Which language would an educated person know after English?

A

avalentin911

New member
Would it be Spanish due to its popularity or French due to is diplomatic influence?
They say that after English, French is the second most language taught in the world.
 
Your choice of second language does not signal that you're "educated". How well you know that second language is what signals your education.

You could speak Spanish flawlessly and fluently and be come off as downright impressive and erudite. Or you could speak French filled with "um... er... uh..." and come off looking rather foolish.

But what would be the *best* sign that you're an "educated person"? Well, an educated person would make a wise decision, of course! A wise person would choose to learn the additional languages that he or she came into contact with.

In other words, if you're likely to travel to France, or parts of Canada, learn French. Otherwise, don't be a poser and learn a language you'll never use. If you're likely to travel to Japan a lot, learn Japanese. If you live in the southern United States, you should be beaten for even asking this question when Spanish is so obvious. If you live near a Russian neighborhood, learn Russian. If you're in Chicago, learn Polish. If half of the people you work with are Chinese, learn Mandarin. If you're in the military, learn Arabic.

Don't try to choose a language to make yourself look smart. That will only backfire, and make you look foolish.
 
Depends entirely on where you live. In my experience it seems as if the more educated a person is the more useless languages they speak e.g. Celtic languages, which only seem to be spoken by academics!
We learnt 2 languages besides English at school - Afrikaans and Xhosa, and later, before we moved to Germany we learnt German. I think it depends entirely on your interests and what you want to accomplish. French is often called the cousin of English and if you page through a French dictionary the infinitives of verbs are similar to English.
 
French is usually associated with upper class, and educated. Spanish is more helpful, though French is great for networking in the global sense
 
I speak Spanish after English and I am educated, plus you get more practice with it in America. But, people find French to a more cultured country and people with more culture are often seen as more educated.
 
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