Should i learn Arabic or Indonesian? (1 Viewer)

[Rachael325]

Please guys i am desperate for your opinions and advice. I have to decide by the end of the weekend if i want to study arabic or indonesian at uni. I've been thinking about it so much and i cant decide. I want to do both equally as much but which do you think would be more useful (particularly as i am hopefully headed towards working in foreign affairs). I already speak french if that makes any difference.

So please help me urgently - Arabic or Indonesian?

 

[_dhj_]

Arabic sounds more likely to be useful than Indonesian to me, although maybe you should try to find out more info on career opportunities for those languages (as we're not likely to be experts in this area).

 

[Mountain.Dew]

personally, if you want a challenge, learn arabic.

if not, do indonesian. i can tell you that because i have done a little bit of indonesian at primary school, and it is quite easy. also not to mention they use the english alphabet as well, although the phonetics are not entirely the same...

 

[ujuphleg]

This will sound really discrimmitory, but of what nationality are you?

I considered learning Arabic as well, but as I'm female and of Chinese descent - in general I understood that Middle Easterners were quite mistrusting of Chinese and thus, in a job in Foreign Affairs, it would be useless for me to speak Arabic, as they would be less inclined to trust me anyways.

Indonesia is a huge country and is sitting right on our doorstep. There is an increase of diplomatic exchange between the two countries and if you are looking at working in Australian Foreign Affairs, then I would strongly suggest Indonesian.

If you are looking at going overseas then, perhaps Arabic.

But in the next 10 years, its my belief that the current situation with the Middle East will disappear and all of a sudden, the West will start pre-occupying itself with China/India.

Asian languages (Indonesian, Mandarin or Hindi) are the way to go for the future.

 

[The General]

I study Indonesian and Latin and I've found that Indonesian is a fantastic language to learn, as it is relatively easy (in comparison to Latin and French) and it is so topical because they are such close neighbours. If you are ever considering working in any diplomatic fields, Indo is the way to go.

It is derived from Dutch and Malay, but has many English words (like diskriminasi or westernisasi = discrimination and westernisation) that makes it easier to learn.

Don't listen to anybody who says that there's no point doing Indo because nobody speaks it - there are 250 million people who speak it and it's close enough to Malay to be able to be understood, so that's many more people there.

Indonesian is fun, relatively easy and very useful. It's the way to go.

 

[YBK]

Arabic would probably be much harder than indonesian.

I can speak and write/read it. Speaking arabic is different to writing it (as you probably already know). And as a previous poster said, the news is said in a different form to the normal spoken arabic; it is the same as written arabic. You have to know both, so it's in a way like learning two languages.

 

[YBK]

Oh, and I recomend you learn arabic.

I don't know what ujuphleg is talking about. :S

 

[ujuphleg]

Oh, and I recomend you learn arabic.

I don't know what ujuphleg is talking about. :S

Well scuuuuse me then

The point is, whilst everyone may have an opinion they aren't necessarily the right ones. We know nothing about your background/ease of learning re: languages etc. so its not for us to judge, ultimatley we provide opinions but you have to make your own answers.

 

[The_Apprentice]

I learnt Indonesian in primary school too. I liked it! I think that Indonesian would give you more job prospects if you're working in Australia, I don't know about Arabic.

 

[YBK]

Well scuuuuse me then

The point is, whilst everyone may have an opinion they aren't necessarily the right ones. We know nothing about your background/ease of learning re: languages etc. so its not for us to judge, ultimatley we provide opinions but you have to make your own answers.

heh, okay, I just exactly wasn't sure what you meant, merely the way you justified that arabic is not a language for the future.




btw, Rachael325, I can speak french too
french + arabic = great mix

 

[ujuphleg]

Oh I didn't necessarily say that Arabic is not a language for the future - of course it is. But I was also saying, underestimating the power of other languages isn't good either.

Like I said, these are all our own opinions. Ultimatley Rachael325 will have to make her own decision.

 

[Fuzzy Juzzy]

I've studied Indonesian for the past four-and-a-bit years. (Although I did just drop it). It's a rather easy choice as far as languages go. I only dropped it because I was forced to study it via correspondence - we only had a class of nine during years 9 and 10, and upon electing subjects for this year (11), only two of us wanted to continue. Correspondence is a bitch.

But yeah, I've got nothing when it comes to Arabic, but Indonesian is a worthwhile choice. Especially if you're going to be working in Australia - lots of career opportunities I hear.

 

[YBK]

Oh I didn't necessarily say that Arabic is not a language for the future - of course it is. But I was also saying, underestimating the power of other languages isn't good either.

Like I said, these are all our own opinions. Ultimatley Rachael325 will have to make her own decision.

No problemo, understood

 

[LoneShadow]

I don't know about Indonesian but Arabic is a very hard language (The formal language). Also it's quite a beautiful language.

 

[darkroomgirl]

I learnt Indonesian and it was quite easy to learn, whereas with Arabic, I have a lot of Lebanese friends who speak it quite fluently and yet cannot understand a word of the news. For that factor alone, I would say go for Indonesian.

 

[greeninsanity]

Rachael - Have you been going to the Indonesian classes? I didn't like the lecturer...

 

[YBK]

I learnt Indonesian and it was quite easy to learn, whereas with Arabic, I have a lot of Lebanese friends who speak it quite fluently and yet cannot understand a word of the news. For that factor alone, I would say go for Indonesian.

That's because they didn't ever "learn" arabic.

 

[LoneShadow]

That's because they didn't ever "learn" arabic.

true. spoken Arabic is quite different to the formal language. The formal language, which I'm sure the Uni will be teaching, is not easy. Just as an example: a single verb in Arabic has 14 different forms. I did Arabic for 2 yrs as a language subject in my school. I didn't learn much.

 

[p-unit]

do none if i were to chose i would learn chiness
i will be the most importanat lang in comming years

 

[kow_dude]

I would do indonesian without hesitation (personal reasons).