Depends on the likelihood of their really becoming fluent and functional enough in the language for it to matter in adult life. You're not going to get functional in Mandarin by taking classes in the US. Hell, when I was taking classes, after the second level, they kept canceling the third level because I was the only person who signed up. You will need to live in China for a while to get functional in Mandarin. Well, that's probably true for most languages, though you can become functional in Spanish in a lot of areas in the US.

I speak German as well as English, but only because I worked and went to school there and kept it up with regular visits and even now listening to German radio iPhone apps when Mrs. Lee isn't around.

My favorite job before my current one was with a German company and I got that job because of my German skills. In my current job I have had to walk away from lucrative deals because I can barely communicate in Spanish.

Getting good grades in a foreign language class in school means nothing. You need to be able to function in the language with the natives, and that ain't taught or tested in schools here.

My language background is English (primary), Spanish, French, German, Russian and Latin (in order of ability). Aside from English, I found myself using Spanish the most, and French while in Paris. Picking one ... Spanish.

My son is in a Spanish Immersion program right now, and I’m hoping it leads to a fluency in other languages as well. I’d lean towards mandarin or Japanes next.

From most people that I've known to be multilingual, just learning the first language and learning to think in a second language is the hard part.

Transitioning to a 3rd language if needed is much easier. When my previous company changed nationalities (parent company sold out), the ones that already knew a foreign language picked up the new language faster.

Latin. Be useful if he visits Latin American countries.

Around here? Spanish. The kid would use it all the time, particularly when it comes to hearing trouble coming.

I voted Latin. Both of my sons took Latin from middle school through high school. It seems to be a positive influence on English grammar skills, but is the basis for all Romance languages. My older son quickly became fluent in French and Spanish, like within months of being in France and in Spain. And my younger son pretty easily picked up Italian, and I think can get by in Spanish as well.

Chinese flavors certainly make sense if there is a real possibility of a job involving direct involvement or travel. Same could be said for Russian, or German.

What to take depends on several factors: where one will work/travel, and what work one will do.

Chemists will need the ability to at least read German. The largest compendium of organic compounds (Beilstein) is written in German--it is enormous and IIRC has never been translated.

Spanish (in Spain) is not the same as Spindian (Mexiczn)--one can get by in it, probably, but they're a lot more different than most realize (particularly Castilian Spanish).

Latin is good for Life Sciences and language study.

In somewhat jest, I'd recommend learning English. So many Americans are woefully inadequate in their own local language. I kid you not.

flashguy

Huh. Do serious mathematicians still need a working knowledge of Russian?

Spanish is the most practical. I will eventually push this on my kids.

However, my kids are being exposed to me slowly teaching myself Slovak and are picking up a few phrases...

I really, really wish I had taken Spanish. It would have been useful in so many different situations in my life, both professionally and personally.

Most everyone else in school took Spanish. My parents suggested that I take Spanish. But no... I had to be different, and take German. 3 years in high school, and 3 years in college, which was all fun, but has so far proven to be useless. (Other than helping me be even that much more of a WW1/WW2 History nerd.)

So definitely Spanish.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
I started French in 7th grade and then through high school.
They said it was the language of the future and was a must have skill for the future.
That was about 50 years ago and I still haven't found that to be the case for anyone other than a language teacher or someone that does lots of business in France.

My grandfather was raised in Mexico, fluent in English and Spanish, told me to take Spanish starting 7th grade, it will be an asset in your life. You will never use French here. All my friends took French, so I signed up for French. Grandpa was right.

My lamguages are:

Portuguese (native)
Spanish
French
English

If I could go back in time, I’d have studied Latin, as this would make me more proficient in a number of other languages (Italian, Romanian, Occitan etc).

Outside those, I’d tryto learn German and Russisn.

I vote Mandarin. Followed by a programming language.

1.3 billion native Chinese speakers on this planet, and China's influence grows considerably.

The number of Spanish-only speaking people is declining, I'm sure. Getting around China without knowing Chinese was considerably harder than getting around Spain, France, Portugal, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, or Italy without knowing their respective languages.

I did a conference call last week with a bunch of lawyers and business people from 4 different companies in Chile. Everyone spoke English.

I still speak German quite well, French is rusty, Russian was barely conversational when I was there, Studied Spanish a year, know some phrases in Arabic.
When I was young, European languages were exotic; today you can get around western Europe and most of central Europe with English. Russian is no longer an international language; places like Ukraine and Kazakhstan have embarked on national language crusades, and the central/east Europeans still hate the Russians.
Daniel Pipes is a middle east expert, his dad was a Russia expert. I've read from him that he rues specializing in Arabic and the middle East, I don't blame him.
Best advice I got when I started working: "Don't get good at something you don't want to do the rest of your life."
Spanish: very useful; but if, say, you're a physician and you post that you speak Spanish, you will see only Spanish-speaking patients.
Portuguese might be a sleeper, Brazil is a big country, growing economically, now sending up satellites. Good-looking women.
That leaves Asian languages: English is second language in India; Japanese is interesting but Japan geopolitically less important than in the past.
Mandarin? If you can start young when you can still learn the phonics, and put in the time to learn to read and write Mandarin, it is almost certainly the most useful for international business after English.

Classical languages (Latin, Greek, Hebrew) are a hobby more than a second language. It would be fun for me to study Hebrew, but I'm too busy, being retired and all.

Spanish is going to be by far the most practical if they plan to live in the US. I grew up in Europe and once upon a time was fluent in Czech, but it's been almost 20 years since I've lived there and there aren't many opportunities to use it in the rural midwest, nor is it practical. I speak a little Spanish...I wish I spoke more. I actually need it very frequently at work, and not knowing it well enough ofen makes things harder than they need to be. Sometimes I blend it together with my Czech, too, which doesn't help.

My buddy's girlfriend works in a college's deaf community program. He took ASL to educate himself and maybe help her out in some instances. I always thought that might be kind of cool to learn.

Back in my late teens or early twenties, I had the thought that everyone should be taught a universal sign language so we could effectively communicate with any of the peoples of 5he world. I still hold to that idea now, and I’m sure thatI’m not the only one who has come up with the idea.

My one daughter took German while my other daughter took French - languages that they have never had to use. I’m betting they would be in a situation involving the use of sign language before ever being in one with a German or French only speaker. I should have pushed them, but after I learned there are a large number of sign languages around the world, none of which is known as being universal, I must have been discouraged in doing so.

So, if I had small children today, Spanish for sure and probably American Sign Language. The rapidly changing demographics due to unchecked immigration and my daughters both crying that they can’t get the jobs they want because they’re not bilingual in Spanish and English points me in this way. Also, one is a social worker and other is in nursing school so ASL will be a big marketable skill.

I voted Spanish as it would be most helpful in day to day life.
Mandarin could be very helpful for certain career paths as well. One should just understand that it's one of the most difficult to learn. Fmy Masters degree, proficiency in a second language was a requirement. Those who chose Mandarin without prior background in the language had a very difficult time.

Cogito ergo sum=first choice.
Mandarin and colloquial Spanish follow.