Chinese and Spanish are both some of the most widely spoken languages in the world and very useful to be skilled in!
Spanish is the official language of 18 countries in the world and is spoken by over 500 million people. It is also one of the 6 official languages of Europe. Thus, it is fair to say that for a large part of the world, especially the west, if you plan to visit it anytime soon, you will definitely end up meeting people who speak Spanish. Thus if you could learn Spanish, to speak, you would be able to communicate with them in a manner that would be proven and effective. After all, who doesn’t want to immerse themselves in the local culture? And what better way to do it than to learn the local language, especially one as widely spoken as Spanish.
Consider, on the other hand, Chinese. It is also one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, clocking in at 1.3 billion people!
Of course, they do speak a variety of dialects, but they are interrelated and mastery of the most common form, mandarin, will net you reasonable competency in the rest of the dialects.
If you’re wondering which one would be a good idea to learn, you’ve come to the right place!
On a direct comparison, solely based on the number of speakers, you’d be better off learning Chinese because you’d be able to converse with a higher number of the total population. The fact stands that on direct comparison, Mandarin has more speakers than Spanish. But it is worth considering that most of the Chinese speakers are restricted to China while Spanish speakers are spread out over a large part of the world. additionally, Spanish is closely related to English than Chinese is, so you would have an easier time learning Spanish than you would Chinese.
In the end, what language you want to learn depends on what it is you wish to accomplish.
If you plan to primarily work and live in the west, especially in South America or in Europe, you would be better off learning Spanish. Spanish is also called a Romance language because it is very pleasant to listen to and easy to speak. Even a large portion of the population of the primarily English-speaking USA speak Spanish, so you would definitely be at an advantage if you learn Spanish to move to the west.
On the other hand, if you plan to move to China, you would be better off learning Chinese.. Therefore, consider your circumstances before you make a decision to learn either language.
It is an undeniable fact that knowing Chinese in China would be a massive advantage. Being able to better converse with a foreign population would open up a lot of closed doors for you and enable you to better integrate yourself into the population. They would also be less distrusting and more accommodating of an individual willing to take the time to speak with them better.