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Both are useful, but are you going to become fluent in one? I feel like clients would rather try to speak English than have you speak to them in broken Chinese/Spanish.

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Spanish. I am trying to go into immigration and most of the jobs I see have spanish fluency as a requirement.

PariSiamo wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Both are useful, but are you going to become fluent in one? I feel like clients would rather try to speak English than have you speak to them in broken Chinese/Spanish.

Well I'm likely going to teach English for a year in China or S America (just returned from doing it in Russia), but Spanish probably would be more realistic in terms of approaching fluency. I could maybe reach conversational proficiency after a year in China, definitely not written.

'Fluency' is a tricky term. But yes, you would be much nearer to gaining it in Spanish in a year than in Chinese (especially depending on your level of French going in). Whether that would be equivalent to being able to work with a client in that language, in 1 year, I don't know -- could you interact with them? yes. Substitute an interpreter? Unless you are studying full time, that's a lot to get out of a year. Working in law in another language is pretty challenging (I do legal interpretation but after 10 years studying the language, and at least 2 years total spent in spanish-speaking contexts) and I imagine carries a lot of liability as an attorney. I think it's totally worth it, just curious what your goals are when you talk about using it as an immigration attorney.

Ed: Definitely think it's worth it -- just also think that I'd be really hesitant to work in an official capacity in say French, in which I have an intermediate level, having studied about 3 years and spent ~ 7 months in French-speaking contexts… but any level would help you re: reading documents, building rapport. I'm just not sure that 1 year abroad would qualify you to apply for a post that requests a 'bilingual attorney' as mentioned above, for example.

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PariSiamo wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

PariSiamo wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Both are useful, but are you going to become fluent in one? I feel like clients would rather try to speak English than have you speak to them in broken Chinese/Spanish.

Well I'm likely going to teach English for a year in China or S America (just returned from doing it in Russia), but Spanish probably would be more realistic in terms of approaching fluency. I could maybe reach conversational proficiency after a year in China, definitely not written.

'Fluency' is a tricky term. But yes, you would be much nearer to gaining it in Spanish in a year than in Chinese (especially depending on your level of French going in). Whether that would be equivalent to being able to work with a client in that language, in 1 year, I don't know -- could you interact with them? yes. Substitute an interpreter? Unless you are studying full time, that's a lot to get out of a year. Working in law in another language is pretty challenging (I do legal interpretation but after 10 years studying the language, and at least 2 years total spent in spanish-speaking contexts) and I imagine carries a lot of liability as an attorney. I think it's totally worth it, just curious what your goals are when you talk about using it as an immigration attorney.

Ed: Definitely think it's worth it -- just also think that I'd be really hesitant to work in an official capacity in say French, in which I have an intermediate level, having studied about 3 years and spent ~ 7 months in French-speaking contexts… but any level would help you re: reading documents, building rapport. I'm just not sure that 1 year abroad would qualify you to apply for a post that requests a 'bilingual attorney' as mentioned above, for example.

No, I wouldn't market myself as "bilingual" without having fluency and I wouldn't expect to become fluent after a year. I do think proficiency would be an asset in communicating with clients. Maybe I could continue taking lessons while in law school, or is that unrealistic?

yeah that makes perfect sense for proficiency, should be completely doable and really helpful -- sorry I have kind of a knee jerk reaction because sometimes people post on here about how they have studied for 3 years in school or have been abroad for 6 months and they are 'fluent' and ready to work in the language, and that's just always a little hard to believe.

But yes, as far as I know it is generally possible to cross register after first year and take some language courses. Also, if you are volunteering/doing clinical/doing pro bono in most parts of the country, I'd imagine you will have lots of opportunities to be exposed to Spanish (idk about Chinese)-- in UG I had semesters where I didn't go a day without speaking Spanish several hours a day, between classes and working at nonprofits that work with migrants, etc. (and that was not in a part of the country like Texas or California that are known for having huge Spanish-speaking populations).

I would talk to lawyers in the region where you want to practice. I'd bet Spanish is more useful - where I am, anyone who wants to do immigration has to know Spanish - but I'm not in the PNW and it's possible you could work up a niche doing immigration for Chinese-speakers. You'd be putting all your eggs in that basket, though.

Im interning with DHS right now and Spanish is definitely a must if you want to work in immigration law (either prosecution or defense). Have you seen the news recently? 67,000+ honduran children rushing the borders ... how many chinese are doing this? <1%

Chinese is cool, but Spanish is practical. good luck

Missed that you're an 0L. Moved to correct forum.

I have a friend who speaks Mandarin who is struggling to find immigration jobs because he doesn't speak Spanish. Learn Spanish.