What good will having a second language be for an Engineer?

[ericsfailsafe]

I'm considering trying to learn a second language by either joining the military or attending a language school. If I join the military I will most likely learn Arabic or Chinese, probably Arabic I'm guessing.

I'm currently studying at UNF to become an electrical engineer. What benefit would having Arabic as a second language be to an electrical engineer? Obviously this would be of great use to the CIA, NSA, etc but I'm talking about in the private sector. I'm really just interested to find out if it's worthy learning a language instead or pursuing another secondary skill that would help me make more money like an MBA or Masters. I have other reasons for this question but in this post just consider what would maximize my income.

Thoughts?


Thanks for your help!

 

[brewnog]

Chinese or Arabic can both be incredibly useful as an engineer in the private sector, providing you're looking for a job in the appropriate regions. I'd love to be able to speak either language with a degree of fluency, but as it stands I only know enough pleasantaries to get a foot in the door.

German and Spanish would also have their advantages.

 

[phinds]

At some point in your career, you may well decide that you would like to be an engineering manager rather than a shirtsleeves engineer. I believe that almost ALL engineers start their careers with the POV that they want to stay shirtsleeves engineers but many find after a while that both the money and the satisfaction increase when you start managing projects. In the current age of globalization, and likely to be even more so in the future, having a 2nd language will offer you additional, and potentially considerably more lucrative, career paths in international firms.