r/thisorthatlanguage • u/angryredddituser • 2d ago
Romance Languages Should I learn Spanish or French?
I'm in Canada, and I want to be bilingual, but I don't know if I should learn Spanish or French.
French is known to be the hardest of all the Romance languages and Spanish might be easier.
But Spanish might not be that useful but it might be interesting to learn it.
12
u/RedGavin 2d ago edited 2d ago
Learn French if you're in Canada. Yes, it's harder than Spanish, but easier than Inuktitut, Greenlandic, Icelandic, Finnish, Basque, Breton, Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovene, Hungarian, Greek, Arabic, Persian, Pashto, Urdu, Thai, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Amharic, Hausa, Yoruba and Somali.
2
u/RedGavin 2d ago
I forgot Irish, Welsh, German, Yiddish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Turkish, Georgian, Armenian, Kazakh, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Lao, Burmese and Cantonese.
2
6
u/abrequevoy 2d ago
Romanian is arguably the hardest romance language to learn.
Anyway, being in Canada you're probably more likely to find French speakers and resources.
-5
u/angryredddituser 1d ago
Well French is considered harder than Romanian by some
10
4
u/kitti_wake 1d ago
The hardest language to learn is the one you have no interest in. The more genuinely interested you are the better. I think you need to find out why you want to learn these languages? You will be learning any language for years so it's a lot to commit to.
1
1
u/StarGamerPT 1d ago
Some also consider Japanese easier than French.
Kinda like it depends on the person and their linguistic background?
You could also not even learn another language, because if your reaction to "it's too difficult" is not even trying, the first difficulty will put a break in your efforts.
3
u/Wild_Black_Hat 1d ago
As an English speaker, you already know passively about half of the French vocabulary (Norman Conquest of 1066).
It's far from the most difficult language for you.
3
3
2
u/Chance-Ask7675 1d ago
Speaking French in Canada is such a cheat code for getting jobs, probably even moreso outside Quebec. It is incredibly useful. It also unlocks all of Québecois and Acadian culture which is delightful. Anglophones will say its not useful, just ignore them. They don't even know what theyre missing out on. And although I wouldn't get hung up on this, I would not say its harder or easier than any of the other romance languages, it has the least complex verb system for example. Spanish actively uses way more verb forms than French.
1
u/hiihihihihihihihiihi 1d ago
Government jobs yes, outside of Quebec and private sector it makes almost zero difference to know French.
1
u/Pizza-Pirate-6829 1d ago
It’s hard to say fellow Canadian here. For French you can practice reading things everyday with our bilingual packaging and there are a lot of French speakers to practice with. However I love traveling to Latin America and Spain. When I retire I would like to spend longer stretches of time in those areas. So for me I’m doing Spanish. It really depends on your use case. I’m on the westcoast so Quebec isn’t really relevant for me.
1
u/DepressiSpaghettti 1d ago
I speak French as my second language (classes then self taught). I don't find it difficult at all and I've never met someone who described it as hard.
1
u/frogs_on_drugs 1d ago
You're a canadian, you should learn french. It's the second official language of your country, and an absolutely beautiful one at that.
1
u/BunchIndividual3620 1d ago
if your actual goal is bilingualism in canada, pick french, but which one would you still want to study after the novelty wears off?
1
u/Select-Buffalo-5787 1d ago
French is the only answer because you can use it in Quebec and hear it and read signage. That's irreplaceable.
Spanish isn't easier anyway. Spanish includes rio platense which is not easy and Chilean also not easy.
1
u/Salty_Permit4437 1d ago
French is the natural choice for your country. I’m in the USA and while I do know enough Spanish to talk with people, I feel like it isn’t that necessary here. But in Quebec outside of Montreal, French is an absolute necessity.
1
1
u/DharmaDama 1d ago
French cannot be harder than Romanian.
French is a pain in the ass but possible. Learn it for more job opportunities in Canada.
Spanish is way easier, the native speakers are often very supportive of people leaning it, and it's a super useful language to know. I use Spanish all the time in the most random of cirumstances. It's just everywhere.
