The Language of Fashion: Which language is best to study?

[mishahoi]

i'm curious: as for the italians and the french, which are least likely to be able to speak english? i'm sure nearly everyone does, but if it were a choice between the two, which langauge would be more useful? (calling all europeans!)

 

[November Rain]

i'm going to say chinese...seriously i'm thinking about taking it up, though it seems like a big pain...

Totally agree with you on that one. Chinese is going to become a dominant language on a global scale. Now I realise that there are 1 billion++ people who speak the language (mandarin), so it could be quite obvious but the language is spoken within their own country. The Chinese market is opening up to the influences of free markets. There are going to be heaps of potential in the fashion industry.

By the way. My hubby speaks mandarin chinese (he is not Chinese) and got offered a well paying job almost instantly in China. It is the language of the future.

 

[shambles]

^ The problem with Chinese is that there are so many dialects - for example in Shanghai many locals don't speak clearly in Mandarin because they are so used to speaking in Shanghainese (a dialect). But I definitely agree with you on the growing importance of China in the fashion industry.

 

[seva_bella#]

Hey Girls ummmm I guess boys too lol
I'm new here
I speak english,russian, swedish and my language uzbek
Well i kinda had to learn swedish cuz i live here now so that makes 4 languages (hey I'm not showing off) lol
Anyways I think any language u choose is gonna help u in any ways
Its good to be able to speak in many languages.

 

[Bluestar07]

French then spanish, japanese and chinese, theres alot of growth oppourtunity now adays, but mandarin not cantonese, because cantonese is only useful within Hong Kong.

I agree with this order of language choice (of course on the presumption we ALL speak english already ). But just a question ... if you speak 1 romance language e.g. Spanish, would it not be a lot easier then to just pick up others like Italian or French? I'm learning Spanish on my own and I find that I can at least make out simple Italian.

And I'm glad to see some people here finally zeroed in on the fact that Chinese has many dialects, the most "international" one being Mandarin of course. But like YBF said, Cantonese is the dialect in HK and is harder to learn than Mandarin. As I understand it ('cos I speka neither Mandarin nor Cantonese) in Mandarin, a single word has 4 meanings depending on the pitch and tone used whereas in Cantonese there are 8 meanings attributable to a single word! And apparently if you know Mandarin, it becomes a lot easier to pick up Japanese too so perhaps I'd choose Mandarin first before Japanese.

 

[Micaela]

I'd say French or Spanish would be more useful if the category you're dealing with is fashion.
But then, Chinese is practical because a large majority of people in Asia speaks Chinese. i heard it's hard to learn, but then I wouldn't know because i speak it lol!

 

[Tabasamu]

Spanish, French, Chinese, Arabic are among the top five.

 

[Tabasamu]

i'm curious: as for the italians and the french, which are least likely to be able to speak english? i'm sure nearly everyone does, but if it were a choice between the two, which langauge would be more useful? (calling all europeans!)

French would be more useful, it's spoken in other countries other than just france, (Switzerland, Canada, parts of Africa) whereas Italian is only spoken in Italy.

 

[berkeleygrrrl]

the problem with french, strictly from the point of view of marketing yrself, is that so many other applicants from america are going to list it as a second language owing to the number who take some in college or high school--most of whom come out knowing very little french, but that's another matter.
a lot of people here have mentioned chinese, i think they're right, what a huge growing market, maybe you should try that, but it's hard!

 

[JRSlims]

def. italian & spanish.. its so easy to learn both languages at the time...
french is totally useless in the fashion business unless you have a perfect accent (at least in france)..
chinese or japanese take too much time..

 

[charlybabez]

French or Mandarin definetely. Japanese would also be desirable.

 

[Cypresses]

my friend showed me an interestng article, it points out the following:

to learn chinese you are looking at at lease 2200 hours hard work
to learn spanish or french you are looking at lease 480 hours hard work

in US, Spanish is the largest second language, than it goes
1. spanish
2.French
3.Germany
4. Italian
5. Japanese
6.Chinese
7. Russian
8.Arabic
9. Korean

i hope this somehow helps the people who is struggling to find what language is praticle, i'll try to post the article when i get my copy, good luck!!

 

[berkeleygrrrl]

well, there's this; i may have posted it before. it's for americans who want to be diplomats, but is probably a pretty guide to how difficult different languages generall -- well, for people whose first langage is english:

http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/nov...pectations.html

have fun

 

[Ivee_]

I know spanish, catalan, english and I'm learning french at the moment. I'm just 17, so I'll learn more languages, japanese or chinese could be very interesant! (and so difficult too! hehe)

 

[DancingQueen]

If you are interested in merchandising or a career in buying the upcoming language would certainly be mandarin. Even luxury brands are producing products in China. French is a lovely language and would serve you well in the fashion industry.
Frankly if you can speak English, Spanish, Arabic, and mandarin than the world is at your finger tips(that covers most of the world population, no?)

 

[blackrose]

If you are interested in merchandising or a career in buying the upcoming language would certainly be mandarin. Even luxury brands are producing products in China.

That's a very good point. I have a friend who works for an apparel mass production and when they find something in a magazine like an expensive lace they would contact their suppliers in china and lo and behold they will find you cheap and faboulous lace.

I know also how to curse in:

French
Italian
Russian

 

[secondly]

China is the fastest growing (and potentially largest) luxury goods market in the world, so I'd reccomend Mandarin.

 

[Brunet]

Spanish
French
Italian
Russian

 

[fashionista-ta]

If you are interested in merchandising or a career in buying the upcoming language would certainly be mandarin. Even luxury brands are producing products in China. French is a lovely language and would serve you well in the fashion industry.
Frankly if you can speak English, Spanish, Arabic, and mandarin than the world is at your finger tips(that covers most of the world population, no?)

Even though I do not work in the fashion industry, I was thinking along the same lines. I live in a state where Caucasions are now in the minority, and it's not unusual for people to speak Spanish in front of me. My pitiful high school Spanish is no help at all. Generally they can speak English perfectly well enough--but they do not want to be understood. Especially since owning a house, I've regretted not knowing Spanish--before that it was really only an issue in restaurants.

So coming from a place of complete ignorance, I would say ... who do you expect to be interfacing with? Fabric mills in Italy? Specialty couture workshops in France? Manufacturers in China? And who is most likely to speak their own language in front of you even though they know English?

 

[Sunkist]

I agree with the person who said that it really depends on who you expect to be working with.

Additionally, keep in mind your own skills and interests. There are some people who naturally have a better aptitude for learning languages like Chinese than languages like French/Italian, and vice versa, because the skills involved in learning Chinese are slightly different than those needed to learn French/Italian. Also, which languages (and which cultures) fascinate you and interest you? You'll be much more likely to practice a language outside a classroom and keep up with it if you enjoy doing so.

I'd also add that no matter what foreign language you learn, it really pays to perfect your ENGLISH skills if you intend on working in the United States OR for any company with a strong American presence. You'd be surprised how valuable--and how RARE--someone that can write a clear, professional, organized, well-researched and convincing, letter or report (that needs minimal editing) in English is to companies, fashion or otherwise.