent.

You need more than that. You need the German Abitur, or an IB. You will not learn to speak German well enough for a German university just by going to a FFX Co immersion program.

I'm not encouraging my children to learn any specific skill on the off-chance it could get them a job anywhere in 20 years.

When I was in college, everyone was supposed to learn Japanese. Knowing Japanese is still useful for some, but people are hardly screwed if they didn't jump on that bandwagon.

The biggest economies in SSA are Anglophone - Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya...

It is a great language, but I wouldn't have my children learn French on the off-chance it could get them a job in Chad or C.A.R. in 20 years time.

Anonymous wrote:You will need English for child b so they can say "Do you want fries with that"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

French really has little benefit except in the humanities because a lot of classic literature is from French authors.

Yes and the US trade with those countries is minimal, and some are even starting to change their official language from French to English (Rwanda).

Anonymous wrote:

French really has little benefit except in the humanities because a lot of classic literature is from French authors.

Do you know where your child will be going to high school, and have you heard anything about the relative strength of the language instruction there?

I'd have thought I want my kids to learn Spanish, but at our high school, the Spanish classes aren't as good as French and Latin, so I'd rather my kids learned one language well and added another (or others) in college.

Excellent advice. DS wanted to take Spanish in middle school, but is older sister told him that she heard more complaints from her friends about Spanish teachers at her high school than any other teachers. So, he took a language that was taught by an excellent teacher--the only one teaching that language. Unfortunately, that teacher left after his junior year, but her replacement was a good teacher.

Neighbor's child went with Spanish and she complained daily about how awful the Spanish teacher was, and the child had a different Spanish teacher every year. I don't know why, but the Spanish teachers were just awful. I would think it is different at every school.

11:33 -- thank you for the insights on so many languages!