Foreign Language

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For those who frequent Euroland:

What is the generally prevalent language? I am somewhat at a crossroads, as I wish to take a somewhat useful foreign language. Having tried and failed miserably at Chinese, I was thinking about taking German. Is German worth it, as a second language in Europe? Is French more useful for business and commerce? I also had thoughts about studying Eastern Europe, and wasn't certain whether Russian was more prevalent than German as well.

I am currently an International Relations Major, with an aim to go towards international law. I am however, curious as to what constitutes the general trade or business language of commerce in Europe, as well as politics.


Anyways, any help towards this end would be most appreciated.
 
I remember my french teacher saying to get along well in the world the languges went like this

1) English
2) French
3) Spanish

apparently if you know those languages you're pretty well off. According to her atleast :roll:
 
calculon00 said:
That's actually true, allthough Spanish would probably be higher than French.
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There are more spanish speaking people in America, but in europe and africa there are quite a number of people who speak french....
 
German is spoken by more Euros then French. Go German. You can also finally understand your favroite Schisse video.
 
calculon00 said:
That's actually true, allthough Spanish would probably be higher than French.
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Well, she mentioned something about french colonies, and more countries having french as a primary or secondary language... I got a D in the class so you can tell how much I payed attention :roll:
 
Most people know English, you'll get along fine wit that in all of the Nordic Countries, and the Benelux. The French tend to be a bit more arrogant and generally don't like speaking English in their own nation, the same goes for the Germans, but only to a lesser extent. The Italians just plain suck at English. You could really choose any of those, but methinks either French or German would be your best bet.
 
Hey, I never knew Turkish and Japanese were of the same language family...

Interesting, I'll look into this.
 
Tempistfury said:
I remember my french teacher saying to get along well in the world the languges went like this

1) English
2) French
3) Spanish
Click to expand...

I get along just fine with only Dutch, thank you very much.
 
alec said:
Tempistfury said:
I remember my french teacher saying to get along well in the world the languges went like this

1) English
2) French
3) Spanish
Click to expand...

I get along just fine with only Dutch, thank you very much.
Click to expand...


You seem to be speaking a minimum of English too, though.
 
The Merovingian sez: Cursing in French is like whiping your ass with silk. So go French.

German would probably be more useful, since no one likes dealing with the French anyway, but I have officially proclaimed German to be the ugliest language in the world. Everyone sounds like they're angry, like Hitler, even when they're saying that they love you or w/e.
 
CCR said:
German is spoken by more Euros then French. Go German.
Click to expand...

Bullshit.

Most people in European business circles understand French, it's one of the administrative languages of the EU. Not to mention once you learn French, you'll be able to grasp Italian very easily.

Whereas German, well, you could communicate with the Czechs, maybe. In any case, most people speak English in Europe. Except the French.
 
Wooz speaks the truth. You will be able to communicate in English with most of the Europeans, but in France, you'd be better off using Polish than English (the frogeaters will point you in the wrong direction out of pure spite if you ask them in English.) I've found English to be sufficient to sommunicate with Dutch, Germans, even my brother Slovaks. So if you want to be backed by knowledge of another language, go for French.
 
John Uskglass said:
German is spoken by more Euros then French.
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I think what he meant was that German is the language with the most native speakers in Europe, but few learn it as foreign language.

My advice: Learn French. More native speakers worldwide, and a partly common vocabulary with English.
Never ever try German. The grammar sucks, even native speakers fuck it up. It is as complex as Latin, plus it's less logical. Just a weird language in my book.

John Uskglass said:
You can also finally understand your favroite Schisse video.
Click to expand...
You spell it Scheiße or at least Scheisse (and you did already wonder why you can’t find “Schisse porn DVD” on ebay :moon: )
 
In the former Eastern Block, the 30-somethings and older can presumably speak some Russian, but will be generally reluctant to do so. (This may be different in the Baltic States, which have significant Russian minorities.) English is generally understood, as is German in the countries close to Germany and Austria.
 
Anyway, why would you want to learn a new language to do business in Europe, when pretty much all of the businessmen you would be likely to deal with speak English? To get to business level with any language is pretty tough. Consider that most commoners don't even know proper business language in their native tounge.
 
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