My dad told me that japanese is a useless language and i should learn spanish instead, do you agree?

Question

I am really interested in learning japanese because i love manga and anime and it looks like a really cool language to learn but my dad says i should learn spanish instead because it's more usefull but i hate spanish. What do you think i should do? And please don't say whatever i want because that's not the answer im looking for.

Answer 1

*HINT*

mexican can live in US without english.

japanese cant speak english.

Answer 2

Translators in either language are useful due to Japanese companies  like Sony and Toyota opening up manufacturing  branches here in the United States.

But 60% of the world doesn't speak English. The three main languages spoken on Earth are Chinese,French,AND Spanish. I would recommend both of them. And I would also recomend learning the social customs as well. You never know.

Answer 3

no way! go for Japanese! it's what you want, it's a bigger chalange, and it's probably more fun. Everyone takes Spanish so dont be like everyone.  

Answer 4

it's your interest, i would love to learn japanese, i mean, japanese technology are really big, so if you ever consider a career in that direction~

Answer 5

Your dad is wrong. On a world scale, Spanish is perhaps more useful that Japanese, but that hardly makes Japanese worthless. I think that you should tell him that Japan has the third largest economy in the world, and therefore that it is economically more important than any single Spanish-speaking country.

Answer 6

It's hard to learn a new language.  It's even harder to learn a language you are not interested in learning.  If you are going to commit to learning another language then go with Japanese since you've interest in it.  The more interesting a subject the more passionate you are in following thru and doing a spectacular job of it.  Japanese.

Answer 7

Japanese is pretty useless if you're not going to live in Japan and if you're not going to live in a city/country where there are a lot of Japanese people. Languages like Spanish and French on the other hand is very useful because you can communicate with those languages in many countries and regions around the world.

If you can speak Spanish you can communicate in 23 countries, whereas if you can speak Japanese, it's only useful in Japan. Your dad is correct, but if you have some linguistic talent then perhaps you can challenge two foreign languages. One at a time though.

Answer 8

Japanese

FTW!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 9

Japanese, Spanish is the useless language. I'm not at all interested in Japanese neither I am I with Spanish. But If I were you learn whatever interest you, It's your life.

Btw, Spanish sucks ;-)

and I agree with Elle =)

Answer 10

Hello,

The Spanish colonized around the globe and there are over 400 million speakers in that language; its the fourth most spoken in the world. My second choice would be French.

If you hate Spanish because you have some difficulty then forget Japanese. You need to memorize an entirely different alphabet wheras with the Roman alphabet you have a better starting chance.

Cheers,

Michael Kelly

Answer 11

My mom says the same thing. The only place you can speak Japanese is in Japan! It'd be better to learn Chinese, because it's right next to English on the list of world languages. Chinese symbols are similar to Japanese, so you will benefit from it either way. If you really want to learn Japanese, go for it, remember, you can always learn Spanish later because it's so easy. I took 2 semesters of Spanish in HS, and when I hear Spanish on the street, I can understand a lot of it.

Answer 12

i say spanish it seems like a lot of immigrants in america knoww it so it could be useful when you grow up :]

Answer 13

I would say that they are useful for different things.  If you can, learn Spanish, it's not a hard language, and, like it or not, in 30 years it will be a very widely used language in the States.  Japanese, on the other hand, is very useful because the Japanese economy is booming (in terms of how much an economy can boom right now) and will continue to, so Japanese is useful for money-making purposes.  I'd recommend that you learn Japanese though, and use Pimsleur.

Answer 14

Which language is more useful all depends on what you intend to do with  it. For instance, if you're living in a place like Florida or Texas or California or even in Wisconsin in areas where there are a lot of migrant workers from Mexico or other Spanish-speaking countries, then you would certainly have more use for Spanish. But if you get into, say International Business and the company you work for does most of their business with Japanese firms, then you may regret not learning anything of the Japanese language or culture and all because someone else was of the opinion that it was useless.

But there is a third option, if you can manage it--you can try learning both. Of course, I may not be totally objective about this, since languages are my specialty, but I have learned Russian. Why? Because I wanted to. Is it useful? Certainly, at least for me, since my girlfriend is Russian and I'm working on starting a career in translation. I have also learned Spanish, and that has served me well, particularly at one of my last jobs where most of my coworkers were Mexicans who knew little to no English. And I have learned German simply because I wanted to, even though I have been told that it is a useless language. And surprisingly, my knowledge of German at times helps me to understand things in the other two languages, and vice versa.

So I guess the short answer is that the first step you need to take is to determine which of the languages is more useful TO YOU if you have no intention of learning both. Ask yourself what you want to do with it and go from there.

Answer 15

When deciding on a foreign language, ask yourself which one you're most interested in learning, NOT which is most useful.  If you're not interested in learning it, it's unlikely you'll ever reach a reasonable competence in the language.  Since you're really interested in Japanese,  you can definitely become competent, despite the fact that it's know to be a lot more difficult for a native English speaker than Spanish is.  

It certainly isn't a useless language, and could easily get you a job involving Japanese.

BTW, about 130 Million people speak Japanese.

It's true that you'll have to learn a completely new writing system with an incredible abundance of complex characters-but perseverance brings reward!

So just forget about what you're dad says and have fun learning and using Japanese!!!

And who knows...you may end up living in Japan one day! =)

Answer 16

Looking at the long term benefits of your decision as opposed to the immediate reasons for wanting to learn Japanese..."i love manga and anime and it looks like a really cool language to learn ", both languages will give you a marketable skill.  The question is which skill will yield the most benefits ($$$).  

There is no way to predict your future but Japan is now contributing importantly to the renewed boom of the world economy.  The likelihood that this will continue is helped considerably by the fact that its two main trading partners, China and the United States, are the main growth locomotives for the entire global recovery.  

Answer 17

Learning a language is hard enough without the burden of trying to learn one in which you have no interest.  I was forced to take Spanish in school, I barely passed and have never used it.  When I was in the Navy I spent time in Japan, and not speaking Spanish didn't cause me any problems at all.