Spanish or French? One or the Other?

[RatherBeOnThePiste]

Not both sadly because DD is choosing other things and is quite definite on her other choices.

She is good at both, well, same, same.
She likes them the same blah blah

Is learning one more useful, maybe if she later wanted to learn other languages?

Or maybe just flip a coin, as I suggested?

Any advice?

[MavisEnderby]

Personally I would choose Spanish as there are many more Spanish speaking countries than English ones.

(My brother did a Spanish degree and is currently on his holidays swanning around Colombia and e-mailing me complaining it is too hot there,jammy git.)I am v.

[Shitemum]

Can't she do one at school and the other as a weekend or afternoon class somewhere?

I would say choose Spanish beause it's more widely spoken now but on the other hand French is more difficult so it would be good to master it as young as possible.

Both would be ideal!

[RatherBeOnThePiste]

Thank you - I think she is veering towards Spanish, but then at the moment of filling in the form, she isn't sure again!

She has done French for a long time ( in her eyes ) and only started Spanish this year, and I think she likes the change.

if she did French she would take it a year early, but that isn't really a factor either way.

tricky dicky

[MissAnneElk]

I'd say Spanish too. DD did both in year 9 but unfortunately her Spanish teacher had little control over the class and so she has reluctantly chosen French for GCSE, again, because she had been doing it longer so stands a better chance of a decent grade in the exam.

[fluffles]

i speak spanish (learned as an adult) rather than french (did german at school)

i chose spanish because it is the main language of south america, also i prefer to spend time in europe in spain rather than france and because it is widely spoken in the US also 9in some areas more than english).

however, whenever i am in france i hate that i can't speak french but my travelling comapnions usually can whereas my spanish has been very useful in spain as the people i've been with usually don't speak any.

[Shitemum]

hmm, well, If she's already good at Fench i'd say choose French but definitely encourage her to keep up the spanish too somehow

[skidoodle]

French

[claig]

I would choose French. In my day it was more highly regarded than Spanish, not sure if this is still the case. Also France is still a dominant force, along with Germany, in the European Union. Spain is not as large an economy. The advantage of Spain is Latin America, but this area is still devloping, and Brazil, the main force in that area, is Portuguese speaking. In the future, she will probably have more business contacts with France than Spain, based on France's more advanced economy.

[Bonsoir]

French. It is harder and a richer culture.

[janeite]

I would say French. DD1 really wanted to do both at GCSE but the option choices didn't allow her to fit them both in. She went for French because she said it was more interesting and challenging (she found Spanish v easy) she said. Also, if ever she wants to read English at uni, French is more likely to be useful, she was told.

[janeite]

Apologies for hideous, rambling tone there: am v tired.

[claig]

Spanish is closer to Italian than French, so makes learning Italian easier. But they are all romance languages, so there is not that much in it.

[claig]

agree with Bonsoir about the cultural aspects. French literature, philosophy and cinema are outstanding.

[ChocFudgeCake]

I don't know about harder, but "richer culture"? Spanish is spoken in 23 countries. Every country with its own rich culture.

[Bonsoir]

All cultures are not equally rich in literature, art, history, cinema! There is nothing wrong with that - just a fact.

[ginghamgiraffe]

Ratherbeonthepiste
She knows what she wants to do
Flip a coin
Heads french
Tails spanish
If she says best of three when you tell her what it is, then she wants to do the other.

I find that the gut knows the truth smetimes when the head doesn't and that the coinflip test is a good way of getting it out.

HTH

[ChocFudgeCake]

I meant that you cannot compare (and even that would be funny) the cultural richness because there are 23 countries.

[Bonsoir]

Oh really? You think that students and academics in Hispanic Studies cannot have informed opinion on the relative merits of the Spanish speaking cultures?

[claig]

ChocFudgeCake, it's not nice to compare things, but what France has contributed to the world is incomparable. All those 23 countries put together have not equalled the richness of what the single country of France has produced. Throughout history kings and queens have looked to France for culture. The tsar Peter the Great and the Prussian Frederick the Great looked to France rather than Spain for culture. You'd probably be hard-pressed to name ten world famous Spanish authors, but the French list would be enormous. The same applies to film directors and most other fields. Even food, wine and fashion are French preserves.

[ChocFudgeCake]

I would think some of they can. But I would find it strange if one of these informed academic declared after studying all 23 countries that French culture is richer.

[ChocFudgeCake]

Oh I do agree that French culture is very rich! I'm a fan and do speak French and have studied French literature (just one year though). Still I cannot think that it's richer. I think that it's easier to see it's richness from here. Of course I grant you that French red wine is superb (the Chilean is great too)

[RatherBeOnThePiste]

Ginghamgiraffe. That is exactly what we shall do. It is a real shame she can't do everything tbh.

Thank you all!

[mathanxiety]

French is the language of international diplomacy and also of science. The phrase 'lingua franca' didn't appear for no reason.

It's possible your DD wants to do Spanish because she hasn't got to the part where it gets complicated yet, whereas French probably has at this point, if she's been doing it for a while. I would do French. Oldest DD took it and never regretted it. (DS is doing Latin )

[bellabelly]

I did both for GCSE and definitely found Spanish harder (we started french a year earlier though so that obviously helped...) Ended up getting the same grade for both but felt like I had to really work for my Spanish - which seemed far easier lower down the school.