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French vs German vs Spanish? Difficulty & Usefulness?
I know how to speak both English and Chinese Mandarin. I have decided to take a third language, of which my school is offering these other 3 languages.
What I want to know is the difficulty as well as the usefulness of each respective language. I heard French is rather difficult, ie the pronunciation and grammar. Not quite sure abt German or Spanish.
I'm not very sure abt this, but I heard that French and German are quite useful in the European continent. Spanish, on the other hand, is useful in both the Americas as well as Spain.
I don't really intend to work in S. America, but I heard that Spanish is fast becoming an important language to learn. I would most likely want to work in Europe, or at least be able to communicate with the people while there.
Any advice, especially on the language difficulty of German?
The answer is easy: SPANISH
French, because this language is speaking in a great territory of Africa (Maghreb, West Africa, Equatorial Africa, Madagascar, Egypt) Oceania (french polynesia, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Reunion, Mauritius) , America (Canada:official language as english, USA: historic influence of french in Louisiana, mississipi valley..., Haiti, French Guyana, Dominique, Sta Lucia, caribbean other island); Asia (South East:Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos, middle east: Lebanon, Syria), and Europe (Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, great influence in europe especially in Italia, Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Greece, United Kingdom) France obviously, 5th-6th largest economy in the world, founder of EU with Germany most visited country of the word (75M tourist) strategic geography: France is bordered by 8 countries, the french is very usefull fot this. Great historic influence: the french revolution, the cradle of Age of Enlightenment, Cinematography, Cars, cultural influence in Cooking, Painting, literature, fashion, philosophy...
See Francophonie:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francophonie , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francophonie
French speak by 128 native speakers or fluent, 280 speakers around the world. But strong demographic rate in Africa could surprise the observers...
Only Official language of l'union postale universelle (UPU) ,
Official language of the Olympic Games as English
One of Official language of World Trade Organization, United Nations, UE...etc...
Yeah, my first choice would definitely be French. However, as compared to Spanish, it is relatively more difficult, hence my indecision. In addition, I heard that the Spanish-speaking population is booming and its usefulness will increase in the near future due to the expanding of the S. America economy.
From what I have read, I have decided that its no point taking German, since the German people prefer to converse in English with foreigners.
German makes you smart.it 's not a simplified language like spanish and french.
1. German is the most widely spoken language in Europe.
2.Germany has the 3rd strongest economy and is the 1 export nation in the world.
3.Knowing German creates business opportunities.
4. Germans are innovators.
5. Germans are the biggest spenders of tourist dollars in the world.
6. The German presence on the Internet supercedes most others.
7. Germans form the largest single heritage group in the U.S.
8. 1 in 10 books in the world is published in German
9. German-speaking countries have a rich cultural heritage.
10. Germany financially sponsors over 60,000 international exchanges each year.
11. German is required or recommended by many undergraduate and graduate programs.
10. German is not as hard as you think.
Meine Schwester hat braunes Haar. Sie ist intelligent. Sie studiert Medizin in Berlin. Sie kann gut singen.
... then you already know some German! :-)
The easiest out of those three is Spanish.
German and French uses letters that are not necessary like two t's
While Spanish does not. the whole Spanish language specially vocabulary is easier. it's also a phonetic language which makes things easier.
I agree with "Dorian" that
<1. German is the most widely spoken language in Europe.
2.Germany has the 3rd strongest economy and is the 1 export nation in the world.
3.Knowing German creates business opportunities.
4. Germans are innovators.
5. Germans are the biggest spenders of tourist dollars in the world.
6. The German presence on the Internet supercedes most others.
7. Germans form the largest single heritage group in the U.S.
8. 1 in 10 books in the world is published in German
9. German-speaking countries have a rich cultural heritage.
10. Germany financially sponsors over 60,000 international exchanges each year.
11. German is required or recommended by many undergraduate and graduate programs.
10. German is not as hard as you think.>
Guest
＜The easiest out of those three is Spanish. the whole Spanish language specially vocabulary is easier. it's also a phonetic language which makes things easier.＞
Yes, Spanish is comparatively easier for it's a phonetic language. But NOT the most important one among these 3 languages. It's inarguable.
I am American, so I don't see German as an important language at all. Spanish is easier because the writing system is phonemic, and there are many Spanish speakers in the United States. I have met few German speakers, and none of them have been native.
Spanish is more difficult than German grammatically, too many verb conjugations, way complex subjunctive, gender in almost everything. The best thing about it is the phonetic system, much easier than German's and French's. French is very difficult compared to German too and pronunciation is way hard to master. Of course all is relative and depends on your mother language too but I'd chose German if you don't have much time or skills.
Guest
As for Americans, Spanish is absolutely the most important and easiest one, but as for Chinese or Europeans, perhaps things wouldn't just be the same.
Not to mention of the details in Europe, let's just talk about the status in China or East Asia. Apart from English, I think that German can rank at the 2nd position, and Japanese the 3rd then. Comparatively German has always been a very popular and useful language, due to Germany's strong power. Maybe there's another reason why people like to choose German, because it belongs to Germanic Group which also contains English. In Mainland China, I've never met a Spaniard or any Latin American, but I even have 5 foreign friends, 1st is from Germany, 2nd is from Austria, 3rd and 4th are both from Italy, and the last one is from Japan. Although it doesn't mean anything to other people, a lot of Chinese just have the similar experience in their various life.
Mr.Who
<Spanish is more difficult than German grammatically, too many verb conjugations, way complex subjunctive, gender in almost everything. The best thing about it is the phonetic system, much easier than German's and French's. French is very difficult compared to German too and pronunciation is way hard to master. Of course all is relative and depends on your mother language too but I'd chose German if you don't have much time or skills.>
You wrote an accurate answer! And my opinion is very similar to yours.
French pronunciation sounds difficult to speak it exactly. And Grammar is not easy, either.
Spanish is easy on pronunciation, but difficult on Grammar the same as French.
A
<From what I have read, I have decided that its no point taking German, since the German people prefer to converse in English with foreigners.>
Germans don't speak English very often, unless they talk with those who can't speak German or can't speak German very fluently. It's true!
« The best thing about it is the phonetic system, much easier than German's and French's. »
Actually, German spelling is very logical. Perhaps its orthography is not quite as easy as that of Spanish, but it's still easier than, say, that of English.
By the way, I don't actually find French spelling that difficult either. Once you know all the rules, you can pronounce almost every word accurately. In fact, I'd actually say that my French spelling is better than my English spelling, even though English is my first language.
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