When learning a new language, do the languages determine the amount of promotion points you get?

According to AR 600-8-19, Para 3-19f -
f. Defense Language Proficiency Test. Twenty-five promotion points are granted to Soldiers who achieve a minimum limited working proficiency rating of 1/1 (listening, reading, or speaking) on the Defense Language Proficiency Test. Promotion points remain valid provided the Defense Language Proficiency Test proficiency standards do not exceed 1 year (year/month) as of the point compilation month.

So, according to the reg, it doesn't matter what language it is, you just need to attain a minimum proficiency. These points are under civilian education.

The languages determine your likelihood of being promoted based on the needs of the service. I was a Navy Russian linguist and worked at joint commands for my entire career. The Army Russian linguists had a hard time reaching E7 whereas the Arabic linguist probably had a different experience reaching E9! Think of each language as a sub-MOS to the primary MOS. That's why the most literature regarding linguists say "language dependent".

SGT (Join to see) My suggestion is besides at looking at the news which will tell you which languages the Army probably needs (Arabic, Russian and Chinese at the top), go hrc.army.mil, enlisted promotions section and look at the current cutoff for 35p, and then also look at the trend report which will give you the average cutoff for all mos during the last year or so.