What foreign language to take?

[Gautama2]

Its that time of year, I'm planning my high school classes for my freshman year. I'm taking English 9, Algebra II Honors, Biology Honors, Geography and PE. For my electives I'm taking Computer Programming I, Digital Electronics, and Computer Networking/Support. I have the intentions of working in the IT field after college. BUT, which language should I take. I want something easy, since I want to focus on my tech classes. I don't want Spanish, and Japanese is really hard for a natively English speaker to learn, or so I've heard. So that brings it down to French and German. Which should I chose?

 

[czech09]

French. It's spoken more around the world.

 

[Maximilian]

Everyone hates the french. Go with german it sounds better. ICH HABEN EINE BRUDER!! Only german can make "i have a brother" sound intimidating.

 

[her209]

German...

 

[Juno]

why won't you take spanish? it's the second language in united states.

hola, como estas? ¿no? tu eres mi puta.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

MEIN FUHRER!

 

[keeleysam]

German is a hell of a lot easier.

And if you're going into IT, there are a hell of a lot more companies in Germany than France.

 

[Gautama2]

Leaning towards german now, not only is it easier according to you guys, but its infinitely badass.

 

[SagaLore]

Take Chinese or Hindi.

 

[2Xtreme21]

I know a lot of people who had fun in German, but I'm in my 9th term of French right now (5 in high school, 4 classes in college so far) and I am happy I decided to stay with it. It kinda depends on what you wanna do in life too: Being fluent in French will open up doors in a lot of countries around the world and it's generally considered the language of professionalism (e.g., most business is conducted in western europe in French, etc.). With German, you're more likely to get into tech fields, but it's only spoken in two main countries around the world.

Also make sure you keep in mind-- most people do not continue their language studies in college. So while having a second language in high school can be rewarding, it won't pay off unless you supplement it with classes post-high-school.

 

[Art Vandelay]

I am fluent in German and semi-fluent in French. I use my French much more often than German... it is more popular than German globally and its a variant of Latin, so it opens a lot of doors to other Romance languages too (italian, spanish, etc.)

Go with French.

 

[villageidiot111]

If you want a useful language, take Spanish. If you want a sweet language, take Latin. If you want a worthless language, take French or German.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Spanish, you will use it the most.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: czech09
French. It's spoken more around the world.

But enough people in France speak English so that you'll never have any issues. You can't say the same for Mexico, Spain, and South America.

 

[2Xtreme21]

Originally posted by: villageidiot111
If you want a useful language, take Spanish. If you want a sweet language, take Latin. If you want a worthless language, take French or German.

Your name certainly speaks wonders...

 

[GregGreen]

Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21

Originally posted by: villageidiot111
If you want a useful language, take Spanish. If you want a sweet language, take Latin. If you want a worthless language, take French or German.

Your name certainly speaks wonders...

Is there something ironic about him calling French and German useless when he just suggested taking a language that is only spoken by a few scholars....

In regards to the OPs question, I would take French out of the two options you gave us. Spanish is definitely a good choice though with its usefulness in American society today. I have also heard it is easier to learn

 

[sixone]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Spanish, you will use it the most.

It's also far easier to learn than French.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: sixone

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Spanish, you will use it the most.

It's also far easier to learn than French.

i have several years of classes in both spanish and french, and i can say with certainty that sixone is right.

however, i really like how french sounds. it is my favorite language in terms of how it sounds and i will continue to learn it to fluency. german is cool too, but i simply prefer french.

 

[sixone]

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: sixone

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Spanish, you will use it the most.

It's also far easier to learn than French.

i have several years of classes in both spanish and french, and i can say with certainty that sixone is right.

however, i really like how french sounds. it is my favorite language in terms of how it sounds and i will continue to learn it to fluency. german is cool too, but i simply prefer french.

I do, too. French was my first love.

 

[Vegitto]

Originally posted by: b0mbrman

Originally posted by: czech09
French. It's spoken more around the world.

But enough people in France speak English so that you'll never have any issues. You can't say the same for Mexico, Spain, and South America.

Most French people will. Not. Speak. English. Seriously. If THEY need directions and know you speak English, their English skill is suddenly much higher then if it were the other way around..

 

[Art Vandelay]

Originally posted by: b0mbrman

Originally posted by: czech09
French. It's spoken more around the world.

But enough people in France speak English so that you'll never have any issues. You can't say the same for Mexico, Spain, and South America.

Obviously you have never been to France

 

[ForumMaster]

only in German does something nice sound like a curse while cursing in German sounds nice. plus, French suck!

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
only in German does something nice sound like a curse while cursing in German sounds nice. plus, French suck!

You might want to work on your English first... :beer:

 

[CrazyHelloDeli]

ELVISH or KLINGON!!!

 

[dennilfloss]

French is the language of looooooooooove. You just might find this handy one day.