Spanish or Chinese. We are Chinese, but kids do not want to learn the language because it is so hard & everyone speak English here and there. I would want to sign up the oldest one for Chinese school in person once she is vaccinated. I think if they find out that they are one of the few/rare one that does not even understand Chinese, that may motivate them to pick up the language. My oldest one is 5.

Now, they both can speak some Spanish words because daycare teacher taught them.

A language that matches a region where they might want to visit, live, study or work in the future. For me that was French (in the 99s). For my kids, Spanish ticks all those boxes as well as being practical. Rules out Mandarin, Arabic, for me.

Spanish! I took Latin and it was interesting but kind of useless now.

My kid originally did Mandarin Chinese. But it was so hard and I couldn't help much and classes were eventually virtual because of COVID. So this year I moved him to Spanish. He had some Spanish background and the class moves much faster than Chinese because it's an easier language and because they don't have to spend time teaching kids the character strokes because it's just the same alphabet as English.

I'm not interested in introducing languages because of career opportunities. We've introduced languages because of their usefulness in our current lives. For us, that's Hebrew for religious reasons and Spanish for familial reasons (we have a lot of family in Mexico, and it's important to us that our children can speak to their cousins and aunts and uncles in Spanish).

We chose French because in our middle school/high school that is widely regarded as the best set of teachers/best program.

I don't actually think learning languages is that useful unless someone wants an international career, so for us it was simply a matter of which langugage had the best teachers/best chance at A's.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who suggests anything other than Spanish for a second language for an American to learn to speak is at best a snob and at worst a racist.

And who do you speak Spanish with? Your house cleaner and gardener? I doubt most UMC DCUMers ever interact with the non English speaking population.

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

You are really showing your ignorance. My DC took Latin in high school, and it really gave them a thorough understanding of how language is structured. DC has since studied three other languages (including non Latin based ones) and says it has been a tremendous advantage in learning other languages because it has provided a framework and understanding of grammar, syntax, and so forth. There is a reason so many academically serious kids study Latin.

It's like studying ballet for a dancer or classical music for a musician. Once you have some mastery of those, it makes other disciplines a lot easier to learn.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who doesn't say Spanish really needs to explain why. It's by far the most common second language in the US and our neighboring countries. And it's much easier to learn than Mandarin; I know several people who majored in Mandarin and still don't speak it well enough to use in business. And I say this as someone who studied French and whose child chose Latin (despite my suggestion that Spanish would be more useful).

Well, Spanish may be the most commonly used language, but German and Japanese, while less in demand, are the most highly compensated.

I took Norwegian.

Kids are learning Spanish and French, one each.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who suggests anything other than Spanish for a second language for an American to learn to speak is at best a snob and at worst a racist.

My DC is learning Arabic because he wants to work on middle eastern issues for the government or military someday. That makes him a snob or a racist?

Probably. He sounds anti-Muslim to me.

That is a very weird take. Check your own bias.

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.

NP. It’ll also facilitate French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.

Ok, grandmom. Thanks for sharing.

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.

NP. It’ll also facilitate French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who suggests anything other than Spanish for a second language for an American to learn to speak is at best a snob and at worst a racist.

My DC is learning Arabic because he wants to work on middle eastern issues for the government or military someday. That makes him a snob or a racist?

Probably. He sounds anti-Muslim to me.