What Language Should You Learn and Why

There are plenty of choices available, but what’s the best choice for you?

Image by Etienne Girardet via Unsplash

When I was eight years old, I enrolled in a university-level course on the Korean language. My seniors were more than twice my age and I always sat in the front row because I wasn’t tall enough to see the board otherwise. My classmates were taking Korean as their third language for practical reasons — for their future career or to fill up their Modular Credits requirements to get their degree. Me? Well, I just took it so that I could finally watch the Korean variety show, Running Man, without subtitles. A little over a decade later, when I entered university I was offered the opportunity to take on a fourth language, German or French, or Korean. Of course, my choice today is no longer dependent on understanding a joke.

Is passion enough?

Passion is fantastic, but if you want to learn a language, you need to find the motivation that’s important to you, to make sure that you stick to it. I had to learn this the hard way. When I was learning Korean, I didn’t understand the grammar and I didn’t care much about it either way. I kept waiting to get to the ‘good stuff’, which was basic conversational skills like how to order food. I struggled terribly with my homework and in the continual assessments. As much as I insisted that I wanted to learn Korean, I felt my liking for the language dissipate each time we pulled up to the pink building where I took my lessons. Learning Korean started feeling more and more like a chore; I had to find motivation to continue, and I had to find it fast.

What kind of Motivation?

Motivation can come in any form — wanting to migrate overseas, conversing with a friend or colleague or progressing your career. You might think that knowing a second or third language will make you a more desirable employee, however, companies are more prone to hiring someone with the relevant skillset so you should make sure that you qualify for the job first. Nevertheless, there is an unspoken benefit. Companies looking to expand to different countries or territories or appeal to certain customer bases might be more likely to hire people who can speak those languages.

As a Primary Three student, my career seemed so far away, and I struggled badly trying to find any sort of motivation that didn’t have anything to do with what I enjoyed, and everything to do with the unpaved road in front of me past primary school. Eventually, I settled upon the very “Asian” push factor of not wanting to disappoint my family. Maybe if I had the resources to discover new motivations, I wouldn’t have felt so relieved when my mother told me to stop my Korean lessons when I was taking my PSLE examinations.

So what language should you learn?

You might not have thought as far ahead as your future career yet. I was like that at 15, trying to choose a language. Now I have different considerations in mind. For example, I’m currently studying to enter a different industry — purely based on interest instead of peer influenced. And industry can play a big role in which language you should choose.

Image by Brett Jordan via Unsplash

Dutch sociologist Abram de Swaan classifies the twelve “super central languages” as Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swahili. These languages don’t necessarily have the most speakers but are most commonly spoken, tying together communities either directly or indirectly. So, let’s run through a shortlist of the top industries and the four most useful languages to learn (apart from English). See if anything catches your eye!

Business (GoAbroad)

1. Mandarin Chinese (Spoken in the economic powerhouses China, Taiwan and Singapore; China is the world’s second-largest economy)
2. German (Germany makes up Europe’s largest economy; German is the official language of two additional economic European powerhouse nations; has a long-standing reputation for scientific and technological influence)
3. French (Currently spoken in over 40 countries, including several rapidly developing African economies)
4. Spanish (Fourth most spoken language by both native and non-native speakers worldwide and the leading language of all Latin American economies)

Infocomm Technology (IT) (BusinessLine)

1. Mandarin Chinese
2. Japanese
3. Spanish
4. French

Engineering (InterestingEngineering)

1. Mandarin Chinese (China, Taiwan, Singapore, Asia; 1 billion+ speakers)
2. French (Canda, Europe, Africa, Northern South America; 129 million speakers)
3. Arabic (Middle East, North Africa; 246 million speakers)
4. German (Europe; 229 million speakers)
5. Russian (Europe, Russia; 225 million speakers)

Healthcare (InlinguaSG) in Singapore, based on DOS

1. Mandarin Chinese (29.8% of speakers in Singapore)
2. Malay (9.24% of speakers in Singapore)
3. Hokkien dialect (4.37% of speakers in Singapore)
4. Teochew dialect (1.65% of speakers in Singapore)

Things to consider before you dive in

You’re probably thinking, “WOW, this all looks really exciting, how soon can I start?” But let’s slow down, there’s still some things to take into consideration.

Firstly, there’s the cost. Learning a foreign language can be pretty pricey, especially if you plan to attend private lessons. A simple fix for this would be self-learning from apps such as Duolingo, or even watching YouTube videos from credible channels. Many universities also offer language programmes as a module and if you’re a student, it’s much cheaper than attending a course outside of university!

Another consideration would be time. Achieving fluency in a new language can take up a good chunk of your time, which you will need to manage alongside your regular workload. Be sure to set aside an appropriate amount of time between your studies and daily routine to practice your language.

If you would like to be certified on a national level for your proficiency in the language, you can check the MOELC website, where some languages are offered as GCE O or A Levels. Additionally, if you are in university, you can incorporate your language classes into your syllabus!

Tips for Choosing a New Language

So here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for: which language did I choose?

After looking at all the factors I mentioned above, I decided on… German! I am currently pursuing a degree in Business Administration, and I have plans to spend a semester abroad in Munich to intern at a telecommunications company. My ultimate goal is to secure a job at a company that headquarters in Germany but has a Singapore branch so that I don’t have to stray too far from home. Knowing German will be a bonus to allow me to communicate effectively with my international counterparts.

If you are interested in learning a new language, and you are certain that you can stick to it (or if you’re like me and use goal-setting to push yourself across the finish line), go for it!

Learning something new can seem daunting at first, but always think back to why you started learning it in the first place, and don’t forget to revise every week!

CareerContact is an ed-tech platform designed to bridge the gap between school and work. We help students develop digital skills and connect them with SMEs in Southeast Asia. Feel free to reach out to us at info@careercontact.org or join us at CareerContact.app.