French or Spanish?

[kyle j]

Ok so my registration for summer classes opens tomorrow Im debating between taking French or Spanish, French seems to interest me more but Spanish would be much more useful for me in Florida and the whole US for that matter, I hear French would be more difficult but anyone with any insight or comments would be great thanks people.

[agriadam]

I am actually about to start Spanish. I was in a debate like you, than I decided to go with spanish because it would have a lot more use for me... reasons?

1. Spanish is the second language in the USA
2. I want to go to South america and that is what is primarily spoke (with the exception of brazil)
3. Spain kicks ass, and france... well... yeah :Shrugs shoulders:

So that it how I came to my decision. hope this helps.

Adam

[agriadam]

oh shit I just read you sig line

Sam Kinison kicks ass... err.. well he kicked ass

[wong name]

plus alot of french people wont talk french to you even your fluent in french.....

i have a friend thats fluent and was all over france trying to speak french and they only talk to her in english...

[Tadpole]

I would say take spanish you will you use it more often and it will help more likely than French.

[simply_angelic]

im going to go against the current here, and say that if french is what you want to learn more, then that is what u should be learning. You'll have more fun and feel more satisfied as a result. Besides,it really is not a difficult language to leanr at all. It's quite similar to eng.

[mowark]

Simply has a good point. Learning about something youre interested in is always a good bet. However, learning Spanish would definitely come in more handy. Spanish is the most common language in the world. Spain is an incredible place, South America is great too. France...........well it's cool I guess. You could also go to French New Guinea and that would be.............cool I guess. Don't forget lots of Vietnamese speak French as well. Hmmmm.........I would take Spanish.
But, I'm not you.

[tumblezweedz]

My degree is in French language and lit, so I've done a few courses over the years. Being Canadian, French was the obvious choice, and it has actually served me well over the years - I've used it in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Morocco, even in Japan (Jesuits went there) and just yesterday at a Baptism in Lithuania. Also, a lot of former French and Belgian colonies in Africa (Algeria, Senegal, Zaire, the Congos, Ivory Coast, etc etc) still use French quite a lot, even if it's no longer official. So it's not a totally useless language.

HOWEVER, living anywhere in the States, Spanish is the obvious choice, and also gives you a language you can use worldwide as well. In your shoes, I'd pick Spanish, because you'll be able to use it daily, if you choose, living in the States. Lots of practice opportunity, too!

Best of all, you don't have to give up on French either. Once you've got a solid grounding in Spanish, you can take a couple of classes in French just to get acquainted with its grammar and pronounciation. I took an introductory Spanish class in third year that was so much fun and so much easier since I'd already got the romance language background. In my opinion, Spanish is easier than French, I think the grammar is less ornate and the rules are a little more regular. Course, I don't have much of a background, so there could be a whole world of irregular past subjunctive gerunds that I know nothing about.

Just be thankful you don't have to learn Lithuanian. 56 ways of saying "white", and only two of them are correct. Ugh.

[afterlife3]

I say take what you want, but Spanish would be the more useful. I am in Spanish now and it is my second time to take Spanish classes and it is not bad. And I have always heard that once you get one foreign language under your belt its always easier to get the second. So eventually do both.

[omisan]

Hmm.. everyone in this thread is right

It relaly depends on how much time you want to dedicate to your language(s) of choice. I took a grand total of 8 years of French (it certainly doesn't show!) which seemed pretty useless to me, until I started working for a French company a few years ago. I still don't have to use it much, but it helps score points with the higher-ups sometimes. Unlike Wong's friend, the French I encountered in France were nothing short of encouraging when it came to me speaking French with them.. so I guess it depends on who you're dealing with.

That said, I'm glad I took all those years of French for another reason. I just finished 3 levels of Spanish in the last couple of months, and I thought it was super-easy due to the basis I'd already built in French. (They're both romance languages, after all, and have the same base in Latin.) I think the structure in Spanish is somewhat simpler, so going F->S was probably a lot easier than it would be to go S->F. (Right, Tumblez?) In fact, it kind of bugs my friends (all of whom took years of Spanish or are part Latino) that I can speak it as well as them suddenly. (Pero quizas mas despacio...)

