Ok /int/, so I'm a dual American-Mexican citizen(raised in US), I grew up speaking English and Spanish and started studying French when I was 12(now 22) and feel confident(ish) is my three language. I want to learn a fourth now and was curious what you think would be worth learning for someone who is in Law School specializing in International Trade Law. Right now I am considering Hindi/Russian. I like Hindi for the sheer population of people who speak it, but dislike the limited geographic range, but I like Russian for the geographic range. Pros/Cons of both? Or should I pick a different one?(Chinese is out of the question)
>>61313216
Russian is useless.
You can at least watch some funny Bollywood meme movies with Hindi.
Hindi is useless. You can at least read some god-tier novels and academic papers with Russian.
(no, seriously - it isn't even the language of business in India)
I think you would be better off learning german
Or japanese/mandarin
>>61315287
Why is Russian useless out of curiosity? >>61315364
Gotcha, so no Hindi..
>>61315435
German? Why? They don't seem to have many former colonies who speak German. Japanese/Mandarin seem difficult given their character system of writing...
>>61315364
>You can at least read some god-tier novels
Leo Tolstoy is goat no doubt. But his and many other Russian work has near-perfect translations.
>and academic papers with Russian
Literally nothing. Any Russian today of note has already come to America to do their actual research (ex. Sergey Brin), the average age of today's Russian Rocket Scientist is 50.
German or Japanese is a vastly better academic language. If you are an American looking for International Trade, then Hindi would always give you a leg-up and added value on business trips. You instantly become someone who 'get's along' with the local population. Russian's Western trade is paltry and too unpredictable to be useful as a trade language.
>>61315887
So is Hindi the business language of India or no? Or are you simply saying it would give me social brownie points with them? Though still why German?
>>61315951
>So is Hindi the business language of India or no?
The International Business Language has been and will always be primarily English. If you go to any country within Europe, nearly everyone there speaks very good English. Even if they pretend not to because they think you are an annoying tourist.
Germany produces a lot of academic papers in their native language so it could be useful as an academic language. But you will never run into a Business situation where you meet someone who only speaks German and not English. So not that useful from that end.
Japan is not like Europe, and many people do not speak English or speak a very broken form of it that may be hard to understand. It is certainly a better pick than German and vastly better than Russian for International Trade.
India's main business language is English, but their English is relatively poor and difficult to understand like the Japanese. Hindi will give you extra value as someone who can always swap languages in case you don't understand something. India's Western Trade is also fast growing and actually offers a lot of potential and opportunities in the coming decades.
Overall Hindi or Japanese would add a lot more to your business acumen than Russian. Russian trade with the West is poor and almost solely focused on Oil and Natural Gas. Not exactly solid prospects. Also, there are a lot of Cold-War era translators around for Russian, back when they were much more relevant. So that would also effectively lower the value you would gain from an International Trade perspective.
Granted if this is just for fun, and not to add anything to your personal brand/resume. Then just go ahead and learn whatever language you think produces the most entertaining culture. My vote is for Japan in this regard.
>>61313216
out of Russian and Hindi I say Russian because its not god damn useless, however German is superior to both and easier
>>61316234
Understood, thank you. French was originally for fun until I realized so much of Africa speaks french although they are sometimes hard for me to understand
>>61316289
How is german superior with its low number of speakers and lack of former colonies? Just wondering
>>61316289
>>61316289
In terms of uselessness I'd say the large bit of Nahuatl I learned is the most useless, can't speak but can read it to a good degree, have never once found a use for it outside of Tamaulipan villages lol
As someone who also does international trade law, I would say Chinese, Russian or Arabic; Portuguese (Brazilian) and Japanese are good ones too. Any language from the Indian subcontinent isn't that useful, because anybody high-ranking you might meet would speak English, and India has so many languages learning one of them will just not be that helpful. Vietnamese might be a good one too (country is slowly opening up to international trade), but I imagine if you can't do Chinese you don't want to do Vietnamese either.
>>61316434
its more likely to be useful because the places where russian is spoken/known are almost universally pretty shitty. German also isn't far behind numbers wise, has 3 nice countries that speak it, and the places where it is spoken are mostly pretty great. (Eastern Germany is pretty shit)
>>61316495
Nahuatl is at least interesting and culturally relevant to you.
