Colorado Technical University

What language should i learn for International Business major?

I'm going to mizzou this coming year and am planning on majoring in international business. I had an interest in learning Russian, however i'm not sure that would be the soundest option as russia does not seem to be an economic powerhouse. I'm also considering Chinese or Japanese but i'm not sure. Also, considering almost all business is international now, do you think such a major would be useless and instead i should get a MBA in business administration or marketing?

Public Comments

1. If you're looking for the language that would make the most economic sense, you should go for Chinese.
2. In the global economy, major in international business, and keep the MBA in mind as a possibility. Given the size and global reach of China, learning their language (okay, their official one: Mandarin, rather than Cantonese spoken in Hong Kong) is important. Both Japanese and Chinese are extraordinarily difficult to learn, and both can create huge problems for someone who tries to speak but is not very fluent. If you have the ability to learn languages, go for the Chinese, otherwise stick to Spanish, spoken by most of Central and South America except Brazil. Since almost all business is global, the understanding of the rest of the world's economy is basic necessity. More and more universities encourage students to spend at least a semester in another country, and many have relationships with foreign universities for that purpose. Stay with your first plan to major in international business and investigate Mizzou's semester abroad programs.
3. chinese or japanese would be an excellent choice because america has a lot of commerce relationships with the both of those country's. you should also consider France and German. good luck.
4. Mandarin is the best now and into the future. Japanese is okay but that peaked twenty years ago; China is where it's at for then next few decades. Even the Japanese send their own people to learn Chinese as they put their factories out there. Tough language though, so good luck.