Being in the southern or western US, Spanish is the more obvious choice. But really, study what you like and you'll get up to speed in the other after you've built a nice foundation. There's no harm in learning both! It may take a lot of time, but it's well worth it. Je parle français, bastante Español para viajar, Farsi kheili khoob, sukoshi nihongo, ein bisschen Deutsch, en een beetje Nederlands. All have been amazingly useful both in traveling and at home.. so if I can stress one thing, it's to not think of it as choosing "one language or the other," but "which am I going to learn first?"

[OHT1910]

I'd say it mostly depends on (a) where you might go to use it and (B) where you can practice it in the meantime.

To be fluent in a language and be able to understand someone speaking quickly, i'd imagine you would need to practice outside of class. Tha would make Spanish a bit more obvious since you are in the US (unless you are near Louisiana?). Plus if a trip to S America is planned... perfect.

I'm learning French and I only really picked it because I learned it at school. By all accounts it is a harder language than Spanish. The number of irregular verbs drives me nuts.

I plan on going to S America in the next two years so it was perhaps the wrong choice. I think learning Spanish at somewhere like this Spanish School would be ace.

[bellelass]

As a student of both languages with a minor in French and a Spanish boyfriendI must say

Besides,it really is not a difficult language to leanr at all. It's quite similar to eng.

Bullshit. French is the bitchiest language I've studied. Gah. Even arabic wasnt such a pain in the ass, and they have four ways of writing each letter and unthinkably complex numbering systems.

That said, having spanish background greatly facilitated French. If I didnt know the answer I would offer a French sounding version of the Spanish. hehe. Usually worked. I think spanish is easier to learn, its more regular in spelling and pronunciation, and spanish people are always willing to speak to you in their language unlike our fine snail-eating friends. I vote spanish.

[TimmyJames1976]

Spanish dude...go for the GPA

[bluepea]

Here's another vote for Spanish. Pretty much a combo of all the reasons above.

[Esterina]

Bullshit. French is the bitchiest language I've studied.* Gah.* Even arabic wasnt such a pain in the ass, and they have four ways of writing each letter and unthinkably complex numbering systems.

French is my mother tongue. And I'm so glad I don't have to learn it as a foreign language. It's quite an illogical language. So Bellelas, I laughed reading your post ! I was wondering though abouth the four ways of writing letters. Are you referring to vocable like o, eau, au, ault ? But it's not all letters, I sense a bit of frustration here...

Kyle J, all of the above reasons are good. Whatever language you choose, it will help you getting around any other latin language countries, spanish, portugese, italian, and french. Go with your heart !

[travelguy]

i love how spanish sounds. ive been told the reason spanish is easier to learn and sounds pretty is because all the vowels sound exactly the same in every word. for instance in english e can sound different at times as in "the" or "erase", not so in spanish.

[omisan]

Are you referring to vocable like o, eau, au, ault ? But it's not all letters, I sense a bit of frustration here...

Farsi's identical - check out this chart:

Arabic alphabet (w/ Farsi pronunciations)

Note that "se," "sin" and "sád" are the equivalent of the letter 'S' so there are really 12 variants of the letter S... so like genders in romance languages, you just kind of have to know what words use what "S" character when spelled.

[clevercraig]

I hate Johny Damon

[bellelass]

So Bellelas, I laughed reading your post ! I was wondering though abouth the four ways of writing letters. Are you referring to vocable like o, eau, au, ault ? But it's not all letters, I sense a bit of frustration here...

I was more referring to the initial, medial connected, medial non connected and final positions. Gave me a bit of heartache at first. I still have problems with the number system, its gendered and the gender either matches or doesnt match the noun, and either comes before or after the noun, depending on the quantity of the nouns in question.. I know it all on paper but when I am speaking it gets all confused still.

hehe. sorry if I got under your skin with the french being bitchy thing. You have to admit, it is.

[Esterina]

Bonjour ! Hola !

Merci Omi et Bellelass pour la leçon d'arabe.

Oui, Bellelass, le français est une langue belle mais très difficile !

Tumblez, tu es en Lithuanie ??? Je suis jalouse !

Omi, wieviele Sprachen sprichst du ?

Kyle, if you choose french, I'll help you with your homework !