>>61316501
I actually wouldn't be opposed to Vietnamese given their alphabet, but Chinese and Japanese are simply out of the question for me... Have you found French and Spanish useful in your career, I only just completed my L1 years so I'm still pretty clueless
>>61316501
This guy brings up a good point, I saw learn either Arabic or German, maybe Portuguese although thats probably retardedly easy if you spoke Spanish from an early age so you could probably just pick it up alongside this.
>>61316544
Understood, I just figured most places that speak German natively would also understand English at the level of people I would be dealing with, thank you for the input! Also, I suppose Nahuatl is culturally relevant but speaking it in the level of society I've attained is seen as taboo(I'm not arrogant or denying my native roots, just a fact of living in a former colony)
Post hand
Learn Hindi
>>61316501
Also, what exactly are you looking to do? Do you want to be able to read publications, or are you looking to be involved in business deals? If former, definitely consider German, like someone above said; if latter, do something like Russian or Japanese.
>>61316563
Oh sorry, I should have clarified, I don't speak Spanish or French; I know a decent amount of Chinese, though, enough to carry on a decent conversation.
>>61316635
post hand?
p.q piensas que necesito aprender hindi?
I second the Arabic option.
Arabs are always keen to make a big show and love to impress foreigners with their wealth. They are actually very conscious about their perception in the West, and always eager to prove it wrong if you are someone even mildly important.
>>61316544
>because the places where Russian is spoken/known are almost universally pretty shitty
Why the fuck would you want to learn a language so you can visit/speak to people living in a shitty place? They probably have limited trade potential as well already covered by the glut of Cold-War era translators.
>>61316691
Ahh, did you have difficulty finding employment with your specialization in law? Also if you don't mind my asking what was your relative entry salary?
>>61316720
ver si sí mujer
hay mas indios que rusos, y mucho mercado allá, arabe es opción grande también
los indios hablan inglés, pero hablar indio da una ventaja cuando trabajando con ellos
>>61316783
Entiendo, y si soy mujer, claro. Jaja. Y si mas personas hablen Hindi pero solamente en uno o dos paises?
>>61316727
Also, on a related note, Arab countries keep lobbying for Arabic to be included as an official language of the WTO; it probably won't happen soon, but I'm willing to bet that it will happen within 20 years, maybe 15.
>>61316823
Igual con los rusos, los europeos cada vez hablan más ingles.
India va a ser superpoder en 20 años, desde hace 10 años.
Viajan más los indios, a universidades y Reino Unido. Son mercado grande, y las compañias de tecnología luego les da por moverse para allá
>>61316882
Soo many non-mutually intelligible dialects though...Which do you recommend
>>61316895
Vale, pero Ruso es la lengua de 5+ paises en los Ex-Colonias del USSR?
>why would you want to speak with people living in a shitty place
How are you doing in your castle today, m'lord?
>>61316905
The dialect in SA would be a good contemporary choice since they control the GCC.
>>61316939
I'll take that as a vote for Russian
>>61316952
Gotcha, thank you
>>61316939
Even the lords are shit and prone to being jailed anytime in Russia.
Learning Russian to speak to some Bydlos in the far-East is about useful as learning Swahili to speak to some niggers in Africa.
>>61316748
It's pretty tough to find jobs in the field; also, you basically have to move to DC. My international trade law "work" is currently unpaid; I am a member of a non-profit organization and volunteer my time to help with their journals and conferences, so it's basically networking. I do contract attorney work to pay the bills.
I'm surprised...
CHI
you have to go back
>>61316992
I should add, my volunteer time is about 15-20 hours a week, so it's a substantial time commitment.
Also, aside from languages, if you're looking to do WTO-type stuff, or something with the government, rather than private sector trade stuff: learn macroeconomics and international political economy. This will really help you to understand the theory underlying the law, and will have the added bonus of impressing an interviewer.
>>61316501
m8, around 300-400 million people speak hindi and only a fraction of them speak english as well.
Your point about high-ranking folks shits on your own suggestions of Chinese and Arabic.
Hindi is a solid option, I agree with some of the US brvs here.
Marathi is relatively easy to learn if you learn Hindi. Same script. Same roots. A large population speaks Marathi in Mumbai, if you're in for the trade business. Also we Maharashtrians make some damn good movies, none of that flashy Bollwood shit. hmu for movie suggestions.
Although it is true that if you're looking at the high rankers, most of them will eschew regional languages and will converse in English. I know some households where they converse in English 100 percent of the time. This decline of culture in the cities is kinda appalling. : /
>>61319551
>we Maharashtrians make some damn good movies
>>61319551
Kill yourself my man
Fuck why are marathis so fucking obnoxious
It doesn't make sense to learn Hindi, as all Indians you would ever need to talk to (as a lawyer) speak decent English. All the laws of India are officially translated to English as well.
