Learn a Foreign Language As an Engineer?

Ben B writes "I'm working on an undergraduate degree in computer engineering in the US, and I'm a native English-speaking citizen. In fact, English is the only language that I know. Maybe it's not the same at other schools, but for the engineering program at mine, a foreign language is not required. If my plans are to one day be involved in research, is it worth my time to learn a foreign language? If so, which one?" Learning something new is almost never a waste of time, but how much energy have others found worthwhile to expend with all of the programming/math/tech type courses to be had at a large university?

Comments

Where are you planning on working?

[Breconides]

It seems to me that if you are planning on working in the United States, your time would be better spent focusing on your Computer studies. Most foreign engineers here speak English.

IF, however, you were planning on going abroad, then speaking the local language would get you a lot of "street cred" that you would otherwise be lacking.

Re:Where are you planning on working?

[Free the Cowards]

It seems to me that if you are planning on working in the United States, your time would be better spent focusing on your Computer studies. Most foreign engineers here speak English.

I disagree. Much like learning an impractical but interesting computer language, the time spent learning a foreign language has many benefits in terms of widening your perspective, giving you new ways to think about things, etc. beyond the simple ability to use it in the country or countries where it is spoken.

The time spent is pretty small in the end. And that time really doesn't come out of your computer studies. It's such a different activity that it's the kind of thing that can help recharge your brain from all that math and programming. The benefits are well worth it.

stick to english

[Surt]

There are publications in basically every language in CS/CE. If you really want to learn one, pick from Japanese, German, French, Russian, Chinese.

But it won't do you much good, and in reality, you'll never have time to read foreign journals (or looked at another way, it would be a comparative waste of your time given the quantity of good material you could be reading in English).

Find something

[77Punker]

When I was getting my BS in Computer Science (class of 08!), I took 3 semesters of Spanish and 1 Chinese. Taking foreign languages forces you to think in new ways, which is what problem solving is all about. Also, Spanish and Chinese are both fairly similar to English, but Spanish was fun for me while Chinese was just a pain in the ass since very few of the words are cognates.

If it's just for career purposes...

[Zarhan]

Mandarin Chinese.

If you actually want to enjoy, pick something that you actually have an interest in. Ton of anime junkies have picked up Japanese for example. If you like Bollywood, learn Hindi. And so on...

When the time comes.

[wild_quinine]

A friend of mine is deeply embroiled in a PhD Thesis, in History. He's interested in the history of an order of monks. At the beginning of this, it became obvious that he was going to need to be pretty damn fluent in French. It's amazing what you can do when you have reason, and put your mind to it. He was reading in six weeks, and genuinely fluent in half a year. The motivation was clear.

Concentrate on what you need to concentrate on, and expand your horizons when it becomes necessary. This will provide the most efficient use of time in almost all cases - provided you don't become so focussed on whatever you're into that you genuinely don't notice when a new skill is required. (That's the only real risk of getting in too deep).

Despite this view on life, I've always had a great admiration for those who enjoy learning activities in their lesiure time. Personally I've always preferred video games.

Study Abroad

[Dolohov]

Don't just learn the language, study abroad -- I took Japanese and spent a term at Kansai Gaidai. The experiences of a) being put into an entirely new environment and b) being forced to set aside engineering for a term, were both invaluable. It was a tremendous aid as well in terms of getting into grad school.

Re:Chinese

[Gat0r30y]

The Chinese have no shortage of engineers. There's tons of them. They need people who speak English and Chinese and are engineers so the Chinese Engineers can talk to their English speaking counterparts and management. Generally speaking, the Chinese engineers ive met have known English, so I haven't had to learn any Mandrin at all to work with them.

The language of engineers

[DancesWithBlowTorch]

How about German?

• It has more than 100 million native speakers, at least twice as many people who can speak it fluently. In northern and eastern Europe, it's among the most widely spoken foreign languages, together with English and Russian.
• It has a very logical structure. Learning German might actually help you with maths.
• If you are planning to work in the car industry or in renewable energy at some point, going to work in Germany for a while might be a very interesting option. They have a lot of good technical universities, research institutes and engineering companies, some of them among the world's best.
• Ever wanted to read Einstein's, Schroedinger's, Bohrs, Heisenberg's,... original papers, in the language they were thought out in?
• In contrast to the French, Germans are actually welcoming, friendly and understanding towards people you don't speak their language fluently. Most people there speak English as a second language, so if you ever go there, you will be able to settle in gracefully.

Re:The language of engineers

[smilindog2000]

I learned German for three years, thinking it might be good for science. I even stayed with a German family for six weeks one summer. What I discovered: The Germans mostly speak better English than 3 years worth of German, and they're usually eager to practice it. Had I learned Spanish instead, at least I could converse with the gardeners around here. Don't get me wrong... I agree with all the things you said, but with the huge influx of Spanish speakers into the US, it's just more useful.

Re:The language of engineers

[thelexx]

"I am 23 right now - too old to start learning an instrument again."

Crazy talk! Get an instrument and start playing.

Re:Suggestions...

[mixmatch]

Learn Swiss..........Swedish hot chicks

Layne

I would think Swedish chicks would speak Swedish and Swiss chicks would speak German, French, Italian,or Romansh...

Re:Suggestions...

[reddburn]

Sorry... geek is universal. Hot chicks will ignore you in any language, so why waste the time?

Re:Suggestions...

[pimpimpim]

Since the guy is still a student, instead of learning another language at his university, he should apply for an exchange year in a foreign country. As long as he's not completely socially backwards, he'll find that it is amazingly easy to get around and meet new people there.

As a foreigner, you'll be surprised on how many foreigners you'll meet. Since every exchange student is more or less on it's own, they're all trying to make the best of it. AND PARTY :D Meeting local people might be more difficult, just because they're not mixing with the foreigners as much, and he'll have to do an effort to learn the language of the country you're going to. But the experience will be worth a lot, not just on the resume.