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Learn a Foreign Language As an Engineer?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the math-is-the-universal-language dept.

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?

3 of 1,021 comments (clear)

  1. stick to english by Surt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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).

    --
    "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
  2. The language of engineers by DancesWithBlowTorch · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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.
  3. Re:Suggestions... by reddburn · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    --
    "Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand" - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.