Russians, meanwhile, don't usually speak English, even if they're educated. If you want to do business with Russians, Russian is an obvious choice.
Russian is quite a hard language for Anglo-Saxons, though. And Russia is a shithole, not much better than India.
back from work, alright so I'm leaning towards German then!
>>61321812
I saw the mention of Bollywood and offered some piece of info.
Why you gotta be so asshurt man? Hain kahaan se be tu chutiye? Wahi upar wala anime-fag hai kya?
If so, gaand mara aur fir kys.
>>61319551
marathis are autistic.
>>61324763
I'm sure that's a very valid judgment, passed after years of co-habitance and objective analysis.
No way this is just another butt-hurt Gujju or whatever, giving off opinions based on regional hatred, fueled by a mild impotent rage at one's own shortcomings.
>>61313216
Arabic if Japanese and Chinese are out of your question. Mb Turkish or Farsi cuz their economy are getting better. I would personally learn Arabic or Mandarin if I were you.
>>61324885
no, I lived in navi mumbai for a long ass time and interacted with them extensively. As long as everything works fine, marathis will act alright. The first time shit hits the fan, they will chimp out and start going
>WE WUZ SHIVAJI AND SHEIT
>DA COW IS OUR MOTHER
>ENTREPENEURS OUT, MUMBAI IS FOR MARATHIS
while other parts of maharashtra are meme tier.
Also, along with other gujjus they love shitting in streets.
>>61324897
Mandarin I can understand, but why Arabic?
>>61326067
>WE WUZ SHIVAJI AND SHEIT
Well we were, and you better thank us, you'd have been cucked by the mughals if weren't Shivaji and shiet.
We're not claiming flying pyramids you fucking faggot.
>DA COW IS OUR MOTHER
She is, you blaspheme.
>ENTREPENEURS OUT, MUMBAI IS FOR MARATHIS
No one said entrepreneurs out. It was a "freeloading Biharis and other lowlives get out reee" reaction. Very natural. Shit in your own state, not ours.
But hey. As long as you twist the narrative right.
>>61313216
Chinese is useful but not that fun. They have so many dialects and you look like a foreigner. Russia is widespread and surprisingly consistent across large areas, but a lot of people in ex Soviet countries will hate you for speaking that language to them, and a lot of Russians esp like Moscovites look down on even foreign Russians.
So I recommend German. That'll make you comfy in nearly all of Europe. Or Portuguese if you like S. America (that might be interesting for Asia and China too with Macau).
>>61313216
Russian is pretty much hard for an engish speaker. Though hindi is bad pick too.
Consider other options.
>>61326563
I found it's that nasal thing you do (like the ь type of sound) that's hard to get around. And if you don't get it right you sound retarded.
My Russian is not all that great tho.
>>61326148
>Arabic
Only a very few ppl with useful skills can speak it good in the West.
>what are all those Muslims?
Most are T*rks and pakis also
>Muslim rapefugees or 2nd generation who cared enough to learn good arabic
>useful skills
>>61316997
mud cookies any good?
>Americans telling eachother about the English skills of people in other countries
>>61326563
I'm not worried about difficulty aslong as the language uses a greek based alphabet, or rather any alphabet rather than fucking symbols lol
>>61333767
I lol'd at that too
>>61326251
Flying pyramids?...
>>61326251
So marathi is out of the question, not that it was even on the table...>>61326552
Thank you, that was actually enlightening, i didnt know they had resentment towards Russian language
On a sidenote the only thing Spanish is any good for where I live in the US is when people try to scam me at the gas station or fuck with me when I walk to work and I get to pretend I'm a migrant lol
>>61339191
Just go for German or Russian, street shitter speak is a meme
>>61313216
If you know Spanish and French and English, it would be pretty easy to learn Portuguese, Italian and German
If I were you I'd learn Latin. Latin+English=German super easy mode, obviously it will make it easier to speak other latin-based languages too (from Romanian to Portuguese). It's also a good gym for your brain.
Second choice, Chinese.
>International Trade Law
In this case, Chinese. Forget Russian and Hindi.
German is pretty relevant (along with Latin and French) for European's historical evolution of the ol' ius commune.
>Chinese is out of the question
You are out of the question.
>>61339191
By any chance did you study in Canada before?
Windsor? to be specific