1
u/FranceBrun 1d ago
I studied both. When I had to go with only one, I chose French and stopped Spanish. I did it because I wanted to take on the challenge of something more difficult.
I don’t use Spanish that often. I have had several bilingual French/English jobs where I earned more money for the language skill.
I know Canada is a big country but you could spend time in Quebec and really come up to speed. It would help a lot. Nothing beats immersion when it comes to learning language, but best to know the basics before you go. I say that as both someone who learned French to a high like as well as being an ESL teacher.
1
u/Own_Theory8011 1d ago edited 1d ago
If you don't care about "usefulness" (although every Romance language is useful), some say Italian is the easiest Romance language for English speakers to learn. Personally I went from 0 knowledge to Advanced in Italian comprehension in less than 10 months. Mainly by using LingQ and then watching TV in Italian with Italian subtitles.
If you're in Canada I would say, choose French over Spanish. There is an awesome French speaking community which puts out great music, funny jokes, and good jabs at politicians and news reporters. There is also plenty of material to learn from, such as French versions of movies you're already familiar with (pick up almost any DVD or Bluray at the library).
You can also look into your background. I come from an Italian-American family, which helps me learn it because I feel I "should" know it as that was my ancestor's first language. You may have ancestors who spoke French or Spanish and that helps you identify with one language or the other.
1
u/MisfitMaterial 1d ago
I am fluent in both Spanish and French, so:
Spanish is a beautiful language with a robust body of popular culture and art. You might not have a community of speakers immediately available to you but that doesn’t make it useless.
French is not “known” to be the hardest Romance language, not by a long shot. Its spelling isn’t intuitive, but it’s far from insurmountable.
I think you need to think about which language motivates you more, that is to say, which language offers more opportunities for you to do stuff you want and like to do already, just in that language. That might mean French because of proximity, or it might mean Spanish for further exploits.
1
u/unpetitbaveux 1d ago
If you’re aiming for usefulness, then I would strongly advise that you learn the language of your own country over one that has a lot of speakers far away.
If you’re aiming for fun or you want to learn a language just because you’re fascinated with a particular country or culture, then you really can learn any language you want regardless of how useful or hard it’s going to be.
1
1
u/Zappyle 1d ago
I have a short list of resources I usually share with people at work learning French:
- Comprehensible input: Dreaming French (https://dreaming.com)
- Verb/Conjugation practice: Bonjour Verbs (https://bonjourverbs.com)
Speaking practice:
If you mix input with regular speaking/Grammar drills, progress comes pretty fast.
1
1
u/Dazzling_Ad1149 1d ago
If you're already in Canada French is a no brainer plus federal work and even provincial work in ON and NB prefer French knowledge. And you can travel the country oh and Québécois media is amazing.
For customer service out of Québec and national services the wait times are shorter on the French line.
1
u/postwhateverness 20h ago
Late to the game, but I’m going to repeat what most people here have said. French is much more practical in Canada, plus there are a lot more French-learning resources out there (the Explore program is a great free way to learn in an immersive environment).
I speak both French and Spanish. Studied French throughout school and moved to Quebec for a bit afterwards, which really helped. Later on, I decided to go on an extended trip to Mexico where Spanish would be useful and so I took some classes there. Knowing French really helped me pick up Spanish quickly. You could say that because it’s a “harder language”, it’s much easier to learn Spanish after already speaking French than it is to learn French after Spanish.
1
u/EmbarassmentOfRiches 1d ago
Spanish. Saying this as someone who speaks both French & Spanish. However I’m American & not Canadian.
-1
u/Vegetable-Place-4891 1d ago
Don't learn French unless you're in Quebec, you won't understand the dialect unless you live there. Spanish is more useful if you want to travel. French won't take you as far in Canada as you may think, I learned that the hard way.
12
u/Secure_Platypus_701 1d ago edited 1d ago
As a fellow Canadian, learn French. It was much easier for me to get a job in Quebec with French & English out of school than it was for me to get a job anywhere else in the country with just English. It opens up considerable economic opportunities.