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

[indie]

Latin! Helps you understand portuguese,spanish, italian, french!

 

[ank9]

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!)
I think the italians would have more problems with the english language, as it bears absolutely no relation with it, whereas french is a little bit similar to english. As for the more useful language, it's a tough choice...i'd say both.

 

[cloud9]

its a tie between french and chinese...
but im gonna say chinese, because a lot of people in europe can speak pretty good english while not a lot of people in china can speak good english..
besides. if you learn chinese it will be easier to learn japanese and korean later on

 

[Dulcisima]

In fashion industry is mainly Italian and French...Think Houte Coutre or ready to wear clothes or bags and shoes...I mean even French labels have factories in Italy ...so there is a need of communication...If you learn French its easy to pick up Italian( Ofcourse spanish is easier to pick the italian with) but in general French and Italian are sought as the most desirable language in the industry..I have a friend from China she is in the fashion business and she is learning French...she is working with established desingers..and they prefer European Languages specifically Italian and French...

 

[FC5]

i'm curious: as for the italians and the french, which are least likely to be able to speak english?

Ah, good idea but wrong question. Which are more hacked off if you can't speak their language? Easy, the French (and I fully support them for it).

Make an effort and generally they are wonderful to deal with. But the worst possible way to start a conversation in Paris is to use English without making at least an attempt at French.

The Italians on the otherhand seem unwilling to even let you speak Italian if they can speak English themselves.

 

[Classique]

Latin! Helps you understand portuguese,spanish, italian, french!

I was going to say the same thing. If you already speak one of the latin derived languages then it is easy to learn the rest, and am I right in thinking that the fashion world communicates in english or other european languages? as I imagine that Russian was more important for trade and economic related sectors and now it's the chinese languages. I suppose it depends on where you may like to specialise.

It's interesting to read what "yourbestfriend" mentioned about mandarin being more widely spoken than cantonese as I was toying with the idea of learning mandarin in the future.

 

[Ceptuouse]

^ Although Latin is quite hard to learn, but It is worth it.

I would say the most practical languages to learn are French, Italian and Japanese - expecially in the Fashion Idustry

Heres a link to why French is a Practical Language to learn http://www.intstudy.com/articles/practicalfrench.htm

 

[|PerfectTonight|]

Definitely English, French and Italian

 

[Lena]

French and Chinese are a must.. Italian fashion industry is not doing too well lately

 

[DancingQueen]

In general English is the assumed pivot language. Certainly fluency in English is important but, in my opinion, not enough. Do keep in mind that speaking the language of the country you are dealing with helps with negotiation, quality control, price validity, etc... And on top of business it helps with truly understanding the culture and appreciating the history of the country. These culutre understandings aid in gaining the respect and long-term relationships from your suppliers and vendors.

it is also human nature that an action is driven by perception. Thus, if you speak the language of your vendors or suppliers it gaves a perception that creates a positive action (a bit of consumer behavior. However, I have worked in the industry enough to realize if you do learn a language you need to be twice as good as the natives...but it is worth the effort!

Of course if you are dealing with the vendor side of the business it is more important to understand and speak the vendor's native language. if you are dealing with a supplier, it is not as important.

Picking a language is difficult but if you know which career path in fashion you desire to persue will help you in making the best decision.

 

[Lena]

excellent points dancingQueen

 

[DancingQueen]

Lena, you are too kind .

 

[catherinea]

English is first

 

[Oria]

well, for me I speak english from a little girl, my parents thought it important. besides that i have learned italian because it is necessary for what i do. i also speak decent spanish, and i am interested in chinese (mandarin/cantonese) and french these days.

 

[that cali girl]

wow, there's so much for me think about! thanks for all the fantastic input.

 

[catherinea]

I'm learning French. I would like to speak Russian. My brother is learning polish and says , like the romance languages , it is easy to understand the similar languages like russian etc

 

[dsq]

another vote for french here. mandarin would be good too if you are concentrating more on the manufacturing process. but you must think practically, how likely are you going to go through with the learning process especially when mandarin is so much harder to learn in comparison to french. I say learn french first, then study mandarin after.

 

[Dkammern]

English, French, Italian... what else do you need?

I've been wondering for a while if i should start learning another language, and i would like to do that focusing on what's best for a fashion marketing/pr/finantial job.

I speak English, which is the most used in business

French too

Italian doesnt worry me much (since i am spanish and i think i could easily get acquainted w/ that)

AND WHAT ELSE?​

what are Human Resources looking for?
i would expect Japanese, since it's a really big market. But would it be a better investment to start with Chinese or Russian (very-big-markets-to-be)

i rely on the very experienced tFSers around!!! Which one and Why?

 

[BetteT]

I just merged your new thread with the ongoing thread about this subject .... so you will find some answers already here.

Everyone ..... Please do a search of thread titles before starting a new thread becuase chances are there's already a thread here where you should post your question. An advanced search is the best way to check ... since we have soooo many threads at tFS.

 

[Dkammern]

^^thank you BetteT i had tried the search (just not advanced ) and nothing came up!! starting to read now