Japanese
Since he can speak English and Chinese, Japanese would seem to be the best choice.
This would align him for Buisness opportunities in Asia.
Many know Spanish, so that is not a huge benefit in Buisness.

I took 5 years of Spanish and 2 years of French in school, 20+ years ago. French continues to prove itself utterly useless, except when sweet-talking my wife. Spanish was a tie-breaker in my favor for a management position that I applied for many years ago. Furthermore, If I had to pick cultures that will have rapidly diminishing influence on the world stage going forward, France and Japan would unfortunately be in my top ten.

I strongly concur with those advising him to stay the course, and certainly accelerate his Chinese skills, for reasons already stated. Besides, the Chinese business owners will need someone who can speak Spanish to their Latino employees!

quote:

Originally posted by braillediver:
Leverage the Chinese language skills, Spanish doesn't seem like a business language.

In the last 15 years I've seen the financial products industry go from a handful of I speak Spanish' employees to dedicated trading teams fluent in whatever lingo you need to trade in. Spanish is a business language.

Of the 3 choices, Spanish.

Depending on career path, General American or similar to British Received.

Spanish combined with English and Chinese pretty much ensures he can communicate with most people globally although I love Japanese.

Spanish.

Espanol, Por La Victoria!

Spanish would be the most practical, useful choice, probably.

I like French, but, that's because I think it's a beautiful language. Not terribly useful, though.

Japanese? *shrug* I guess that'd be my second choice from a practicality perspective.

Another thing to consider...

Japanese-speakers are the Internet's 3rd largest language group.

The Japanese make up the third largest language community on the Internet, after only English and Chinese speakers. An estimated 88 million Japanese, or 9.6% of the world's online population, are connected to the Internet. Knowing Japanese can connect you to these people in an instant. They may just be future friends or acquaintances, business associates, or even the market that you or your future employer hopes to target.

Why Japanese?

The question really depends on what he's going to do with the language. I don't think anyone disputes that Spanish is useful in many parts of the US, however elsewhere in the world it may not be useful at all. Japanese is primarily only useful in Japan or if dealing with Japanese business. It is pretty far down the list of languages spoken worldwide- far below German, Russian, etc. Several people here have said French is fairly useless, while in the US that may be the case, it is one of the international business languages, and spoken by more than 275 million people. Many people think Africa is the next worldwide business opportunity- most of Africa speaks French, as does much of Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, etc.
So I don't think you can judge any of these choices purely based on what is going on in your hometown. It is kind of back to what he's going to do with it.

If he wants it to further a tech career I'd say Japanese. If he's fluent in Japanese and English and has a technical or engineering degree he would be hugely employable.

If he wants it for convenience then Spanish.

quote:

Originally posted by Mutiny:
Several people here have said French is fairly useless, while in the US that may be the case, it is one of the international business languages, and spoken by more than 275 million people. Many people think Africa is the next worldwide business opportunity- most of Africa speaks French, as does much of Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, etc.

Hmmm... I guess French is more useful than I thought:

quote:

French has a long history as an international language of commerce, diplomacy, literature, and scientific standards and is an official language of many international organisations including the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, the WTO, the International Olympic Committee, and the ICRC. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese.

Ref: French language (Wikipedia)

I'd go with Japanese. spanish can be tricky because you really need to know what kind of Spanish it is.

There are two ways to look at it:

1) Pick the language that is the most useful. This is more practical, but if he's not interested in the language, he'll be bored in class and he won't take it as seriously.

2) Pick that language that he's most interested in. This may not be as useful, but he's more likely to do well in the class and learn more from it.

I personally chose Option 2, and studied German for 6 years in high school and college, eventually becoming semi-fluent. It's almost totally useless to me now, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

However, if I had been more practical, I would have chosen Spanish. It would have not only been useful to me on a daily basis, but it would have meant more/better job prospects and higher pay.

My son took Japanese in middle/high school, and is now a Japanese minor in college. The practicalities of Japanese are questionable unless there is a specific interest in Japanese culture and/or using the language for a specific job interest.

The issue of the pretty girls is quite valid, too.

French seems impractical unless he has an interest in France.

Spanish would be the logical choice for most likely to be used here in the USA. But maybe kind of boring.

I'd say go with what piques his interest. He'll get more out of something he wants to be studying. Otherwise he will be simply checking off the requirement boxes.

My two younger boys hated Spanish and French, and did very poorly. They both really like German and Latin, and are getting A's.

Which language does he like?

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
French seems impractical unless he has an interest in France.

If interested in France, it's better to study Arabic.

This is a no-brainer...Spanish. It is being forced upon us and those with this skill will be a valuable commodity in the business world.

He's growing up in Washington and already speaks Chinese, so Japanese is the easy answer - especially if he's at all interested in trade, robotics or diplomacy.

Spanish would be useful if he'd eventually like to run a local buisness or do cross-border stuff with Latin America. Having said that, there are enough people who speak Spanish that hiring someone who speaks both English and Spanish wouldn't be impossible.

Unless he has an affinity for French for some reason, wants to be either a cook or a clothing designer, or plans on moving to Massacheusetts, I can't see why he would want to study French.

As others have asked, does the young one seem to have any preference?

Thanks to all that took the time to contribute to this discussion.

I will let him look at these comments and see what he wants to do. I think he was leaning towards Japanese, but I'm not sure how firm he was on that decision.

He is a bright young man and I am inclined to let him make the choice for himself. I just want him to make an informed choice.