Here in Canada, it's French. There are a lot of good paying jobs up here that are available only to bi-lingual people.

Other than that, I'd say Spanish and in a close second, Japanese. A lot of Japanese folks know at least basic English and if you have a U.S. education, you likely already know a bit of Spanish.
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I'd say either Japanese or Spanish.
Source(s):
In the process of learning conversational Spanish. I learned German in high school, and although it's handy to be able to understand Hitler speaking in old documentary footage, it's a bit more useful for me to be able to speak Spanish with someone at a Mexican restaurant or ethnic fair.

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Assuming you live in the U.S., Spanish by FAR is the most marketable second-language to have. The majority of bilingual jobs in the country are English/Spanish, and the Spanish-speaking minority is continually growing, which will make that pair of languages even MORE marketable in the years to come.
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If you live and work in the USA, Spanish is what you need. If you plan working in Europe or make business travels in Europe, French or German are the languages that are useful!
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I would have to say that Chinese or Japanese.

Since China is about 1/3 the population of the planet and USA and Japan combined don't even come close to their totals.

It is a safe bet that Chinese is the next predominate language to English and/or American.

Source(s):
Japan Population: 127,288,416 (July 2008 est.)
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/ja.html

China Population: 1,330,044,544 (July 2008 est.)
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/ch.html

USA Population: 303,824,640 (July 2008 est.)
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/us.html

World Population: 6,706,993,152 (July 2008 est.)
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/xx.html

List of countries by population (graphical)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_(graphical)

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If you want to impress, I would go with Japanese. It's a far more difficult to master, and indicates a higher level of dedication. Still, Spanish is probably more broadly useful in this country.
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If you are college-bound, Latin is great.  You can easily learn Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian and other Romance languages once you've studied Latin, and statistics show it raises your SAT scores.

For real-world, depends on where your "real world" is going to be.  Staying in the States?  Probably Spanish, although you can pick up classes at community centers and continuing education courses.

If you're going into science, the answer used to be Latin and German.  Now, because so much science has moved to China because the U.S. government has cut grant funding so much (brilliant move, that), Mandarin Chinese would also be important.

Computers?  Go with Hindi, if you intend to interact with the tech support to India.  Most of them do speak English, but it's easier to understand them if you speak a little Hindi.

For general business purposes, I'd say French is most widely-spoken (not the same as having the most speakers--it has speakers in widely-flung areas).  But if you think your business will be concentrated in this hemisphere, then again it would be Spanish and maybe Portuguese (for Brazil).
Source(s):
Looked into this extensively for my kids' educations

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Out of the choices you listed it would have to be Spanish.  This will become one of the most important languages in the US as the hispanic population grows and becomes more well off in our country.

If you had the choice, though, Mandarin Chinese would be a much better option.
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Knowing the quality of students coming out of US schools I'd say English would be a good first choice. Most US high school grads fail at basic grammar and composition.

Baring that any romance language will make it so you you can understand most European languages. So pick Spanish, French, or Italian. Any of those will allow you to learn any of those more easily in the future.

The real option would have been Chinese as they are such a large group and your bound to run into more than a few.

Good Luck! :)
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When I was in high school, I started taking Latin and later switched to Spanish. Latin was interesting because I learned a lot about the Roman Empire which is pretty fascinating. However, as a language it was difficult, particularly because it was not very real-world useful at all, and near impossible to hold a conversation in. (It's true they say Latin can help you with your SATs, and that may be the case. But if it is, it's not like it's gonna boost your score 200 points. You're probably better off studying actual English than taking Latin for the purpose of your SAT scores.)

When I switched to Spanish, it was a total breeze. It's also one of the most useful languages from a practical standpoint in the USA, where many people speak Spanish.

If you are up to a challenge and looking for something that could make you more marketable in the job world, definitely consider Japanese or another Asian language. Keep in mind they are very tough to learn, so you might not enjoy it as a casual undertaking.
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Spanish is by the most important for real world use and for employment in the US. Medicine, law, and many other fields would make this the most useful choice, as would many business careers.

"Impressive" languages tend to be the rare ones, the ones that are very different than English, the ones that use a different (or no) alphabet, and the ones with very complicated grammar. From your list, that would be Japanese, Russian, or Latin. These sound impressive, but of these, Japanese has the most real world value.
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In 2007, there were 1.6 million Americans who spoke French at home compared to over 30 million who speak Spanish.

If you plan on mastering French, then by all means go for it because you will have an edge in whatever market you go into. But for practical purposes, there will probably be more of a need for a person who can speak Spanish. Lots of jobs seek people who speak Spanish, and knowing the basics can go along way.
Source(s):
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_in_the_United_States#cite_note-0

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