Let's talk about Spanish Forum

[Veyron]

Fluency useful for crim and immigration and a plus in hiring for these fields.

Just lol at "international law" and your knowledge of Spanish being at all useful for obtaining a job in this. Farsi, maybe. Spanish - no.

false... know kjds working on latam capmkts and going to foreign offices on basis of grades and spanish speaking abilities alone

FTFY

Also, something ppl don't realize about spanish (or any language) is that even if you "know" the language you probably don't know the technical vocab enough to be a proficient lawyer in it.

[mephistopheles]

Fluency useful for crim and immigration and a plus in hiring for these fields.

Just lol at "international law" and your knowledge of Spanish being at all useful for obtaining a job in this. Farsi, maybe. Spanish - no.

false... know kjds working on latam capmkts and going to foreign offices on basis of grades and spanish speaking abilities alone

FTFY

Also, something ppl don't realize about spanish (or any language) is that even if you "know" the language you probably don't know the technical vocab enough to be a proficient lawyer in it.

well, maybe in your neck of the woods. proficiency did play a role, and spanish is in demand. just because you could never master business and legal spanish doesn't mean other people can't.

[worldtraveler]

Wow there is a lot of crazy misinformation in this thread.

I can't speak to what law firms want in terms of languages, but I can talk about international law/the NGO world.

First, there are people with these jobs who only speak English. More than you might think. They're at a comparative disadvantage though, and tend to be older. For new people just starting out, only speaking English probably won't work out for you.

Second, you need to separate out different kinds of fluency. A lot of jobs with the UN, international courts, or NGOs require professional working fluency. This doesn't mean you are fluent, it means you are fluent in legal English and in the legal vernacular of another language. French is usually the most in demand, along with other UN working languages. In order to meet this standard you need to understand and use complicated legal jargon in whatever language, be able to fluently read legal documents or scholarly articles, be able to give a presentation in that other language, and likely simultaneously translate. This is an incredibly hard standard to meet for anyone who is not a native speaker. I do this kind of work in English, French, and Swahili and it is often mentally exhausting.

Working in immigration or another field that wants a foreign language is a little different. The most important aspect is your ability to converse. Drafting and editing skills are a lot less important. A lot of people meet this standard, even non-native speakers.

Quite frankly, no one is going to be impressed just by fluency in another common language like French or Spanish. It's pretty much expected, and given that there are so many French and Spanish speaking countries that also produce quality attorneys (who probably speak English pretty well), it's not like there is a shortage. But if you have working fluency in multiple languages, then you really have an easier time finding employment. If you think an NGO or the UN will be impressed by your Spanish ability, you are mistaken.