Forget Spanish. Polish and Arabic are for Hamtramck and Dearborn. If you need to know just one second-language in Detroit's University/Cultural Center/Midtown area, it is Mandarin Chinese. Due to Wayne State being a research university, the area attracts a lot of international PhD students (and often they bring their families with them).
I checked the statistics on City Data for the two zip codes that the Cultural Center is in. In zip code 48201, the percentage of foreign-born residents that are from Mainland China are 14%. In 48202, it is double: 28%.
My neighbors are Chinese and love that I say 你好！to them and can comment on the weather to them in Mandarin. Just this weekend actually I helped a Chinese couple at the bus stop figure out which bus they needed to take. (Detroit bus stops are horribly marked and the only reliable way to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B is to use Google Maps Mass Transit directions, but that is a rant for another day...)
So drop that silly French class. Take Chinese instead!
Happy New Year! 新年快乐！
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