Second language in Europe

Holidays are passing and I would like to spend this time productive. Not only on being there and watching porn, ya all know what I'm saying?

I wonder about learning a second language and thinking which one it should be. So far I can't decide between German and Spanish. I am thinking about it mainly for professional develomplent and new job opportinities.

The strong economy (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) speaks in favor of German, it is our main trading partner (I'm from Czech Republic), many companies invest in here and I often had questions about German during recruitment. On the other hand, they all speak English well. I have never had a problem in Germany switching to English. The disadvantage is that, globally, German does not seem to be popular.

Which made me thinking about Spanish. The advantage of Spanish is that it is the second most commonly used language in the world after Mandarin. Unfortunately, in Europe it is only Spain, so it will not be very useful here I guess. Unfortunately, from an economic perspective, both Spain and Latin American countries look weak. In general, there are not many job offers in this language. Certainly very useful for tourism purposes and it's global language.

What can you advise me?

[sordi88]

Spanish is spoken in so many countries; it is very useful and I'm thinking of learning it myself, eventually.

That said, given your particular situation, I'd go with German (an other language I'm seriously thinking of learning).

Hope I was helpful!

[jaydogbones]

I would go with Spanish as they say it is the easiest to learn, but once learned, It would then be easier to learn the other romance languages IMHO

[BooBootheBear]

The second language in EU is either French or German. Spanish seems prevalent from a US perspective because you have so many Latin American Spanish speakers resident but it's not so pervasive in EU. The French are quite rabid about replacing English as the dominant European language in the world of politics, but that's a fight that goes back centuries and I don't rate their chances. Most countries use English as a standard common tongue.

If you want a good indicator of the cultural/political pecking order watch the Eurovision Song Contest. It's presented firstly in English then immediately translated into French. No Spanish. No German.

It looks like a pile of bubblegum but the voting shows you what the real world political alliances are.

[sordi88]

Having studied Danish for close to 10 years (Don't ask...), I was thinking of picking up German myself, as it is a fairly similar language.

Anyway, learning a second language, while tough, really is a lot of fun!
The constant improvement you get with practice truly is a confidence boost!

I strongly recommend it!

[RikouLaBanane]

I studied German during my middle and high school years. Honestly, I wouldn't wish that on anyone... I barely remember anything.
Apart from an irregular verb "dringen", which means to penetrate . And how to say potato: Kartoffel

Afterwards, I didn't like it. It was not me who chose to learn this language. Learning was therefore complicated.
If you are super motivated, I think you will learn any language.

In Europe, and even in the world, English is still the best.
You speak it in the United Kingdom and Ireland. And also in all Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands who are very comfortable with it.

With French, you will be able to speak it in France, and part of Belgium and Switzerland.
In Europe, Spanish is only spoken in Spain. But you can use it in almost all of South and Central America. This is what I would choose personally.
It’s a fairly pleasant language as well, especially to listen to.

Otherwise, you can also tell yourself that the world will be controlled by the Chinese in 20 years. And anticipating while learning Mandarin is a good move .

[Mare Nostrum]

I agree with RikouLaBanane.
I also studied German and although I admire the culture (especially Austria), over the years I have forgotten it.
I should have chosen to study French. I know that in Europe it is only spoken in Switzerland, Belgium and France, but there is more diffusion of popular culture in French (music, cinema...) and that helps not to forget. France still has a strong industrial sector. Also, French women are more beautiful than German ones.
English allows you to move around the world.
Italian sounds nice but is only understood in Italy and Spain.
Spanish and Portuguese are only useful for their countries and for some American republics. They are countries more oriented towards the Atlantic than towards Europe.

[BooBootheBear]

Language is something you learn from immersion and retain through practice.Think of how you learned to speak as a child. Same thing.

If you want to learn a language forget books. Go to the country or find native speakers and hang out with them. However, if you don't use it, you will lose it. Very few people retain 2nd languages through years of disuse.