I am at university in Britain, and have the opportunity to learn some German for free. As an engineering student, I have a very tight timetable as it is.
How widely is German spoken as a first or buisiness language, and is there another foreign language that would be more appropriate for an engineer to speak?
2007-07-30 11:56:34 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
German would be worth your while to learn to speak as a second language, especially if you are going into the engineering field in Europe. Besides it is in your own language group, making it much easier to learn. If your timetable is to tight to learn it at school get The Roseeta Stone language learning system and study at home. German of course is spoken much less than English as a business language, however it is still spoken a lot worldwide as Germany has a lot of large engineering and construction firms. Arabic, Chinese and Spanish are other languages that are popular in the engineering field right now. Good Luck.
2007-07-30 12:06:29 · answer #1 · answered by Sloan R 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Learning the mechanics of any language and speaking it fluently are two different things. You need immersion to really learn the rhythm, IMO. If you are getting the education for free, lacking immersion doesn't cost you, but if you were paying and not getting immersion, I would look somewhere else. You can nevertheless travel there easily and Germany and Austria (and parts of France, Switzerland and Italy) speak German natively. The Dutch seem to speak all bordering languages and the Danes as well. Large areas of what was once Austria-Hungary (Czech, Slovakia, Hungary and Former Yugoslavia) also have fairly large German speaking populations.
Chinese might be a "better" business language (for now) but it would take much longer for you to master. Germany nevertheless has a strong economy and German will remain a useful language, especially in engineering and chemistry.
2007-07-30 15:36:11 · answer #2 · answered by Ron E 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Most of the good technical articles are written in German.
I am a mechanical engineer and have had to have many articles translated from German into English.
It is easier to pay someone for the translations, tho, than to have to learn the language.
If I had to learn a language, it would be German just because the Germans produce so many technical papers in all fields of engineering.
2007-07-30 16:35:40 · answer #3 · answered by gatorbait 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It depends all on where you decide to work and your choice of a career in engineering.
Personally German would be an accessory, but not much of an asset.
Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese: these are good choices for languages.
Spanish as it is a major spoken language, and Mandarin and Japanese as there are many engineering feats occuring in those countries.
But then again this is for more in the construction phase of a project.
2007-07-30 12:01:21 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The most important language for engineers is , without doubt, English.
Learning a language, if you are not living where is spoken, is not a easy job, for sure is harder than any engineering subject. The reason is that you can not learn another language only studying it, you have to use it. It is like learning to swim. you can not learn to swim reading books.
You can not learn something for "free", you need time to learn and time is a resource as money is.
So do not lose your time, focus in your engineering tasks.
2007-07-30 16:25:16 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Germany has great architecture, besides there is nothing loss by learning another language. People at Puerto Rico learn american english as a second lenguage. Never know when it will be handy. Repairs and sevices manager at the company I work is from Finland, but ha is married to a woman from Singapore, and working at Puerto Rico (spanish spoken) dealing with,american companies and others run by Jamaicans, as well as other locations in the Virgin Islands, so you never know. His kids have been faced with finn chinesse, american english and spanish. Nothing to lose.,
2007-07-30 12:17:53 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
German is an extremely popular business language. It is definitely worth it.
2007-07-30 12:07:29 · answer #7 · answered by Amy I 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Unless you plan to live and work in Germany, don't waste your time. In the business world, Russian or Chinese is a better choice second language to learn.
2007-07-30 12:05:15 · answer #8 · answered by Jan Luv 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
for engineering, german is a VERY good language to speak. lots and lots of funding and work being done in germany and france. i'd say take itif you can.
2007-07-30 11:59:57 · answer #9 · answered by Adeel 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
depending on your location.
Any language will help you no matter what. as a boss i always love to hear some one has abilities like that (Bilingual) they 2 others you should look into is Spanish and Latin ( Latin will help you understand other languages)
2007-07-30 12:02:01 · answer #10 · answered by Miko 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