Confused over which language I should be taking?

[Kevin1990]

I'm a current undergraduate Junior studying history/international studies who is interested in going to grad school for strategic/defense studies, modern military history, or international security. My interests are the evolution of modern warfare, and theories/classics of war, methodology of armed conflict as well as intelligence collecting and gathering amongst related issues. I also have a strongly connected interest in the military affairs of the Middle East.

Well here's my deal(yet again)

I'm signed up for Persian/Farsi for the Spring semester, which I decided to take due to my interest in Middle Eastern military affairs as well as to have a critical language under my belt, since I've been strongly encouraged to apply for a Boren Scholarship. As well as the fact that I'm trying to get an internship and other grad related work, so I figure it would look good on my record esp. If I can gain some form of fluency.

However given my overall interest in studying war, many people have recommended that German is the language.

I already have started French and made it up to an intermediate level that I learned previously before stopping, and I was planning on finishing up my intermediate that up this summer.

This has posed an issue for me in some ways since given my interest in military affairs in the ME, I should take a language for the region to gain relevancy. I feel I should be taking German for the theoretical and historical grounding overall in regards to my overall interest in modern warfare.

[Armadilla]

Honestly, my advice would be (I speak 7 languages and have gone through this "which language should I study?" ordeal): FOCUS on 1 language and do not over stress yourself with all these other linguistic temptations. Plus, you really do not need to take a formal course in order to be able to speak the language. In fact, I've met so many people who have taken all these languages in college and I was shocked they couldn't really communicate in those languages. recently, I've made friends with a couple of people from one of the best Russian language programs at this Ivy League school (I don't wanna name it) and they 1)majored in Russian 2) did a semester abroad 3) could not communicate with me in Russian even when they were drunk (which is sad!). I would definitely recommend taking a formal course in Farsi because it is a very challenging Indo-European language for an English speaker and the writing system is also something you would wanna be trained on. Just remember one thing: speaking a foreign language is YOUR own achievement which has nothing to do with your grades for the language course. You have to be able to keep up with it, watch the movies, listen to the radio/music, chat on those social networks, read newspapers, make friends and understand a totally different culture without even visiting the country and finally, just fall in love with it and make this language a part of your EVERY DAY life. Hope this helps )

[edost]

I think Farsi is fine. Arabic would also be a good choice, but I agree with Armadilla that you should focus on one language.

German would help only if you want to read certain original historical texts, I think. I'm not an expert, though. You should consult one of your professors.

[washdc]

I agree with what everyone else stated. You need to pick a language now and focus/stick with it. You technically should have started freshmen year, rather than switching mid-studies. Farsi is a difficult language to learn, but the Boren scholarship will be excellent and I think it's great you're going to apply to that in the future.

Arabic is also good. Which country specifically are you interested in? Arabic has a more over-arching appeal in terms of being able to study anywhere from Morocco to Egypt to Saudi.

And don't stop with French, continue it.. even if informally. You can always learn German later. I speak 5 languages. Once you get three down you're pretty good to go. The rest are a piece of cake.

[calire89]

I would agree that Arabic would probably be more useful in terms of understanding warfare in countries around the world, which might help if you end up becoming more interested in another region or just want to make useful comparisons between regions. Because Islam was spread so aggressively throughout Africa, you'd be able to find quite a few countries in which Arabic has been/is still spoken.