What language to learn?

[Reeve]

I'm french myself , I have a few Spanish friends that i hang out with , they sometime speak Spanish to each other , if i concentrate enough i can understand most of what they're saying.

Right. Like I said, without a lot of effort. I studied French 4 years in High School, then graduated and went on to learn Spanish by talking to people. My French helped me a lot, but in the end, I can understand and speak Spanish now, and I have to really concentrate to follow any French.

[Deleted]

I have considered translating for EU but I don't see that happening in the near future. I am only 23 now, need way more experience. Any other public institution or private sector would be less stressful imo. Well, so far I guess becoming fluent in Spanish and then German would be a wise choice while slowly learning Norwegian (just in case).

The thing you have to bear in mind is that if you decide to work for the EU, you will be mostly doing direct translation (i.e. translating to your native language), while in the private sector you're more likely to do reverse translation as well. Find any foreign industry that works in your area (e.g. car manufacturers, naval construction, etc) as they will likely require translation/interpreting services with the locals. Oh, and avoid literary translation like the plague.

French is as different from Spanish as English is different from Spanish.

The difference is not even in the ballpark, grammatically speaking.

[EqualWin]

Imo, the most useful

English> (chinese one xD but meh)> spanish>ptg

[Reeve]

The thing you have to bear in mind is that if you decide to work for the EU, you will be mostly doing direct translation (i.e. translating to your native language), while in the private sector you're more likely to do reverse translation as well. Find any foreign industry that works in your area (e.g. car manufacturers, naval construction, etc) as they will likely require translation/interpreting services with the locals. Oh, and avoid literary translation like the plague.



The difference is not even in the ballpark, grammatically speaking.

I'm speaking vocabularily, not grammatically, since you can communicate in those languages with poor grammar, but not with a lack of vocabulary.

[muto]

English is the only language you really need. Most European countries teach English in grade school, so that's proof enough.

[semaphore]

I am wondering what language will be in demand in future (e.g., from translator's perspective).

English is the only language you really need. Most European countries teach English in grade school, so that's proof enough.

Clearly a translator only needs to know one language.

[Deleted]

English and Mandarin are the most spoken languages in the world, so... you can speak english ... mandarin it is then. :P

[muto]

Clearly a translator only needs to know one language.

Okay Mandarin then since a billion people speak it.

[Deleted]

I'm speaking vocabularily, not grammatically, since you can communicate in those languages with poor grammar, but not with a lack of vocabulary.

Even so, there's far more overlap between French and Spanish than English and Spanish. I speak all three quite fluently, and the major difference in vocabulary is the germanic/arabic influence. If anything, I'd say that English is far more similar to French -- lexically, and orthographically -- what with Old French working as a bridge for Latin.

[Deleted]

Dutch Only of use in a few countries and very hard to learn I've heared. (even grammar is stupidly hard, even for native speakers)

[Reeve]

Even so, there's far more overlap between French and Spanish than English and Spanish. I speak all three quite fluently, and the major difference in vocabulary is the germanic/arabic influence. If anything, I'd say that English is far more similar to French -- lexically, and orthographically -- what with Old French working as a bridge for Latin.

Yeah, you're probably right that Spanish and French are probably closer than Spanish and Emglish, since they're both Latin languages and English is a Germanic language. I may be a bit biased, since I speak English and Spanish, and am constantly dealing in English/Spanish cognates, usually on the order of several times per sentence.

Oddly, I've always found more English cognates in Spanish than in German.

[Hyve]

Chinese for sure. Many businesses out there find it very disrespectful if you don't personally know what they're saying, and don't allow translators in many of the deals, as it is not for them to know.

[Deleted]

Yeah, you're probably right that Spanish and French are probably closer than Spanish and Emglish, since they're both Latin languages and English is a Germanic language. I may be a bit biased, since I speak English and Spanish, and am constantly dealing in English/Spanish cognates, usually on the order of several times per sentence.

Oddly, I've always found more English cognates in Spanish than in German.

