French or Spanish?

[superassification]

Which have you studied? Which is easier? Which is better? Which is more useful? Which is more fun?

[ninety]

I've studied both French and Spanish. I did both languages at school from Years 7-9, but after that I dropped French and continued with Spanish because French was too hard for me. And it was just too difficult to get the accent, pronunciation and intonation right. Whenever I spoke in French, it felt so embarrassing On the other hand, I didn't have too much trouble speaking in Spanish because it's a phonetic language. And I knew how to roll my tongue, so I could pronounce the Spanish 'r's.

I'm going to be biased, but I think Spanish is more useful than French. Spanish has more similarities with the Romantic languages than French, so with knowledge of Spanish you can guess the meaning of Italian/Portuguese texts. Besides, Spanish is more widely spoken than French, so you can communicate with more people in the world with Spanish than with French.

But having said all that, I guess French is the more elegant and romantic language. When a native speaker talks in French, it sounds so beautiful! It's way too challenging for me to learn though

Edited December 6, 2011 by ninety

[Guest]

French is quite complicated (grammar wise), been learning it since 9 years, BUT once I got it, Spanish was very easy to learn.

Italian is understandable as well, so I would defo start with French,

it's worth the time and energy, methinks.

French is the language of diplomacy, since 1919, so it's also very useful.

[Sabs44]

I've only really studied French, so I don't know which is harder or more fun... but honestly I think French is more useful. 21 countries have Spanish as an official language, while 29 have French. Total speakers are something like 130 million compared to 50 million. However, it really depends on where you want to go and do with your life!

[milk]

spanish! not only is it easier than french, it is fun to speak and learn. the use of the spanish language is substantially increasing (especially since you're in the US) and would be really beneficial to know at least SOME of the language, rather than french, which is rarely heard here. obviously, i have studied spanish this is my fourth year learning the language and i plan on majoring in it at university!

[Sabs44]

Are you planning on traveling the world or staying in the US?

[carpediem]

I've studied both: French from Years 5-9, and Spanish from Years 7-now.

In my opinion I think Spanish is easier. I found that French was a lot more irregular in terms of pronunciation and grammar, but I'm probably biased because to be honest I don't think I learnt much in French class. (So I found Spanish more fun.)

French would be useful in Francophone countries, but be careful because French can be drastically different around the world - a French teacher (who is legitimately from France) says she can't understand anybody who speaks Canadian French. Spanish would be more useful because there are more Spanish speakers in the world, and I don't have any difficulty understanding someone from South America when I've learn Castilian Spanish.

Basically, I think Spanish is better, but I still enjoy understanding the one or two French words now and then.

Choose what you want to study!