Most Valuable Foreign Language for Military?

Question

What is the most valuable language for the military? I'm thinking Farsi?

I am learning German now (out of French, German, or Spanish)

What WILL be the most valuable language for the military in 5-10 years? (I know that no one can know for sure, so educated guesses please!)

Answer 1

Farsi, Arabic, or Spanish. If you can get pretty fluent in Arabic that will help with Farsi (a Persian/Iranian language) and even Hebrew, which is used by most IDF personnel.

German is useful as a lingua franca in Eastern Europe and Russia - nearly all Eastern and Muscovite Russians will be fairly fluent in German, as will most Serbians, Czechs, etc.

French is quite useful in both Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Southeast Asia, and Haiti; also in much intel and diplo core/state department situations. French continues to be the language of diplomacy, for largely historical reasons.
Most Frenchmen will speak fluent English, as will most Germans and many Italians. Most Spaniards will not have a particularly good command of English; English is not widely spoken in most of Latin America, excepting Belize (the former British Honduras).

Fluent Arabic, Farsi, and Turkic Farsi speakers will likely continue to be in great demand for the next several decades. Mandarin Chinese and Russian speakers are also in high demand in the military, foreign service corps, and in other overseas functions (intel, analysis, etc).

Answer 2

Most African countries are either English or French speaking depending on their past Colonial masters.

Various Arabic languages & French for the Middle East.

I think there is still potential for a renewed Balkan Conflict so Croat or Serbia for that area.

For Richard t.:

No Russian Bombers were in British Airspace to be routed by the RAF, get your facts straight, the Russians were followed from the North by Norwegian aircraft, at no time did they actually penetrate in to any other country's airspace

Answer 3

The most needed languages will probally be Arabic,Swahili, Chinese, French and Spanish.

Arabic - covers the mideast and north Africa

Swahili - covers most of central africa

Chinese - Covers china and parts of the pacific rim

French - covers the area between central africa and northern africa and the west coast of africa.

Spanish - covers central and south america.

Farsi is spoken in Iran and not much elsewhere, so it's not a good candiate for a general language skill.

Answer 4

Farsi, Persian and Chinese.
Chinese is a hard course at DLI, it feels like you are there forever with no end in sight. Also, it will be a good language on the civilian side.

Answer 5

I assume you heard about the Russian bombers that crossed into U.K. air territory a few months ago, and were quickly routed by RAF tornados. This could possibly be a sign of imminent war, if war was to break out between the two powerful nations, it is probable that we would be backed by the U.S. if you are in communications, you will definitely need to know Russian. If you are planning on going into the Infantry or Armoured corps it is not as necessary but still advised. Russian is also essential if you would like to work in the Intelligence services (MI5/MI6).

Answer 6

I would suggest getting into one of the programs to become an interpreter through the military. They'll pay for it, and you'll be taught depending on how well you score on your tests. They'll only accept people into programs that they really need because not many people are qualified for this type of job.

Answer 7

Arabic.

Answer 8

Chinese or Arabic. Maybe even Russian.

Answer 9

My money is on Chinese.

Answer 10

well seeing as how they are starting to send peacekeeping forces into africa. i would figure our next conflict would be to save the starving people from murder in different parts of africa.......