Spanish or Mandarin Chinese? What is the better choice for the IT field?

May 18, 2006 10:00 AM

I'd like to learn a new language to help improve my skills in the IT field. I manage multiple teams in a support environment, both desktop and server. A foreign language seems to be a good way to improve my offerings to employers and help broaden my mind.

I've narrowed it down to Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, but would like the opinions of others on which direction to choose and why.

Spanish was chosen for the geographic closeness to the US, while Mandarin Chinese was chosen for the continuing opportunities emerging in the country.

My plan is to use computer based software to learn the language and immerse myself in reading/conversing online.

Which language should I choose and why?

posted by zymurgy to Education (18 answers total)

Learning a languge via software is extremely difficult. I'd recommend that you try to take a class at a community college and really get the help of a professor.
posted by k8t at 10:05 AM on May 18, 2006

PS, I would disagree with you about foreign languages being the best way to improve your offerings. They take a lot of work and in most environments, don't add much.

Why not get certified as a Project Manager? That'll look good and probably pay off in a big way.
posted by k8t at 10:14 AM on May 18, 2006

I recently heard that Mandarin Chinese is the new language to learn because of the focus on the country of late. What will make you more marketable in your particular field? Is there much need or much potential need for Spanish-speakers, or do these 'continuing opportunities emerging' make Mandarin the better option? You'd be more uniquely useful, I think, knowing Mandarin because aside from native speakers in the States, it's not as widely known. Depending on your area, you might find opportunities to practice the language you choose outside of the internet (which is incredibly important as well if you plan on interacting with folks who speak the language outside of the internet in your job). Personally, I'd go for Mandarin because I think it would be the more challenging language to learn if you've never learned another language, but that's my geeky word-nerd perspective.
posted by monochromaticgirl at 10:14 AM on May 18, 2006

I took a year of Mandarin in college. If you want to attain any fluency in the spoken variety, you will need a patient instructor. The tonal nature is very hard to recognize conversationally at first. The feedback while training your own intonations would also be greatly be aided by someone(a professor) who is trained to help you develop it.
posted by bastionofsanity at 10:18 AM on May 18, 2006

Yeah, this is not how you learn a language. Learning Spanish isn't like learning Java; it's much, much harder.

You might eventually be able to create a purely symbolic understanding of a language by learning the rules of grammar and memorizing a functional vocabulary. However you will be completely unintelligable to a native speaker, especially a Mandarin one; Mandarin is tonal, and it takes years of practice for an English speaker to be able to speak a tonal language.

Not to mention the fact that the way we speak isn't even close to the way we write. The only way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in a country (or province, or state) that speaks the language and take classes.

Or date a Spanish or Chinese person I guess.
posted by dobie at 10:22 AM on May 18, 2006

did you consider hindi?
posted by horsemuth at 10:28 AM on May 18, 2006

I've been listening to the podcasts from chinesepod.com, which are excellent. They're not a substitute for a proper class, but they are great at getting a feel for the language & picking up some helpful phrases.
posted by Brian James at 11:13 AM on May 18, 2006

Obligatory plug for my laoshimen Ken and Jenny at Chinese Pod. The basic podcasts are free. Helpful supplimental material carries a charge.

Anyway, I went through a similar thought process when it occured to me that China has the fast growing world economy, holds quite a bit of paper on the US (and others) and makes bunches of high-tech stuff.

I don't want to get sappy, but this is a wondrous time for anyone learning a language. It was not all that long ago that there were virtually no serious resources available for a Westerner to learn Mandarin (unless you consider Berlitz phrase books a resource). I'd NEVER have attempted Mandarin without the resources available on the net -- but there are so many of them that I almost feel obligated.

And don't let the nay-sayers spook you about tonal laguages. Certainly, you can't ignore tones (I don't wanna downplay'em), but it's really not as daunting as it might seem. Don't psych yourself out in advance. There's always a trade-off in spoken language. Mandarin has tones, Spanish doesn't. Spanish has a bazillion verb tenses, Mandarin has a single verb form for all cases.

