Chinese seems to be a good general choice, just because so many people on the planet speak it and because China is/will be an important actor in the global theater.
In spite of this, I’m studying japanese just because it’s at the crossroads of three things I find supremely fascinating: go, anime/mangas, and japanese culture (with the implicit plan of a trip to Japan in the near future).
Other examples: if you think you’ll have to deal with european beureaucracy, French might be a good choice, or Spanish if you want to have anything to do with dancing, etc.
I think this is probably really hard to answer sensibly without some more information about you and your goals.
Agreed.
Chinese seems to be a good general choice, just because so many people on the planet speak it and because China is/will be an important actor in the global theater.
In spite of this, I’m studying japanese just because it’s at the crossroads of three things I find supremely fascinating: go, anime/mangas, and japanese culture (with the implicit plan of a trip to Japan in the near future).
Other examples: if you think you’ll have to deal with european beureaucracy, French might be a good choice, or Spanish if you want to have anything to do with dancing, etc.
OTOH see this. (Some things have changed in the last 18 years, but most haven’t.)
I’m surprised to see French so much higher in many of the charts.