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French vs. German in Latin America
Hello, I live in Costa Rica and I work in software developement. I am thinking about learning either french or geman. Considering the time and effort required to learn each language (specially if you take into acount that german will probably be more difficult because I speak spanish natively), and how useful it would be for my career, which language would you recomend me to learn?
Thanks a lot
Seriously, angava, before this turns in yet another "X vs X may the one supported by the trolls win" tread. Make up your own mind, if you think you are capable of learning one of these two languages you should be more than able of making your own choice.
If you're in technology and you are thinking of your career, I think German would be a little more useful (there are more large German tech companies than French ones).
I agree with Pabz, but as you most likely already know, you will find German to be much more difficult than learning French, which is a Latin language like Spanish.
Also consider that French is a more international language than German is. German is most predominant in the continent, as Germany is the largest European economy. But, elsewhere, around the globe, French certainly has more influence, like in places of West Africa, Quebec, and French Latin American colonies.
I don't really see the need to learn either in Costa Rica. If you've got Spanish and English covered you're pretty much set to go. But if you had to choose one, I suppose that German might be a better choice because, like Pabz said, German-language companies have a stronger prescense in that field than French-language ones because there are more of them. If you think it is worth the effort, go for German. If neither is really important to you, go for French.
I should mention, I've worked for a German company (Siemens) in the US, and all business was done in English. They have an office in Costa Rica and I'm sure all business there is done in Spanish. OCCASIONALLY it might have been nice to know German, for example to speak with a support tech in Munich, or to read company memos in their original language (although these are always translated). But knowing German was definitely not necessary. For the most part you'd only really need it if you were working in Germany.
So if you are going to put in the effort, why not also consider: - Japanese -- lots of tech companies who have relatively few English speakers - Hindi -- relatively easy Asian language with like 1 billion + speakers and many tech companies - Portugese -- more native speakers in your part of the world - French -- ditto, plus a more "international" language like LAA said - (gulp) Chinese -- join the wave of the 21st century....
Pabz: << If you're in technology and you are thinking of your career, I think German would be a little more useful (there are more large German tech companies than French ones). >
You mean there are more hi-tech german companies investing outside germany than hi0tech french companies investing outside france. Maybe germany surpassed france in terms of machinery but when it comes to weaponry or information technology france is ahead.
Pabz
In the city which I've been living in, there're a lot of electronical and technologic companies of Germany or US, but almost few of French ones. And in Tianjin city, Motorola Co.,Ltd and other top famous companies just made here as their important base, (as for Motorola, here is only base). In there companies, the documents and emails are both written in English, and Mandarin Chinese is in general only spoken among Chinese employees. As such, I think that in India, Hindi is less frequently used in all the companies, because English is really much more widely used in India. So I haven't seen any needs for Spanish-speakers to learn Hindi language. And in China, (I don't know the situation in India), English is necessary, German is of great help, Italian is somewhat promising and Increasing, and Japanese is still the 2nd choice just after English, especially those who're working in the Japanese companies. When it comes to French, Spanish or Portuguese companies (Latin American ones also Inclusive), I really couldn't see a very bright future, at least in China or Japan. By the way, in fact Mandarin Chinese is Not that difficult as you Westerners ever thought, and I don't think that Hindi is more important than Mandarin at all, although Mandarin can't be compared to English, French, or German. But If you have to choose one to learn between Mandarin and Hindi, I suggest that you should go for Mandarin Chinese, not only becasue I'm a native Chinese, but also Mandarin is really becoming stronger and stronger all over the world. Thanks, Everybody.
I forgot to say that, in my city, there're some companies of UK too, though they're less than US ones, and also there're a lot of Korean companies in another beautiful city not far away---QingDao city. So Korean seems to be a pop one, but I don't like it so much, maybe you don't either.
Speaking of your original question, I think that German will give you more help for your job (promotion & raises), if you're working in an electronic or software company, some people say that German almost can speak fluent English, but if you really want to come into the Germans' world in your daily work or life, English wouldn't be enough for you to bring your talent into play. This is only my own suggestion, and if you won't ever work for United Nation or any French-speaking organizations, then French is, personally, not a necessary language, although it's still important for some people due to French is nobiliary language for them.
Hello, I live in Costa Rica and I work in software developement. I am thinking about learning either french or geman. Considering the time and effort required to learn each language (specially if you take into acount that german will probably be more difficult because I speak spanish natively), and how useful it would be for my career, which language would you recomend me to learn?
Thanks a lot In general, considering the time and effort required to learn a language and concidering that English propably will be used in every worldwide operating company, and concidering you really like to learn a new language, don't make up your decision only on how useful it would be for your career, especially if there is no concrete offer to proceed in your career unless you learn one certain special language. So, if there is no offer or at least a quite good chance that you will get a better job if you e.g. learn french, and you really like to learn a new language, snoop in in both of them, french and german. Than choose the one you like more or sounds more pleasent to you, or at least is more interesting to you. If your native tounge is Spanish it'll propably be easier for you to learn french. If it don't need to be easy, and you want to step out of the romance langueages, ge for German.
Excuse me, I forgot the quotes on the first paragraph of my previous posting.
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