Best language to learn if interested in a career in biomedical research?

[MichalTheGolden]

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Hi All,

In your opinion, what is the best language to learn if one wishes to pursue a career in biomedical research? I have taken Spanish since high school, and in college...and I am bored with it. I still have not mastered it, either. I do not wish to have to take up to level 4 as required by my university. I am considering studying abroad for two summers in the same country to learn another language to the 4th level--I was leaning toward Chinese, Japanese, or French, but I'm not really sure what is best in the biomedical research field.

Also, more than likely I will want to move outside of the United States at some point after graduating from MD/PhD program--probably to Europe, or even Japan (but I am afraid to live somewhere to conduct research if the language spoken where I work is not my first language).

So, which language(s) do you believe to be most useful in biomedical research IN and OUT of the United States?

Thank you in advance for your input.


EDIT: I also forgot to mention that I do wish to be a practicing physician in addition to conducting research, so I suppose that you should also think about a language that would be good for seeing patients as well as working with colleagues that conduct research too.

 

[clarkalim]

This is a question I've had before too!! Most have said SPANISH, but I've also heard that Mandarin Chinese is good. Some say it will be the next lingua franca. But I don't know how good it is for biomedical research though. According to the NIH, after English, the second highest number of medical publications/papers or something like that are published in Mandarin Chinese.

I wonder if maybe German is a good language to learn too??

 

[Neuronix]

I'd go with mandarin. A lot of post-docs and Chinese labs only speak it and little English. Labs from anywhere else almost always speak decent English.

Don't see how Spanish or German would be helpful at all. You could work at sites in those countries on English alone. I know because a grad student from my lab does post-doc in Germany and knows little German.

Now my opinion: if you're applying MD/PhD, master the Spanish. The clinical benefits of that will far outweigh any benefits you get from superficially learning a third language you'll likely forget and never use meaningfully in a research context.

 

[clarkalim]

I'd go with mandarin. A lot of post-docs and Chinese labs only speak it and little English. Labs from anywhere else almost always speak decent English.

Don't see how Spanish or German would be helpful at all. You could work at sites in those countries on English alone. I know because a grad student from my lab does post-doc in Germany and knows little German.

Now my opinion: if you're applying MD/PhD, master the Spanish. The clinical benefits of that will far outweigh any benefits you get from superficially learning a third language you'll likely forget and never use meaningfully in a research context.

Hey Neuronix,

So would you recommend a MD/PhD student learn Mandarin Chinese over Spanish if learning both was not possible? Which one would be more useful in the field?

 

[clarkalim]

Hi All,

In your opinion, what is the best language to learn if one wishes to pursue a career in biomedical research? I have taken Spanish since high school, and in college...and I am bored with it. I still have not mastered it, either. I do not wish to have to take up to level 4 as required by my university. I am considering studying abroad for two summers in the same country to learn another language to the 4th level--I was leaning toward Chinese, Japanese, or French, but I'm not really sure what is best in the biomedical research field.

Also, more than likely I will want to move outside of the United States at some point after graduating from MD/PhD program--probably to Europe, or even Japan (but I am afraid to live somewhere to conduct research if the language spoken where I work is not my first language).

So, which language(s) do you believe to be most useful in biomedical research IN and OUT of the United States?

Thank you in advance for your input.


EDIT: I also forgot to mention that I do wish to be a practicing physician in addition to conducting research, so I suppose that you should also think about a language that would be good for seeing patients as well as working with colleagues that conduct research too.

BTW--I'm sick of Spanish too (I'm from California, so I'm just sooo used to it that it became boring to have to learn...I never really mastered it either though). But, isn't Japanese only useful IN Japan? And I never really hear too many French speakers, except francophone (sp?) Africans at my school, but they speak English too so...

I feel like Mandarin would be the best choice..or Spanish I guess...idk. I've been brainwashed into believing that Spanish is everything hahah

 

[Neuronix]

Hey Neuronix,

So would you recommend a MD/PhD student learn Mandarin Chinese over Spanish if learning both was not possible? Which one would be more useful in the field?

Spanish is more useful in general in the USA. I know it seems routine, but it is one of the few useful things you can learn in undergrad for med school. Go study abroad and immerse yourself and have fun in a Spanish speaking country for awhile while you're at it.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

Hi All,

In your opinion, what is the best language to learn if one wishes to pursue a career in biomedical research? I have taken Spanish since high school, and in college...and I am bored with it. I still have not mastered it, either. I do not wish to have to take up to level 4 as required by my university. I am considering studying abroad for two summers in the same country to learn another language to the 4th level--I was leaning toward Chinese, Japanese, or French, but I'm not really sure what is best in the biomedical research field.

Also, more than likely I will want to move outside of the United States at some point after graduating from MD/PhD program--probably to Europe, or even Japan (but I am afraid to live somewhere to conduct research if the language spoken where I work is not my first language).

So, which language(s) do you believe to be most useful in biomedical research IN and OUT of the United States?

Thank you in advance for your input.


EDIT: I also forgot to mention that I do wish to be a practicing physician in addition to conducting research, so I suppose that you should also think about a language that would be good for seeing patients as well as working with colleagues that conduct research too.

Learn Spanish. I am doing so at the moment. It's one of the easiest languages to learn from an English native background and very useful in the clinical setting in the US and the 3rd most spoken language in the world. Mandarin is something you should pursue after you have a few "easy" Indo-European languages under your belt and really know *how* to learn languages efficiently (yes, there is a technique that works best for you, which you discover only with time).

 

[JackADeli]

...lingua franca...

That statement should answer your question...

Hi All,

In your opinion, what is the best language to learn if one wishes to pursue a career in biomedical research? I have taken Spanish since high school, and in college...and ...I still have not mastered it, either...

Learn Spanish. ...It's one of the easiest languages to learn from an English native background and very useful in the clinical setting in the US and the 3rd most spoken language in the world. Mandarin is something you should pursue after you have a few "easy" ...languages under your belt and really know *how* to learn languages efficiently...

Just a few points.

If this is to benefit research, I recommend either German or French. Whatever the language, you need to put a great deal of effort to fully learn it. A latin language, particularly French will probably get you furthest. A good handle of French with a weak background in Spanish and you can ~read the vast majority of research publications from Canada, Latin America, and Europe.

Mandarin may sound exciting. However, it is one of the far more dificult languages to learn. Chances are the vast majority of research pubs you will reference will not be via China but rather Canada, Latin-Am, and Europe (English, Latin, German based languages). You have spent years on Spanish and still not mastered it. That background in Spanish may help you pick up some French (even if you do not master that either) but will not help you in Mandarin.

 

[SaltySqueegee]

Just my bias, but you'd probably be better served with a computer programming language under your belt. If you don't have one already.

Else, I'll echo others in this thread that a dominant dialect of Chinese, or maybe even Korean, would serve you well. Most research oriented Hispanic types already speak and write in English to a considerable degree.

In my experience, of course.

 

[PfNO22]

.

 

[bd4727]

Just my bias, but you'd probably be better served with a computer programming language under your belt. If you don't have one already.

This is the most useful piece of advice in what is a rather ridiculous topic. You are not going to read papers written in French journals... If you want to learn another language that is great and I am all for it, but it isn't going to help you be a better scientist in any way.