Need help selecting a 2nd language to learn.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Spanish, German or French.

You don't need to study Spanish and Italian or vice versa. Learning one becomes piece of cake after learning the other, I'm told.

That is, considering the career purposes. Mandarin Chinese gets an option in that regard too.

For pleasure I'd go Greek, Persian or Finnish.
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[Mouzafphaerre]

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iii) Your coolness factor will be greatly increased because you can utter a knowledgeable 'ooooh it all makes sense now...' when Dr. House says 'Rhabdomyolysis' or 'Neuromyotonia' or 'Idiopathic'

Dr. House rocks!

Seriously now, don't try to learn Greek...

Been there, done that. I'll resume it as soon as my teacher returns from Greece. Also I'm attending Classical Greek + Latin at the uni for the next year.
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[Fisherking]

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For pleasure I'd go Greek, Persian or Finnish.
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Four pleasure? For the simple joy of speaking? Finnish?

Now I have nothing against the Finns…but learning the language is not a pleasant experience.

If you are going to take that approach then the oldest spoken language in Europe might be a good choice.

That would be Irish (Gaelic). Practically no one will understand you, not even the ones who speak it most likely…especially if you learn the northern dialect…

But hay! When you go to Ireland you get a whole other TV channel you can understand.

And lets face it, a trip to Ireland is a much more likely and pleasant sounding than Finland.

And Finns are not known for being exactly the friendliest or happiest people on the face of the earth…

[LittleGrizzly]

I hear they're stepping up efforts to 'bring back' Gaelic in Ireland and Scotland... so the langauge seems to be on the up... would much rather we taught kids french, german or some other useful langauge...

[InsaneApache]

For the novelty you could learn Cornish. Only about 180 people speak it! Talk about a clique.

[Fragony]

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Spanish, German or French.

You don't need to study Spanish and Italian or vice versa. Learning one becomes piece of cake after learning the other, I'm told.

That is, considering the career purposes. Mandarin Chinese gets an option in that regard too.

For pleasure I'd go Greek, Persian or Finnish.
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I find English and French much easier I don't have to think when using them. German on the other hand.. it's a very complex language and the similarities with the dutch language makes it all the more difficult.

[Subotan]

German. German is a really logical language, similar to English, loads of people speak it, and Germans are really nice. Although I also plan to learn Japanese after university, and I've already got under way learning the various kana. If you're thinking about Japanese, I suggest you apply for the JET Programme, where you spend 1-5 years in Japan teaching English to Japanese kids. It's paid for by Japanese tax payers, You need no prior knowledge of Japanese, and you'll pick a lot up on the way. All you need is a commitent and a bachelor's degree.