Best Foreign Language to take in College PLEASE HELP!

IEDave, ASN, CNA, LVN · Jun 2, 2012

This has been a topic that I have been struggling with going into college. I wanted to know what is the best foreign language to study for a student going into a pre-nursing (Spanish, German, French, ect.) Suggestions would be a great help THANKS.

Easy-Peasey; whichever non-English language is predominant in the area you're going to work. For example, as a general case, Spanish tends to be useful throughout Southern California. That said, there are communities in SoCal where the predominant non-English language is Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Armenian, Russian & so on. ASL (American Sign Language) can potentially be useful, and so far as I know it meets the foreign language requirement for nursing programs (does for the ones I've looked at, anyway).

Ultimately, it's going to boil down to 2 factors: 1) which one is the most useful to you, and 2) which one you can learn most easily. In my case, Spanish is easy enough (although my gringo accent tends to generate laughter among native Spanish speakers) but for whatever reason getting my mouth around French is a real challenge.

HTH,

----- Dave

Justabitoff · Jun 2, 2012

Spanish is the dominant minority language in the US, so I think that one. You can search for job listings in your area and see if there is a language that comes up frequently in your area.

Bobmo88 · Jun 2, 2012

This is extremely biased because I live in Southern California and majored in Spanish for my first Bachelor's but Spanish wouldn't be a bad option. It is the 2nd most natively spoken language in the world and prevalent throughout the US but IEDave makes an excellent point.

SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP · Jun 2, 2012

I have studied Italian, French, German, Spanish & Russian. I absolutely *love* languages! However, when it comes to nursing, I think you would get the most out of studying Spanish. It will be useful if you have Spanish-speaking patients in the hospital. It was the 2nd easiest language to learn. Italian was definitely the easiest, German was the hardest (the grammar is a killer!!!). I've used my French a lot, but I used to work for a French company, so I got to put it to use. However, I find that I still have to use Spanish quite frequently when someone doesn't know how to speak English. I think you'd probably get the most use out of it.

Have fun!!!

caliotter3 · Jun 2, 2012

Determine which might be the most useful in your area, or, just pick the one that you will like. Nothing wrong with taking a course because you like the subject.

Aejeck · Jun 2, 2012

There are several ways to look at this.

1. Learn a dialect of Chinese. As there are more people in the world who are Chinese than any other race, it's bound to be useful.

2. Spanish. In the US anywhere you go chances are someone you meet will speak Latin or European Spanish.

3. Or just learn any language that really interests you. Being in the US gives us the great opportunity to meet people from all different cultures, and knowing an obscure language to us can actually be very practical. I know several people who were hired into different fields in medicine based solely on this fact. In this field you will have a larger chance to interact with someone who speaks some random language than most other Americans might.

Philly_LPN_Girl, LPN · Jun 2, 2012

I would try and learn a little of everything BUT Spanish would be the best one to take because English and Spanish are predominant in America.

sandanrnstudent · Jun 2, 2012

I would do Spanish for ASL.