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Ask Slashdot: 2nd Spoken/Written Language For Software Developer?
ichimunki writes "I am a mid-career software developer. I am from the Midwestern U.S. and my native language is English. I've studied a few languages over the years, both human and computer. Lately I've begun to wonder what is the best second (human) language for someone in this field to have. Or is there even any practical value in working to become fluent in a non-English language? I am not planning to travel or move/work abroad. But if I knew a second language, would I be able to participate in a larger programming community worldwide? Would I be able to work with those folks in some useful capacity? Perhaps building products for foreign markets?"
Communication is challenging because Chinese and English are completely different. Why do we expect him to do a better job learning Chinese than the Chinese developers did of learning English, even though they had a lot more incentive to do so? Maybe, occasionally, it might help him if he can clarify things in Chinese. But you have to weigh it against the risk that what he'll be misunderstood because his Chinese is too poor. When things go wrong, do you want him or the Chinese developers to be blamed? If he communicates something very clearly in English, they're at fault if they mess up. If he tries to speak Chinese, there's a good chance that he'll eventually get blamed.
In IT, there's little need for foreign-language skills, unless you happen to live in bilingual country (and even there, it's mostly used as a filter by HR departments). Everyone speaks English and there's a reason why he's a mid-career developer and never had to speak a foreign language.
That being said, learning another language can be a valuable experience. Just don't expect it to be useful on the job.
Let's face it; many native English speakers would benefit from learning how to speak and write English.
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The major language in India is English (it was a part of the Empire for a very long time). While many try to push Hindi, it is not truly "national", so English is the standard in business and technology. You're unlikely to find much discussion of the finer points of Python list comprehensions in Hindi....
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Ditto for me in Japanese. English is incredibly important in the workplace, other languages are not particularly so. Even if you want to move to a country which speaks the language you are learning, it is just as easy to get a job in English it seems. At least in Japan, large developers are mainly working in English anyway and small developers are not interested in hiring foreign talent.
Having said that, it is fun reading both the English and Japanese Ruby mailing lists. I wouldn't learn Japanese just to do that, but it's a nice perk.
I think, though, that even though it hasn't benefited my career to this point, achieving adult level fluency in another language has been incredibly beneficial for me. No matter what language you pick, it's a massive task. It has changed the way I approach long term goals. Most people quit learning a language sometime after they learn how to ask directions to the toilet. Getting to the point where you are functional as an adult in society is at least an order of magnitude different scale. It changes your life.
My advice to the OP is to pick a language whose culture you are interested in. Don't worry about career.