Mandarin is intimidating to be sure -- but NOT because of the tones ... and NOT because of Hanzi. It's intimidating because of the insane number of homophones. And when you figure that these are single-syllables delivered in rapid-fire staccato conversation ... all of a sudden, those tones start looking pretty damn simple in comparison. ;)
posted by RavinDave at 11:23 AM on May 18, 2006

Learning a language to the point that it's really useful is a long road (I'm still trying to do that with French). But it's also a good road. I really like the Pimsleur audio lessons. The "Comprehensive" series has 30 lessons per level. Each is about 25-30 minutes. I have mine on my iPod and do them in the car while driving to work. They're really good for pronunciation practice (lots of listen and repeat). I took French in college, and that was helpful for a better understanding of grammar, but wasn't much help with speaking and listening skills (Pimsleur excels at that).

So you'll probably want to combine approaches: Pimsleur for speaking/listening practice, a decent grammar workbook for help with the structure (and to help build more vocabulary).

There have been several threads here about language learning. You'll find good advice in them.
posted by wheat at 12:32 PM on May 18, 2006

Meant to add. AskMeFi has a tag for this: languages.
posted by wheat at 12:35 PM on May 18, 2006

A foreign language seems to be a good way to improve my offerings to employers and help broaden my mind.

I agree about the "broaden your mind" part but I'm not sure about the improvement to your employability.

What will speaking Mandarin actually do for you? Are you thinking you might apply for jobs in China? Be assigned to an outpost of your company in China? Converse with Mandarin-speaking staff in your country? I'm a bit puzzled as to the outcome you're forseeing.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 1:19 PM on May 18, 2006

It will take a good few years (perhaps more) to get good enough at a language for it actually to help your job prospects. Having said that, however, it always looks good to a potential employer that someone is improving themself in their spare time, and learning languages is good fun. But do take a class, there's no substitute for exchange with other people.
posted by altolinguistic at 1:22 PM on May 18, 2006

Does your company outsource to Mexico? or China?
Hindi and Urdu seem like better choices to me than Spanish and Mandarin.
posted by Megafly at 2:24 PM on May 18, 2006

Keep in mind that it takes a native speaker of English roughly 43 times longer to learn Chinese than to learn Spanish.

But if you have the time + talent + energy, go for Chinese, because it is an entirely new and strange world that will open up for you.
posted by sour cream at 2:25 PM on May 18, 2006

Thechno-babble and Jargonspeak seem to be what gets people ahead in the IT field.
If my experience is any indication, any fluency in technical babblings often leads straight up the fast track.... Heavy employment of Buzzwords is a signal to management that you are an 'up and comer!'
Acronyms are the only language that holds currency in any Tech support role. Competence and an 'expanded mind' will get you nowhere.
/rant
posted by TheFeatheredMullet at 2:44 PM on May 18, 2006

sour cream: I think you need to differentiate between the spoken language and the written. Except for retro-flexive /r/ sounds in Mandarin, I can't think of any that are really outside our inventory (we even have tones! ... we just use'em differently). Not saying it's easier than Spanish, mind you -- there's alot to be said for recognizable root words, etc. Nonetheless, the 43x stat smells a bit fishy.
posted by RavinDave at 2:56 PM on May 18, 2006

i learned decent conversational spanish in about 6 months using audio tapes, a couple of books, and lots of TELEMUNDO!
posted by blueplasticfish at 3:20 PM on May 18, 2006

(Although we're getting a bit away from the OP), there is an interesting website called BabelPod that tries to pair people up for the purpose of learning a language. I'm just looking into it now, so I won't vouch for it, but the concept is nifty. You can pair yourself with another American (yes, I'm being geo-centric ... pardonez moi, por favor) and spur each other on in the language of your choice. Or, you might wanna learn Hebrew and exchange language lesson with an Israeli using skype or some chat prog. Even if you don't think you'd like to do this, it sports a nice list of active language podcast classes.

And to add to what blueplasticfish said ... one of the satellite TV companies (Direct???) has several international sub-packages that don't get very much advertisement. I'd have loved to have been able to get several Russian TV channels back when I was studying that in college.

Or, you can always always watch international TV online. (I'm still searching for good internet radio feeds, but they seem to dry up so quickly).
posted by RavinDave at 3:51 PM on May 18, 2006 [1 favorite]