Which one would you learn, French, German, Spanish or Russian?
I want to learn a second language, but I still don't know which one. Learning a language takes a lot of time and commitment so naturally I want to make sure I don't waste my time. The criteria I'm trying to use is this:
- Jobs prospects and economy: which language do feel would boost your market value the most?
- Culture: which language do you think has the biggest cultural output, i.e Music/Television/Cuisine/etc?
- Difficulty: which one is the easiest?
- Tourism and Travel: places worth visiting where they speak said language.
- Future: is the language booming or declining?
I'm leaning towards French for 1, 2, 4 and 5. It's spoken in many parts of the world: Canada, half of Africa, Europe, parts of Latin America. When Africa starts developing, French will also grow in importance and status. Unlike Spanish, French is actually an international language. Spanish is only spoken in Latin America and Spain, whereas French is spoken is more places around the world.
PD: it has to be an European language; no Mandarin, Arabic, etc.