I am an american living in the United States with a small child (3
yrs) and have read about the benefits of learning a second language at
a young age.  I am contemplating learning (with my child) a second
language and am interested in knowing what would be the most USEFUL
second language for MY CHILD to learn?

By USEFUL I mean deriving the greatest economic benefit...

Hi there!

I am bilingual myself, and think it's a terrific idea for anyone to
learn another language.  In addition to gaining the ability to look at
your mother tongue from a new perspective, there are economic benefits
to being fluent in another language as well.

According to an article at EmploymentReview.com, the need for
bilingual employees in the United States has been growing since about
1980.  Since Hispanics make up the largest minority ethnic group in
the US, it would appear that Spanish would be the language most in
demand.  Fluency in Spanish may be required in the medical professions
(certain clinics and hospitals, as well as elder care facilities), in
law enforcement fields, hospitality services such as hotel and resort
management, airline personnel (pilots, attendants and general crew),
and in more mainstream sales and general staffing positions.

The article discusses the salaries of bilingual employees, revealing
that government employees in Denton County, Texas, are paid up to $50
more per month than employess who speak only English.  A joint study
undertaken by the University of Florida, the University of Miami and
the Florida Department of Education showed that fully bilingual
Hispanic employees made an average of $7000 a year more than coworkers
who spoke only English.

"Bilingual Skills Boost Wages and Worth"
[ http://www.employmentreview.com/2001-09/coverstory/CNcstory.asp ]

Clearly, in many portions of the US (particularly Florida, Texas,
California, the Southwest and in virtually every agricultural
community), Spanish is *the* language in demand.  My own hometown (in
Ohio) has a significant Hispanic-American community, and employers all
over the city routinely ask applicants if they speak Spanish.

Of course, if you're not set on the idea of language as a spoken means
of communication, perhaps you might consider learning ASL - American
Sign Language.

American Sign Language interpreters are needed in nearly every sector
of American society - in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, churches,
courts, police departments - and are not geographically limited. 
Skilled, certified ASL interpreters can earn as much as $45 an hour,
and often enjoy a great flexibility with their jobs.

"AAS in ASL to English Interpreting"
[ http://www.rit.edu/~477www/aas-asl/SLInterp.htm ]

Of course, none of this is to say that learning any other foreign
language would not have a great economic benefit.  Interpreters for
nearly every language are in constant demand by government agencies
for Intelligence purposes and Diplomatic occasions, with starting
salaries as high as $46,000 a year for some interpreters! (This from a
personal source.)  Recent news reports have indicated that the demand
for Arabic speaking interpreters has been high, and it is likely to
remain so for the forseeable future.

Whatever language you choose for you and your child, I hope you both
enjoy it.  Learning a foreign language is stimulating, fun and a great
resource later!

Thanks for your inquiry, I hope this helped!

Best regards,

missy-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by missy-ga on 01 May 2002 23:09 PDT

A nifty resource if you're planning to study a language at home is the
BBC's "Muzzy" series.  I use this series, in addition to my own
fluency, to teach my children German.  It's charming and quirky, and
attention grabbing (and available in Spanish, French, German and
Italian):

[ http://www.early-advantage.com/ ]

The series is often available for loan from the public library, I'd
highly recommend giving it a look.

Dear Don2-ga!

" deriving the greatest economic benefit..." might notreally  be in
the interest of a child developing his own interests and personality:
very typical american question! However, the answer is easy: Chinese.
all the best,

A child can learn any language if it has an emotional reason to do so.
If you teach your 3 year old japanese because it is cute, but the
child does not have anyone important (to him/her) to talk to, the
child will not retain that knowledge well.

If you have an au-pair or other person around the child likes, the
child will automatically learn the language if it is consistently
spoken to in that language. Also videos in that language will
reinforce the knowledge.

To make the child truly bi-lingual, you need to have a person
communicate in that other language daily and consistently.

I will suggest spanish or french to get a grip on a latin language and
spanish is easy to hear in the states - alternative is german.

Sign language is cool to know, but I doubt it stimulates the language
skills as much as the spoken language since it is not based on sounds.

Good luck

Michel

As a mother of two bi-lingual children who have had delayed speech. I
would advise you to think very carefully about teaching a child to
speak a second language unless you have a really good reason to do so
and some support network to help you do so in the manner which is best
for the child. Learning a second language can be very confusing for a
child who has only just mastered the grammatical structures and
vocabulary of a first language.

According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 10801
Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. Phone (800) 638-8255:
In general, speech-language problems are less likely to occur when
both languages are introduced early and simultaneously. There is a
greater possibility of problems if children are introduced to a second
language during the preschool years after another language was used
exclusively. Some people believe that if a second language is
introduced before the first language is fully developed, the
development of the first language may be slowed or even regress.
Others believe that the skill level of the second language will
develop only to that of the first.

http://www.kidsource.com/ASHA/bilingual.html

Dear Don2:

My own experience as a trilingual engineer has given me the most
economic benefit from learning a niche language.  My second language
is Spanish, and since half the population in the US claims to speak it
(along with the 10% whose mother tongues is Spanish) the competition
is quite high for jobs/projects in US that require Spanish.  However,
since not many Americans speak Italian (what I speak), German,
Japanese; when these jobs come up, there rarely is competition.

Thus my recommendation is to learn a niche language very  well, and if
there is
time and energy, learn Spanish.

Have fun,
Claudietta