[JacobAldridge]

My favourite quote from Eat, Pray, Love was (roughly) "Why would you learn Italian? So that if they ever successfully invade Ethiopia again, you'll know a language which is spoken in two countries?"

With that in mind, it makes sense to learn Spanish, which is spoken through much of Latin and South America. Chinese (Mandarin) has replaced Japanese as the 'next big economic language', so if you're looking to converse with a large new market, then perhaps Mandarin.

But for me, I dream of taking up French again. Limited global reach. No economic benefit. But I love the way it sounds coming out of my mouth. Does a form over function answer negate the 'useful for a programmer' part of your question?

[davidw]

Italian is spoken in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland, and is also an official language in the Croatian region of Istria, which was long a possession of the Republic of Venice. That said, yeah, it's not terribly useful in the world at large, but the food is good, the girls are beautiful, and the countryside is stunning in its variety.

[olalonde]

French is still spoken in many African countries although its not likely to translate into economic benefit anytime soon. It can also be useful if you want to do business in Montreal, Canada, which is relatively big in the video game industry. De mon côté, j'aimerais bien apprendre le Mandarin :)