Can't decide between French or Spanish for University?

WatchOut

I studied French in school and I think I'll get a good grade in it when my results come out in August. I don't know whether I should continue with the french I know and build on it or start learning spanish from beginners level, any advice?

I know it would probably be easier to choose French but Spanish is a more widespread language.

Thoughts?

Aard

It doesn't matter how widespread a language is; it matters which one you're more likely to come into contact with. If you're gonna be spending most of your time in Latin America, then yes indeed Spanish is more widely spoken. If you're gonna stay in Europe most of the time, then French is more common.

OTOH, you may love Spain and visit there all the time and have Spanish friends and want to settle down with a Spaniard in the future. The answer to "which one?" is "which one is more pertinent to your life?".

Don't forget as well that learning a language is a big undertaking. The beginner phase is all nice and fun, learning new sounds and silly words. But then the plateau comes, and it's a bitch. Chances are that's where you are with your French atm, otherwise you'd have automatically chosen it. Also, there's the obvious question of why you'd want to have spent so much time studying a language, only to pack it in for the same experience again. At the end of the day, in the amount of time you'll spend picking up OK-ish Spanish, you could be fluent in French.

Anyway, sorry if this sounds a little forceful It's just that I've seen it time and again of people wasting so much time learning a language with good intentions, but they give up too early and at the end of it all can't really say a thing.

WatchOut

Aard wrote: »

It doesn't matter how widespread a language is; it matters which one you're more likely to come into contact with. If you're gonna be spending most of your time in Latin America, then yes indeed Spanish is more widely spoken. If you're gonna stay in Europe most of the time, then French is more common.

OTOH, you may love Spain and visit there all the time and have Spanish friends and want to settle down with a Spaniard in the future. The answer to "which one?" is "which one is more pertinent to your life?".

Don't forget as well that learning a language is a big undertaking. The beginner phase is all nice and fun, learning new sounds and silly words. But then the plateau comes, and it's a bitch. Chances are that's where you are with your French atm, otherwise you'd have automatically chosen it. Also, there's the obvious question of why you'd want to have spent so much time studying a language, only to pack it in for the same experience again. At the end of the day, in the amount of time you'll spend picking up OK-ish Spanish, you could be fluent in French.

Anyway, sorry if this sounds a little forceful It's just that I've seen it time and again of people wasting so much time learning a language with good intentions, but they give up too early and at the end of it all can't really say a thing.

Thanks for the input. Originally I was completely set on continuing with French. But I'm not sure if my french standard is good enough to do at an intermediate level because I have heard that the jump from leaving cert french to university french is quite big and I don't want to fall behind.
What is making me lean towards Spanish right now is that it is used all over the Americas where I would love to go, it would probably even be useful in the US since they have more and more Spanish speakers every year, whereas I don't see myself spending much time in Quebec.
But like you said, I have a better chance of becoming fluent in French, that's why I was hoping I could pick up A LOT of Spanish on the year abroad.

It sounds like you're more interested in Spanish. Don't think that because you've done French before, that you'll become fluent more quickly. It doesn't really work like that. I've gone from zero knowledge of a language to being able to hold a decent conversation with a native in less than 4 months simply because I really wanted to learn it and took every opportunity to practise. The main thing is having a use for the language. If you feel that you won't have much use for French, you won't become fluent, IMO.

luciemc

Miller Delightful Ginseng wrote: »

It sounds like you're more interested in Spanish. Don't think that because you've done French before, that you'll become fluent more quickly. It doesn't really work like that. I've gone from zero knowledge of a language to being able to hold a decent conversation with a native in less than 4 months simply because I really wanted to learn it and took every opportunity to practise. The main thing is having a use for the language. If you feel that you won't have much use for French, you won't become fluent, IMO.

was just about to start a similar thread... I studied both spanish and french in school, loved them both, got A1s in both in the mocks and hoping for the same in the leaving..... but now I have to choose one!! does anyone have any idea how I could make a decision? I've tried reading books in both this summer and watching tv in both languages too.... but I really really like them both:( I want to work in business, hopefully a bank of some description..so basically either would probably be useful? oh and will hopefully be studying maths along with one of the languages..

