Post: #1

Greetings, just registered on this forum, though I have been following it for quite some time now. Basically I need some language study advice for now as I am pretty much stuck in that department. I have some time and money to study, but do not know what.

I am 23, live in a small, poor FSU country and have a public office job. Do commend an OK salary. No student debt whatsoever-even got public scholarship for my (pretty much useless) law degree. Problem is I do not have any real practical abilities. I really suck at that as I was shielded extensively during childhood. I barely even know how to drive even though I have my driving license.

The only thing I can do well, is, I guess, languages- I speak English extremely well (8.0 on IELTS) and do want to utilize it fully. I also speak my native tongue as well good Russian. I was learning German and was planning to find some legal work there eventually, but seeing how that nation is literally cucking itself with ungrateful uneducated welfare moochers from Arab world and Africa, I pretty much abandoned my German studies completely with disgust a couple of weeks ago.That nation is pretty much screwed.

So is there any other language worth studying for legal professionals? Language which actually holds some economic value and not just for game and fun? I was thinking of Spanish, but everyone is learning that and the market is overcrowded with Spanish speakers globally, though not in my state. So maybe Portuguese? French? Polish? Some Asian language like Mandarin, Japanese or Tagalog? Basically a language where a white collar like me stands a chance.

Thanks in advance.

Post: #2

If you are strong in English, then German/French/Spanish should be very simple...and pretty useful...
Chinese (Mandarin) is probably the most useful...

Post: #3

Personally, I wouldn't advise making economic value the main basis for learning a language. Learning a language to a professional standard takes many years. You won't get very far in the long run if money is the only reason..

Chinese might be good on paper, but do you like Asian culture? Are you interested in the people? If so, great. If not, don't bother.

If you are naturally drawn to a more "minor" language then go for it. The more minor niches may be smaller markets but they often pay well because they are less crowded by definition. You could find a legal translation niche that few others can touch.

Post: #4

Law degrees are highly local. This is both good and bad. There is no point learning a foreign language for legal reasons because you would always just retain local counsel in the foreign jurisdiction that are already native professional speakers. That's just how it's done. It can be useful in certain limited situations (doc review of documents in another language), but this is really inconsequential.

Language ability alone is not of any economic value. Forget about the immigrant crisis, that is no reason to stop learning German in and of itself.

Basically it sounds like you don't know what to do with your life. However you're young, so you have plenty of time to figure it out. At least you're here, which puts you ahead of 99% of any other similarly situated guy.

Post: #5

(10-06-2015 03:39 PM)Menace Wrote:  Language ability alone is not of any economic value. Forget about the immigrant crisis, that is no reason to stop learning German in and of itself.

Learning language is sort of an investment (books, cd, lessons, lots of time) and German is far from being the easiest language. I was just thinking how useful it would be in 5-10 years, even in Germany. Hell, I might need Turkish or Arabic more if the immigration trend continues.

(10-06-2015 01:48 PM)dreambig Wrote:  Chinese might be good on paper, but do you like Asian culture? Are you interested in the people? If so, great. If not, don't bother.

If you are naturally drawn to a more "minor" language then go for it. The more minor niches may be smaller markets but they often pay well because they are less crowded by definition. You could find a legal translation niche that few others can touch.

I'll be honest-I know nothing of Chinese or Japanese culture and was never attracted to them in slightest. More drawn towards Eastern and Central European nations, hence German language. That's also why I'm considering Polish-a minority language, not crowded, some legal connections. My Russian may help me a bit too. So I might give it a shot, even though it is very hard.

Post: #6

Learn some type of business English so you can move up the value chain in your career.

I've been learning Chinese but it has little economic value as there are so many Mandarin speakers already. What is of value is that I've lived in China - that always gets noticed in job interviews.