What are everyone’s thoughts on this. Does this add a lot of value? I keep hearing conflicting analyses on it. It’s a tough call. I would think spanish or mandarin would be most valuable in the United States. What sort of value is there for someone fluent in english and something else with a heavy business/finance background?
spanish over mandarin as latin women >>>
learn yiddish, greek, mandarin, punjabi in that order
That could be a good enough reason.
Most of the BSD jobs that require spanish are filled by American educated native speakers. I’ve seen very few examples to the contrary. Is spanish useful? I think so, but don’t expect to be launched to the top just because you are an American who speaks Spanish. There are plenty of native speakers who have CFA, top MBA, whatever.
Another thing to consider if you want to work abroad is getting a work visa. Its harder than you think, expensive for employers, etc. The easiest way is probably to marry a person with citizenship where you want to work.
Based on my experience learning English and Spanish:
Learning for planning on needing it sounds like a bad idea to me in most cases. It does not mean you can`t have fun learning about a couple terms in pinyin and taking spanish audio lessons in the car but to actually be functional in a language takes a lot of work. You need a real reason to make the jump.
That makes me think that I need to move my spanish skills on Linkedin from limited to notions.
^thanks. makes sense. It would definitely not be done for fun
I speak fluent mandarin (through study, I’m not Chinese) and it has helped my career to a very limited extent. In fact, I feel that it helped my career more in North America (“wow, you must be a genius”) than it does here in Hong Kong. I suspect it will play a very small role in my career going forward despite being an asian equity analyst.
^I’m guessing it’s because most people speak Cantonese in Hong Kong?
For me, I’m living in Canada so I’m going to learn French for professional and personal reasons. I think it would be a boost to be bilingual and I just love the accent and the way French sounds.
You love the way French French sounds or the way Quebec French sounds. There’s a BIG difference.
Unless you live in Quebec or plan to visit to charm HCBs, there’s no point to learn french if you’re working in finance in Canada outside Quebec.
Quoted for truth.
Unless you’re targeting a very specific role, I think there is rather limited value in knowing a second language, and by that I mean your time and efforts are better spent elsewhere. If there is anything I’ve learned in the real world, it’s that most everybody speaks english in the business world, and the minority that don’t, know somebody who does and brings them to meetings.
^ Perfectly said. Succint and what I needed to know. Wont be pursuing it. thanks everyone
In my experience it all depends on the level you reach in said language.
For it to have any weight, you need to be fluent in it. And in fluent I mean that you could attend a business meeting, discuss something on the phone, being able to tell and understand jokes, etc.
In my experience the only way to achieve such a level is by growing up using that language or by having lived in a country where you had to use said language daily.
Many people have learned second or third languages in school, but it usually amounts to shit for an employer because it is not enough for business.
So I guess that for 95% of people, “learning” a language will not change anything in a career.
The flip side is that you can learn a language extremely fast if you have to, but that will usually involve moving to another country.
I can’t speak French well enough for business, but I do speak/comprehend enough for watching French media (their hockey coverage is better) and I can read French more or less fluently. This makes my French skills useless for business, but useful in having a broader perspective of the world. Reading French news gives a perspective, for example, of Europe that isn’t well covered in English press. So I think learning languages even at a mediocre level is a good exercise to make yourself a better person with broader perspectives. But I doubt it will have much career benefit unless, like Viceroy says, you’re completely fluent.
Very soon, probably sooner than we think, knowing various languages will become obsolete from a utilitarian perspective. English will be ubiquitous (sp?) and automated translators will take over where it is not.
Languages to learn: computer languages related to your field. If your field is not related to computers then don’t bother learning languages.
Yep. Seems that the most important languages to learn are coding languages for computers
Oh absolutely !
It is a great exercise on a personal level, regardless of the skills and of the results.
On the flip side, I use three languages daily and let me tell you, I am mixing them up more and more. I feel like I can’t speak one of the three properly, not even my first language anymore.wtf.
I am not so sure that I would agree with that statement. In Europe, I can certainly say that German isn’t making room for English (despite the fact that Germans love to use English words).