Aard

Assess which would be more useful for you both in everyday life and for future career. Though in Europe, there are more Francophone financial centres than Hispanophone, it may be a little premature to use that as criteria for language learning. Go for the one that enthuses you more.

It may be the case too that the maths course you want to study only offers one of the languages in conjunction, so that would be something to consider on the academic side.

luciemc

Aard wrote: »

Assess which would be more useful for you both in everyday life and for future career. Though in Europe, there are more Francophone financial centres than Hispanophone, it may be a little premature to use that as criteria for language learning. Go for the one that enthuses you more.

It may be the case too that the maths course you want to study only offers one of the languages in conjunction, so that would be something to consider on the academic side.

Thanks for the quick reply! I wish I could only study one, it would make my decision a whole lot easier... but no, both are offered... and I spend third year in either Spain or France, depending on which I choose! This is of course provided I get the grades for the course:)

I'll try do a bit more research, I think I might prefer spanish. I can understand more spanish, but have a better french accent, both can be worked on though so I'm not sure either can help me make a decision. On the other hand, the french college I could spend third year in is amazing, very very high standard of maths apparently!:D

WatchOut

Miller Delightful Ginseng wrote: »

It sounds like you're more interested in Spanish. Don't think that because you've done French before, that you'll become fluent more quickly. It doesn't really work like that. I've gone from zero knowledge of a language to being able to hold a decent conversation with a native in less than 4 months simply because I really wanted to learn it and took every opportunity to practise. The main thing is having a use for the language. If you feel that you won't have much use for French, you won't become fluent, IMO.

I think I probably am more interested in Spanish, but that's probably only because it would be something new (and again, to a lesser extent, I think I would use it more than I would French).

Do you (or anyone else) have experience with starting a language in college? Is it similar to how languages are taught in secondary school? I'm hoping that the age thing doesn't matter in language learing, especially since I know no Spanish right now. I heard that was pretty much just a myth :P

luciemc

luciemc wrote: »

was just about to start a similar thread... I studied both spanish and french in school, loved them both, got A1s in both in the mocks and hoping for the same in the leaving..... but now I have to choose one!! does anyone have any idea how I could make a decision? I've tried reading books in both this summer and watching tv in both languages too.... but I really really like them both:( I want to work in business, hopefully a bank of some description..so basically either would probably be useful? oh and will hopefully be studying maths along with one of the languages..

It really depends on what you see yourself doing. If you want to work in Europe, French would probably be more useful for you. Remember that just because you choose one language to study, that doesn't mean you can't continue to learn the other one. You don't need a degree in a language for work, you just need to prove you can speak/read/write it. Plenty of people have just a business degree and have learned languages as hobbies on the side. You could definitely try to keep up your Spanish during college without having to actively study it - if you're already at LC standard, you should be able to keep it up by watching films and chatting with natives (in real life or online). You definitely don't need to study a language to speak it well - a lot of the university stuff is literature, culture and history - very interesting, but not really necessary. You could always go over to Spain to study Business Spanish at a language school for a few weeks in the summer, or take an online course or even just learn vocab yourself online. I would definitely make an effort not to lose it - one of my biggest regrets is not keeping up my German. I've cut down my job options because of that. The more languages, the better, really.

WatchOut wrote: »

I think I probably am more interested in Spanish, but that's probably only because it would be something new (and again, to a lesser extent, I think I would use it more than I would French).

Do you (or anyone else) have experience with starting a language in college? Is it similar to how languages are taught in secondary school? I'm hoping that the age thing doesn't matter in language learing, especially since I know no Spanish right now. I heard that was pretty much just a myth :P

Yep, I started a language in college. The teaching depends on the university and the tutor, but I found it much better than school. You get through the material much more quickly and all (or at least most) of the students actually want to be there. The age thing doesn't matter. I could hold fairly advanced conversations by Christmas (by which time the course material was already post Leaving Cert standard) and got a First in my first year exams. By the time I went abroad in third year, I had no problem attending lectures and making notes in the language and some people even mistook me for a native speaker. Of course, you'll need to do plenty of work outside class. I had some classmates who went on about how 'lucky' I was to be able to speak so well. That 'luck' mainly involved meeting up with native speakers to practise twice a week, watching at least one movie a week in the language and listening to music/radio in the language every day. But if you have a real interest in the language/culture, those things shouldn't be an effort.