Arabic or Chinese?

[Fox in the North]

Hi people,

Basically i'm off to a Spanish University in January and at the minute i'm trying to decide subjects; obviously I can't do both of these as that WOULD be ridiculous. So what would you guys think? Which one would you prefer to study? And maybe a reason why you'd prefer one over the other?

Cheers

[Vacamion]

Maybe a university in Riyadh or Beijing would be better for either of these...

Have you any experience of either language?

For my money, the Arabic verb system is slightly less of a killer than the tonal nuances of Chinese, but I could imagine neither would be a piece of cake for a beginner.

[FoxesAreBlue]

Dunno why, of the two I'd just prefer Chinese.

[Fox in the North]

Maybe a university in Riyadh or Beijing would be better for either of these...

Have you any experience of either language?

For my money, the Arabic verb system is slightly less of a killer than the tonal nuances of Chinese, but I could imagine neither would be a piece of cake for a beginner.

Well my primary language is Spanish, I want to start a good grounding in a language thats unique you see.

[Vacamion]

Well my primary language is Spanish, I want to start a good grounding in a language thats unique you see.

I would suggest that you take some teach yourself modules or read some teach yourself books, then spend a few days seeing whether either language "feels more like home" for you.

You don't want to kill yourself learning a lingo that you just don't get on with.

Either that or you could just ask the good people in this forum what to do...

[Fox in the North]

Hahaha I know, might do that.

Well I trust the good people of this forum to provide at least a response

[Kitchandro]

It depends, do you want people to be afraid of you?

I would go for Chinese, it is the most spoken language in the world.

Then learn Kung-Fu and you'll be super cool.

[sphericalfox]

I'd take the one that will open the most opportunities for you personally, and of course the language which feels the easiest to get your head around.

Personally I'd take Chinese. They'll be our overlords soon enough.

[Guest BlueBrett]

Personally I'd take Chinese. They'll be our overlords soon enough.

Bollocks. China is going to implode.

[sphericalfox]

Bollocks. China is going to implode.

Not before it takes us all down with it.

[Guest Bilo]

Mandarin will be very useful in the future as the Chinese economy grows.

I can't imagine either language being easy to learn, but if you're looking at a language that will help you in the job market then Arabic comes a distant second.

That is unless you're planning on working in petrochemicals.

[z-layrex]

My sister is doing a chinese degree, it is ****ing brutal. She has to spend all her time studying and she had to go live in china for a whole year, and has to go back again soon. She hates the country having lived there, but she wants to do law, and a western lawyer who speaks chinese is going to rake it in in the future.

[Fox92]

I've got to do a language at Uni, don't know why. The list included Arabic and Chinese, but I went for German. I hear Chinese is very hard to learn.

[lavrentis]

I'm learning Japanese as a side thing at uni, it's interesting to say the least

[Tom17LCFC]

China, bigger economy than the Arab nations, should be very useful in the future.

I had a pop at learning Mandarin a few years ago, absolutely solid but dead interesting with all the different dialects and all that.

[Guest]

Both are important world markets.

Chinese is probably more useful but also more difficult.

Arabic doesn't have so many non-arabs speaking it and so more unusual.

What line of work do you want to go into?

[Finnegan]

If it's Mandarin, which I assume it is, then that. If it's Cantonese then I'd personally still pick it over Arabic but it'd be of somewhat less use.

[MooseBreath]

Neither will be useful for your career unless you are planning to go and live in one of the countries that speak the language, and even then for it to be useful you'll need to know their language better than they know English, which will be very hard considering most Chinese who you are likely to meet during business will have been learning English since they were about three years old. So I'd just go with whichever one will impress the most girls, which I guess would be Mandarin.

[sphericalfox]

Neither will be useful for your career unless you are planning to go and live in one of the countries that speak the language, and even then for it to be useful you'll need to know their language better than they know English, which will be very hard considering most Chinese who you are likely to meet during business will have been learning English since they were about three years old. So I'd just go with whichever one will impress the most girls, which I guess would be Mandarin.

Yup, there's no way any of their businesses will have a base here in this country...that would be absurd!

[Simmo86]

Chinese.

Get fluent in the language of our future masters

[Guest Bilo]

English could well be replaced as the international language of business in a few years' time.

The reason why it's arguably the most important language in the world at the moment is because the Anglophone world dominated the world for 200 years; the United States for most of the 20th century and the British Empire for most of the 19th century.

If, as expected, China becomes the dominant economic force of the 21st century, their tongue will become all important. In years to come, Mandarin will be a very valuable language indeed.

[MooseBreath]

Yup, there's no way any of their businesses will have a base here in this country...that would be absurd!

They're going to come to the UK and do business in Chinese? I doubt it. Even within China international business is carried out in English. Learning Mandarin would be useful for day to day life if you're moving to an area where Mandarin is spoken on the street. But you're not likely to be able to carve out any kind of profitable niche as a Mandarin/English speaker considering the number of people (predominantly Chinese) who are already fluent in both languages, and the fact that Chinese kids are learning English from a young age.

[MooseBreath]

English could well be replaced as the international language of business in a few years' time.

The reason why it's arguably the most important language in the world at the moment is because the Anglophone world dominated the world for 200 years; the United States for most of the 20th century and the British Empire for most of the 19th century.

If, as expected, China becomes the dominant economic force of the 21st century, their tongue will become all important. In years to come, Mandarin will be a very valuable language indeed.

Chinese won't replace English unless a black swan event changes the entire game. If anything is likely to replace English as the language of business then it will be Spanish, but even for that to happen it will require an event that fundamentally changes the entire business world.

[sphericalfox]

They're going to come to the UK and do business in Chinese? I doubt it. Even within China international business is carried out in English. Learning Mandarin would be useful for day to day life if you're moving to an area where Mandarin is spoken on the street. But you're not likely to be able to carve out any kind of profitable niche as a Mandarin/English speaker considering the number of people (predominantly Chinese) who are already fluent in both languages, and the fact that Chinese kids are learning English from a young age.

This comes from your vast knowledge of international business dealings does it?

Christ you are muppet most of the time aren't you.

[James.]

I think Moose is about right to be honest. If there is change in business language it won't happen for a long, long time.

Anyway there's more to choosing to study a language than what will make you money in the future (unless that's your sole motivation in which case you should just study business). Language study will involve exploring the culture, literature and history of the country / countries. For that reason I'd probably choose Arabic.