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

[oakpope]

Those musicians don't fit into my mind as current hit makers. Perhaps we have different definitions of what constitutes a hit.

I may be an exception, even in France, but I must say I enjoy more some German pop singers than Americans one. But it's just me, and not in any way something representative

And an exception also because I like the way German sounds

 

[oakpope]

There are too many different languages spoken among African communities and tribes for their birth rates to have much of an effect on global language standards. The high mortality rates also lessen the impact.

Shockingly, in some countries, people are able to learn more than one language...
And their death rates will be declining I'm convinced. Yes it's hypothetical from my part, but it was that way in every part of the world so I take a leap of faith here.

 

[jasoncrew03]

Shockingly, in some countries, people are able to learn more than one language...
And their death rates will be declining I'm convinced. Yes it's hypothetical from my part, but it was that way in every part of the world so I take a leap of faith here.

This is the language breakdown in Ethiopia alone:

Tigrinya, Oromo, Gurage, Somali, Arabic, English and 80 other local languages.

Not only is that just one country but that's not even counting the variations between dialects. I'm well aware that in many other countries people commonly learn more than one language (and use it outside of school) but "more than one language" simply cannot even touch upon the vast number of languages spoken on the African continent (several hundred). Language differentiation has been the source of major conflict in Africa, so should their death rates decrease to the point that their impact on world language becomes feasible, picking just one is going to be an enormous issue that will likely take an even longer time to decide upon. So the condescension is really unnecessary.

 

[cgymike]

I don't even thin French comes in the top ten languages any more. Even in Canada most don't speak it though the country claims to be bilingual. French Guyana hardly counts...

 

[geloge]

I was planning to learn another language. For me French is easier and it's spoken in more countries but german is getting more relevant for busyness.

Maybe I should learn proper English first

 

[handyman76]

It depends what you want to learn the language for. France is probably the greater exporter of culture these days (movies, literature, philosophy, art, cuisine...) but certainly Germany has produced its share.

I think that French is easier than German to learn for an English speaker. French shares a lot of vocabulary with English, while German has more genders, and a much more complicated case structure -- not to mention figuring out where the verbs to put. There's a greater gap between the written and spoken language in French, but the pronunciation rules are clear enough.

 

[BrimstoneAndTreacle]

You'll probably have an easier time learning French, although knowing German has its benefits if you want to do business in Germany or Austria. I'd go with French.

I took Spanish and Italian in high school, and then continued with Italian in college, and took up German as well. I taught myself a little French from my roommate's old textbook. German was definitely the hardest. It's a grammatically very idiosyncratic language (just like English), and you can't tell the gender of a noun by its spelling as you can with Italian or Spanish. Also, it doesn't exactly role off the tongue as well as the Romance languages. So many consonants. I stuttered my way through those courses.

 

[oakpope]

This is the language breakdown in Ethiopia alone:

Tigrinya, Oromo, Gurage, Somali, Arabic, English and 80 other local languages.

Not only is that just one country but that's not even counting the variations between dialects. I'm well aware that in many other countries people commonly learn more than one language (and use it outside of school) but "more than one language" simply cannot even touch upon the vast number of languages spoken on the African continent (several hundred). Language differentiation has been the source of major conflict in Africa, so should their death rates decrease to the point that their impact on world language becomes feasible, picking just one is going to be an enormous issue that will likely take an even longer time to decide upon. So the condescension is really unnecessary.

and that maybe why French and English served there as lingua franca indeed. With French (or English) they don't have to learn all these diverse languages to understand each other. That's why I think number of Africans who can speak French will grow, but it's only my opinion. Sorry for the flippant thing, bad day/period.

 

[RDaniel]

Porque no los dos? Or whatever that girl from the commercial says...

I don't know why people say German sounds harsh... Anyway, I think German would be more useful and probably more easier to learn/pronounce. I really don't know. French pronounciation might be difficult for some people. Which ever you choose, have fun learning those "R"s.

 

[RDaniel]

^Yes! I had such a hard time rolling "r"s. So up until like a while ago I would just roll my "r"s the lazy way.

 

[bankside]

Better idea:

Just pick from this menu:

 

[altlover85]

^Yes! I had such a hard time rolling "r"s. So up until like a while ago I would just roll my "r"s the lazy way.

What's the lazy way? I have difficulty with that too.

 

[freefall]

LOL at all people disregarding the languages due to the difficult nature.
I personally think all languages are unique. I'm just wondering which one is more advantaging for me in the future.
For those who asks about, I can speak Mandarin, albeit rusty due to not using it very often. I cannot speak the local dialects though, despite understanding them roughly.

From what I recall when I hear someone speaking German and French, I think both are quite difficult.
My teacher who is fluent in German said you have to pronounce every vowel and consonant in every German word unless instructed not to, so you have to read the words as it is - which quite puzzles me when I see several very long German words.
French, on the other hand, relies heavily on accents, and frequently employs syllables pronounced differently than appearing (like: soir v.s. nuit) and silent syllables. My friend also told me you have to use different voices sometimes, e.g. nasal sounds.

I myself have a liking more to German and even Arab

I'd like to hear more opinions.

 

[just c6 was not enough]

Hey,

I think French would give you the greater Advantage since it's spoken in more countries.

Can't say anything about how difficult it is to learn the Languages. Never learned French and never had the desire to do so (seemed to complicated in school ^^°). About German: I'm native speaker so no idea how hard to learn it is...

But if you like German or Arab more... Go for it!

c6

 

[Callum]

German is interesting.
French is like a shitty blow job.
Learn a Slavic language.

 

[dadesnine]

I'm a cinephile, and most of my favorite films are French or German. I've been obsessed with the French Nu-Wave and Werner Herzog films since I was fifteen. The strange thing is, with all that exposure to these foreign languages I've yet to retain any of it. I'd like to learn both. Has anybody had experience with Rosetta Stone? If so, is it worth pursuing to learn these languages?

 

[mattheus]

ich kann perfektes Deutsch und meine Oma kommt aus Bayern. My ex is from Augsburg and it is hard to explain since I have spoken this language for my whole like but he could look at me with this intense stare and just sweet talk me and someone would think he was yelling but the complex grammar makes up for the facial expressions and tonal emphasis and body language in English, Castillano, or Farsi. When you are fluent, your brain switches as well as behavior, it is hard to say but the way he spoke was so hot it gave me chills.

 

[pohbear]

unless your family is from from germany, i'd start wtih french first. and then possible choose german. and no i don't think german is an ugly harsh sounding language