If you ignore the grammar, English is really close to the Romance languages (nearly 60% of the language comes from a Latin source, if I recall correctly), so it's no surprise. You also have to take into account that most Spanish topolects from Latin America have a very strong English influence, so that probably makes it sound even closer than Standard or Castillian Spanish.

[Reeve]

If you ignore the grammar, English is really close to the Romance languages (nearly 60% of the language comes from a Latin source, if I recall correctly), so it's no surprise. You also have to take into account that most Spanish topolects from Latin America have a very strong English influence, so that probably makes it sound even closer than Standard or Castillian Spanish.

I know that's true of Mexican Spanish, but most of the Spanish I've learned is Colombian, and they definitely look down their noses at Englishisms in their Spanish. One guy I know ranted for like 30 minutes about one of his students once saying "El troca de mi papa no halo," meaning "My dad's truck didn't start." "TROCA ISN'T SPANISH, DAMMIT!"

[Deleted]

I know that's true of Mexican Spanish, but most of the Spanish I've learned is Colombian, and they definitely look down their noses at Englishisms in their Spanish. One guy I know ranted for like 30 minutes about one of his students once saying "El troca de mi papa no halo," meaning "My dad's truck didn't start." "TROCA ISN'T SPANISH, DAMMIT!"

O.o Yeah, that looks a little hard to decipher. They probably use more accepted anglicisms than you think though (e.g. celular [cell phone] instead of móvil, chequear [check] instead of comprobar, elevador [elevator] instead of ascensor…)

[Reeve]

O.o Yeah, that looks a little hard to decipher. They probably use more accepted anglicisms than you think though (e.g. celular [cell phone] instead of móvil, chequear [check] instead of comprobar, elevador [elevator] instead of ascensor…)

They say ascencor and comprobar (or just probar) in Colombia, but I've heard celular and movil (sorry accents are hard in Windows 7) roughly equally. I've heard chequear a few times, and it's something I use a lot simply because it comes to mind a bit more readily than probar. But yeah, they do use some anglicisms for sure.

There are a lot of standard Spanish words that are damn near the same as English though. Take the vast majority of adverbs, get rid of -mente, and slap a -ly on the end and you have the English word. If I don't know a Spanish word for something, often I can take the most complicated English variant, throw a Spanish pronunciation on it, and it's correct. It was very helpful when learning, because if I didn't know the word for "chew," I'd think of the most complicated English variant, "masticate," and hispanify it to "masticar" and it would be correct.

[l4808]

The languages I know are Latvian, English, some Russian, bit of German and Spanish. However, now I am wondering what language will be in demand in future (e.g., from translator's perspective). I am not sure which new language I should learn- should it be Swedish or Norwegian (seeing demand rising) or perhaps get fluent in German or Spanish as I already have some knowledge? Or some other language? What are your opinions?

Maaaaanddddaaaarrrriiiiiiiiiiiin
+
South Korean
+
Hindi

But yea, learning Norwegian is the safest way of ensuring a comfortable future.

[Deleted]

Mandarin for sure. I think that will be great for the future.

[Irisel]

You know Spanish and German (and Russian to boot), why not round it off with French? You could go anywhere in Europe...

[Sealed]

OP, since you are a translator living in Europe, it would make sense to consolidate your knowledge of European languages. With the EU's translation norms and multilingual institutions, intra-European translation is a solid market, at least for long-term career purposes if you're wary for the time being. Among the languagues you're considering, I think German would be a good asset to have in your portfolio.

Generally speaking, English is a no-brainer for non-native speakers. After that, depends on your goals and what corner of the world you have your sights on. Spanish and Portuguese offer a nice coverage, with both developed and developing countries; Chinese is an obvious pick, political uncertainty notwithstanding. I'm doubtful about Japanese; even though I learned it, I don't think it offers as much in the way of opportunities as the others.

And I'm a bit sceptical about the number of native speakers as an argument for Mandarin. I'm more inclined to mention their prosperity and culture as far as incentives go.