German or Spanish
I know it depends on personal preference but I would learn both. Spanish because it's something that will be useful and German seems like it would be fun to live in Germany/ do business with.
I just want to see peoples preference German or Spanish and maybe reasons why.
Spanish will, overall, be a lot more useful.
Although Germany's economy is the best in Europe, almost all Germans (particularly in business) speak very good English, so learning it would be overkill considering most Germans speak a level of English far better than you'll ever be able to learn of German. Also, German does you no good as a language outside of Germany and Austria, both of which have very low growth in their populations.
Spanish, on the other hand, is a growing language for a region of the world that will continue to grow economically. Latin America is slated to produce some very large economies in the near future and all Latin American countries have high population growth. Furthermore, the English of the average spanish speaker is not nearly as good as the average German speaker, making Spanish far more useful when talking with people from that region. Don't forget that latinos are an increasingly growing demographic in the US as well.
And finally, Spanish is MUCH more easy to learn than German.
i just love german firms and culture... quality stuff spanish is great tho, as well as much easier
if i did it all over again - id still pick german as my 1st choice i didnt know how valuable it is until i became fluent at it (you can learn spansih later when you find some extra time i guess...)
Obviously German, so you can sit on the beach on a nice blanket and blissfully read Heidegger's Being and Time in its native language.
i would add remarque, goethe and jung - to name a few :)
How valuable was it?/is it for you?
Spanish, because you not only have everywhere south of the border (except Brazil) and Spain to speak it, you're going to speak it a lot in the United States, which I presume you're from. German, once the lingua franca of Eastern Europe, is now pretty much exclusive to German, Austria, and Switzerland, and most of the people in those countries speak English, and do business with others in English. If you want a language thats both useful AND exotic, learn Russian: its spoken not only in Russia, a large country, but all over central Asia (lots of business/commodities there) but also widely known and spoken in the rest of the former USSR and Eastern Bloc.
look at it this way - so many companies are active in Germany that i really never had fear of being unemployed - there are that many opportunities, from banks and consulting firms, to big industrial companies, EU and govt stuff, startups, military etc.
people do not realize it, but German is the most spoken native language in Europe, with around 100mm people speaking it. it is actually 2nd after Russian (145mm), but Russia alone is much bigger than the whole Europe and it is a very special country, also positioned in Asia mostly. French is 3rd with 67mm and English fourth with 64mm. German is widely spoken and learned in central Europe, Eastern Europe, Balkans, Western Europe and Nordics.
however, it is not quantity that i base my case on; its quality. can you find so many quality companies in Spanish-speaking world? educational institutions? alike-thinking people? http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/183/Rank_1.html give this list a look, and keep in mind that there are many companies on that list that are biggest in the world in their sectors (BASF, E.ON etc.) and you will get great experience working at/with any of those for sure. those are international firms present on every continent and in every major country. and their shit is made to last.
people saying that Germans speak well English dont know shit. well educated people in major cities - sure, but what kind of argument is that...
i wont even talk about culture. even the basic things such as how they compose sentences, numbers etc. will give you a new perspective on everything. personally, i am not a huge fan of Spanish-speaking south america etc. it is great to see, but not a place i'd live at more than few years max. Spain is different talk of course, but you people who pick Spanish do it because of EM hopes.
you want to bet on EM? sure, go ahead, but look at Chinese M&A. they purchase German brands, companies, people and knowledge, because nobody gives a f... about Chinese brands, education and experts. they have a lot of cash on their hands right now, but how long is that going to last? and still, in each of those transactions, German is crucial.
i love educated parts of the Europe - historically great countries such as Germany/Austria/Switzerland, France, Netherlands/Belgium, Russia, Sweden, Balkan countries, Italy, Turkey, Spain/Portugal etc. - i could see myself living in any of those to be honest. and i visited and loved almost all of them. i am not a guy who is dreaming of living in South America, China, Africa, etc. but that is a personal preference.
see what suits you best, but dont base your decisions based on opinions of kids that would invest 100% of their portfolio in EM small cap equities because they read on so on WSO.
German over any other language in the world barring English. Great opportunities and chances everywhere with that language. Spain is fed by Germany. Enough Said.
Everybody knows that the German economy is one of the most important, influential economies in the world. That's not what makes learning the language important in an "either/or" scenario as the OP is describing (choosing to learn either spanish or German). The fact of the matter is that German's, by in large, speak English very well, as typical for most Northern Europeans. I have been to Germany several times and, by my experience, the only people there who don't speak English are a) immigrants from third world countries b) people in rural areas/east germany over the age of 40. The professional 'class' of people (anyone OP would be dealing with if he wanted to work there) speak English fine.
How many people live in Germany? Roughly 80 million? How much of that population is over the age of 60? There are roughly 406 million Spanish speakers, the vast majority of whom are in Latin America, a region with very high population and GDP growth rates. People in Latin America, even in professional roles, tend to not speak English as well, making Spanish more of a necessity when talking with them. Don't forget how many of them are here in the US too.
You're definitely right on the similarities between US and German culture, and I think that the German people are pretty amazing in how despite going through what they've gone through over the past century being still able to form one of the world's largest economies. But it's ridiculous to say that it would be better to learn a language for a smaller segment of the world that is already saturated with skilled labor and able to speak English much better than the OP will realistically be able to learn German.
Non voluptas earum id recusandae quia voluptates. Ipsa numquam vero libero nihil soluta nihil. Atque culpa autem quasi officia debitis rem. Velit nam voluptas dolor corrupti. Distinctio dignissimos alias ea architecto error voluptas facilis voluptas.
Qui aut repudiandae consequuntur iusto. Omnis voluptatem quia consequatur aut autem assumenda. Magni aut distinctio dolores quasi dolorem magni. Dolore officiis molestiae quaerat earum. Nesciunt optio modi reprehenderit vero cupiditate.
Et quisquam voluptatem labore molestias est. Rerum quis amet aliquid voluptates nesciunt. Nihil autem sit in ex ea sit. Ex quaerat corporis rerum ut ratione.
Est pariatur totam ut dolores nihil modi harum. Omnis magni velit expedita in consequatur velit. Ut voluptatem ducimus atque ducimus. Architecto deserunt accusantium voluptatem libero.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...