So, you want to learn a new language. I get it; I’m the same way. The first thing that comes to mind is “Spanish,” and you’re not wrong! Spanish is one of the most spoken languages in the world, and for good reason. But there are other languages out there that can be just as useful—or even more so—than Spanish when traveling or working abroad. In this blog post, I’ll break down my top choices for learning a new language and why they matter.
Chinese
Chinese is the most spoken language in the world and is spoken by over 1.3 billion people worldwide. It’s also, like English, an official language of two countries: the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan.
While Chinese has many dialects (Mandarin being the most common), it’s no secret that learning this one language can open up doors to opportunities around the world—and there are plenty of reasons why you should consider it as one of your foreign languages to learn. Here are just a few:
Spanish
With over 500 million native speakers, Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language in the world. In fact, it’s the official language of 21 different countries—the most popular being Mexico, Spain and Brazil.
Spanish has become such a useful language to know because it’s spoken all over South America and parts of North America as well as Africa and Europe. If you want to travel anywhere from Mexico City through Rio de Janeiro or Madrid all the way up north into Canada or down south into Argentina, you need to learn some Spanish first!
On top of that, knowing Spanish opens doors for job opportunities all over the world today. There are plenty of jobs out there that require strong communication skills but only if they speak English at home (e.g., call centers). If you can speak both languages fluently then it will be much easier for them to hire someone who understands both languages instead of having two sets of people working together in order to make sure everything goes smoothly during their day-to-day operations!
English
English is the most widely spoken language in the world, and it’s also one of the easiest languages to learn. As an English speaker, you can communicate with more than 1 billion people around the globe. According to some estimates, half of the world’s population speaks English as a second or third language.
English is also one of the official languages within many countries:
- The United States (the U.S., USA)
- United Kingdom (Britain)
- Australia
- Canada
French
French is the language of love, fashion and the world. It’s also one of the most romantic languages in the world. If you really want to show off your knowledge of the language and make a good impression on your date, then this is where you should start. The French are known for their love of art and culture so if you can speak French well enough, it will be like you have a VIP pass into any museum or gallery in France.
French is also used as an official language in many countries around the world including Belgium, Canada and Switzerland. So if you ever need to go visit one of these places, knowing French could be very useful indeed!
The Bottomline
The most useful language to know is Spanish, followed by Chinese and then English. The reason for this is that these three languages are the most widely spoken in the world. Spanish is spoken by over 400 million people worldwide, and it’s one of the official languages of the United Nations and other international organizations such as NATO. Most importantly, it has a large presence in both North and South America—where you will be likely to travel if you go on vacation or take part in an exchange program.
Chinese has over 1 billion speakers worldwide, making it one of the most widely used languages on Earth today (second only to English). Its prevalence throughout Asia makes learning Chinese a great investment for anyone who plans to visit or work there. If you’re planning a trip through China or hoping for some experience working at one of its many multinational companies, knowing how to speak Mandarin could help open up new doors.
English is the language of business and French is the language of culture, but ultimately it seems like Spanish and Chinese may be the languages of the future.
