Which is better for me to learn? French or German?

[freefall]

Because the people around me tell me to choose French due to the nature of being the language of love - what a bias

For some background, I'm not planning to go abroad in the near future (haven't thought of the distant future - even after the 1000th reincarnation sequence). I'm just thinking it'll be good for me to be able to speak in another language.

I'd like answers with prospective views, not just because the similar reason above

Otherwise I'll e-slap you

 

[Beachguyj]

French is better. Once you know it, it is easier to learn Spanish or Italian, they all stem from Latin and follow similar grammar rules not found in English. German is a harsh ugly sounding language too.

 

[Corny]

^ yeah and french is wiping your ass with silk

So seriously .. probably more people speak french. But for business, German might be better. Yet, from both countries all younger people speak some decent English.

You should to a basic course in both and then decided what you like more. After all, you're doing it in your leisure time .. and if you don't like the language you choose, you won't be motivated.

 

[chrisrobin]

Because the people around me tell me to choose French due to the nature of being the language of love - what a bias

For some background, I'm not planning to go abroad in the near future (haven't thought of the distant future - even after the 1000th reincarnation sequence). I'm just thinking it'll be good for me to be able to speak in another language.

I'd like answers with prospective views, not just because the similar reason above

Otherwise I'll e-slap you

Promise?

It depends on your future plans. Currently, German is the language of scientific notation supplanting Latin (what a surprise).

French might be the language of love, but it is also spoken all over Europe along with German. Both languages are useful if you want to be in the diplomatic corps. Your interest in learning new cultures would depend on your own personal interest... literature or music for example.

In short, I might start with French, but allow the possibility of learning German later on. If this will be part of your independent study, I would choose a Rosetta Stone program. A little pricey, but they are the best. I tell everyone, "they're worth their weight in gold!" Frequently, they offer specials.

Good luck to you. Language study might be demanding, but it is certainly worth the effort.

 

[HunterM]

Don't waste your time. Both of these languages will be obsolete.

Learn SloppySecond language! thankyou

 

[Spiff]

Der Fernsehapparat ist kaputt.

I think that is all I remember from my 4 years of high school German classes.

 

[bankside]

Let me refer you to our professional language geeks at The Economist, who have figured it out already:

WHICH IS THE BEST LANGUAGE TO LEARN? | More Intelligent Life


The answer is French.

 

[oakpope]

I'm French but I'm in this rare case of French that like the German language.

It takes a lot of motivation to learn from scratch another language out of school. So you should have an ulterior motive for it or you risk a chance of losing your will swiftly.

For tourism, maybe French has a tiny advantage as there was more French colonies than German's but anyway English is king, and it's very rare for a non native French speaker to know French and not English (that happened more frequently 40 years ago, but now...).

For literature : there are tons of beautiful German and French books that are enhanced by reading them in original version. Philosophical, poetry, theatre, both would grant you a world to read.

For songs : I must say I think French has a little advantage here, mainly because France has laws to support French artists. Same goes for movies, but there are fantastic German movie makers too.

For commerce : I think German has a lead here, but again chance are the German whom you could encounter in commerce are speaking English very well.

Ultimately my advice would be to listen to tv shows/movies/songs and decide what language is nicer to you and try it. German grammar, in my opinion, is a little bit more complex than French but more structured and with lesser exceptions. I think vocabulary is easier to learn for an English speaker too. I think also you get out of errors in German more easily than in French. A word misplaced in French can gain you amused or reproachful stares from French people more frequently than in Germany (I could be wrong naturally).

My 2 cents.

 

[Nomenclature]

Well, German is a lot harder to learn to speak or understand properly. For example. every noun has its own "gender" (tree, leaf, cat, car etc) that you have to memorize, and you have to use the proper feminine or masculine forms of articles and adjectives to describe them. However, every grammar rule has important exceptions that you need to know. Basically, it's difficult - if not impossible - for a non-native speaker to NOT sound broken to a native German speaker.


A relevant, hilarious read: Mark Twain - The Awful German Language

 

[refujiunderground]

i say espanol or chinese.

 

[RaKroma]

Well French is beautiful language, but German is strategically smart to learn and may become more useful some day in life. German economy is one of the strongest and everyone in the EU is Germany's bitch ($$), so Germany is a relevant country. Another useful language to start learning is Chinese.

 

[refujiunderground]

Spanish is relatively easy to learn. But Chinese, seriously, that's one of the hardest languages I've ever tried to learn.

dunno about that. spanish is hard as hell especially with the accents and all. it's hard to pronounce certain words right.

 

[Beachguyj]

but anyway English is king,

That is true and it's not due to England but to America. English is everywhere in the world. It's the international language for air traffic. It's in all the Hollywood movies and hit songs and musical artists of the world. Most things that people use on the internet, including the internet were created or developed in the US. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Windows, Mac, all American. I recently saw something funny on a site where the link sent me to a french site but I could easily recognize the "NSFW" tag. Which only means something in English.

Happy 4th of July America.

 

[Beachguyj]

Well, German is a lot harder to learn to speak or understand properly. For example. every noun has its own "gender" (tree, leaf, cat, car etc) that you have to memorize, and you have to use the proper feminine or masculine forms of articles and adjectives to describe them.

Same with French, Italian and Spanish and other languages stemming from Latin.

What drives me crazy are all those accents that are not needed at all.

 

[Corny]

Well, German is a lot harder to learn to speak or understand properly. For example. every noun has its own "gender" (tree, leaf, cat, car etc) that you have to memorize, and you have to use the proper feminine or masculine forms of articles and adjectives to describe them.

It's the same in french.

However, every grammar rule has important exceptions that you need to know. Basically, it's difficult - if not impossible - for a non-native speaker to NOT sound broken to a native German speaker.

It's the same in french. Imho they have even more exceptions

 

[oakpope]

It's in all the Hollywood movies and hit songs and musical artists of the world. Most things that people use on the internet, including the internet were created or developed in the US.

In fact the world wide web was designed in Europe at CERN. And saying that all noteworthy movies, songs and musical artists of the world is in English is such a magnitude of ignorance it's scary.

 

[cgymike]

How about Mandarin? The oranges are good too...

 

[oakpope]

Same with French, Italian and Spanish and other languages stemming from Latin.

What drives me crazy are all those accents that are not needed at all.

I don't know for Spanish, but for German and French the accents change the pronunciation of words and thus are indeed needed.

 

[oakpope]

I learned german in school for a six years,and all i know is to say my name and count till 10.Such a fucked up language

That's one way to see it. It may exist others...

 

[Beachguyj]

I don't know for Spanish, but for German and French the accents change the pronunciation of words and thus are indeed needed.

No they aren't. If they were then English would not be a readable language. I can read Spanish because I can speak it, the accents don't help me at all and are not needed for me to be able to read it.