Fluency in any language apart from one’s mother tongue is a forte.

Within the microcosm of investment banking, think about the growth potential of the countries where the particular language is spoken, multiply that by your willingness to relocate to one of those countries and you have your answer.

In case you weren’t solely thinking about the languages’ usefulness to your career, here’s another perspective. In my, albeit limited, experience, the ability to speak a few words in your interlocutor’s native tongue, on average, generates far more “goodwill” with members of the fairer sex native to the western part of the Iberian Peninsula than with their eastern counterparts.

If you are planning to learn both, avoid studying them at the same time. My advice would be to start with Spanish.

 

Thanks for the reply. I already speak Spanish at a pretty good level (although not fluent). I would like to learn Portuguese also and I'm considering a study abroad program in Brazil while I'm in college as it will be difficult to learn it after college is over. I definitely learned Spanish for non-career reasons, but I think the effort to learn Portuguese is partly related to how useful it will be in a career. Would speaking Spanish and Portuguese be a big help in getting hired?

 

If you already know Spanish, that's 80% useful... really does add a lot to you to be able to speak another language, although IMO (and I know people will disagree with me here), Asian languages have become more trendy/useful lately, obviously Chinese is the prime example.

Still, Spanish is the 3rd most common language in the world and much of the emerging market economy speaks it, so it is highly useful.

How much would Portuguese add? I'm not sure, maybe it would take you to the 90% useful level. But I don't think it would make you twice as likely to get the job or anything.

Bottom line: learn Portuguese and study in Brazil if you like it. Don't do it because you think it will help you career-wise, as it isn't likely to add much on top of Spanish.

 

agree with dosk. portuguese would be awesome for working in pwm in miami, but there's not alot else brazilian going down from within the US. You could go to Brazil though. Banks are still looking to spruce up their IBD divisions over there aren't they?

But I would do it either way. Spanish->portuguese is really easy isn't it? Unless you have little time/a ball-busting major, then it would be a good use of time.

 
Master:
agree with dosk. portuguese would be awesome for working in pwm in miami, but there's not alot else brazilian going down from within the US. You could go to Brazil though. Banks are still looking to spruce up their IBD divisions over there aren't they?

But I would do it either way. Spanish->portuguese is really easy isn't it? Unless you have little time/a ball-busting major, then it would be a good use of time.

I'm a native portuguese speaker and given the similarities between languages, having family in spain and exposure to people who speak spanish from a young age, I've picked up the language effortlessly. I'd say I'm not completely fluent but certainly am above business level. I think if i wanted to i could become fluent if I practiced more and read more. I say all this to let you know that you knowing spanish is a great start in learning portuguese but I want to stress that it's easier said than done for spanish speakers let alone those without knowledge of spanish. the misconception that the two languages are "essentially the same" always throws people off. In conclusion, Brazil would be a great place to learn it, the accent is a whole lot easier to understand and some people might be willing to speak to you in spanish if you struggle at first.

I do agree with the dosk and master, making sure you are leasning for your own purpose as well will be a lot more rewarding than doing this just because you think it will help you break into a specific industry un less of course you target certain markets but my experience with languages at work is that if they are really going to set you apart fromt he rest of the competition when trying to get a job, you d have to be fluent or very good or else they'll find someone else that is. Good luck otherwise!

 
Best Response

In the U.S., knowing another language is pretty much worthless. As someone teaching himself Spanish, I can tell you that the business use just simply isn't there. I know very few employers who value it. That said, I believe knowing a second language puts you worlds apart in terms of culture and intelligence. Additionally, if you want to work in the U.K., knowing a second language seems to be a requirement (although this is a judgment I'm making from reading endless IB/PE job postings). My advice would be to stick with Spanish until you are extremely fluent.

As for Portuguese, a close Spanish native friend of mine says she can understand it having no experience, but it requires her to concentrate very hard. My ability to read Spanish is probably 50% of the way to fluent, and I would say I can read Portuguese at probably a 25% level. I know these are invented numbers, but it should give you a ball-park range of the overlap if you were to attempt to learn both languages.

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