<p>I am trying to decide which language I should take in college. I have already taken 4 years of Latin and 1 year of Ancient Greek, and have kind of been teaching myself Old English and Scottish Gaelic, but I'd like to learn a language that more than 60k people speak. I plan on majoring in English, maybe double major in English and theatre or English and history. I love British history specifically. French and German both seem very interesting to me, as do both of their cultures, and the actual sound of the language doesn't matter that much to me. I also hope to both attend grad school and live in Scotland.</p>
<p>Any suggestions for which language would better supplement my study of literature? Stories of personal experiences with either language are also welcome. Thank you in advance :)</p>
<p>I personally take french it’s the best choice I’ve ever made. Honestly, it’s my favorite class! Nothing beated going to France on an exchange, and staying with a french family it was just remarkable!</p>
<p>Bienvenue à français!</p>
<p>Haha, my father speaks French and my mother speaks German - I prefer the sound of French to German (German always sounds aggressive, regardless of the context) but I think overall German is easier to learn since English is Germanic and you probably are already familiar with the latinate origins of the language from your Classics studies. </p>
<p>Also, German might be more relevant now and in the future considering that Germany is the economic powerhouse of the EU and is basically supporting the industries and economies of more than half of Europe. French is spoken literally everywhere, though. Especially in Africa (North and Sub-Saharan). </p>
<p>I’m sure you won’t have many regrets if you go with either. </p>
<p>My answer wasn’t very direct or coherent, lol. But yeah, either would suit you well. </p>
<p>I’ve taken German since I was a kid because I have family there, my dad speaks German, and I always knew I wanted to spend time there when I grew up. So even though there is more Spanish/French spoken throughout the world, German was the most practical choice for me. And it’s paid off! I can visit my relatives in Germany and I spent 6 months there on co-op doing research. German has historically been the language of science, and research in Germany is the best funded in Europe. So if you’re in the sciences, German might be a good choice, though. French, on the other hand, was the language of diplomacy, and is still often used as a secondary language in a lot of diplomatic circles, so that might be preferable if you plan to head in that direction.</p>
<p>But ultimately, it’s not a huge deal one way or the other. Pick whichever one strikes your fancy!</p>
<p>I speak both French and German, and I’m going to have to say go with French. It’s much easier to learn than German, especially if you speak Latin, and it also has quite a few words that are the same in English. It also sounds much better, in my opinion, and would be more useful if you’re an English & Theater major.</p>
<p>German is more complicated and it is VERY different from English. I don’t think it sounds harsh, only if you exaggerate the accent, but it definitely doesn’t flow as nicely as French. It also has three genders (French only has two) and a grammar that has given me nightmares. 
It takes a while to get used to.</p>
<p>Also, adding to what @preamble1776 said. I live in Central Europe and it’s true that German is the most useful language here. They teach it at most schools along with English, but I’ve also met many people who don’t even speak English, only German. On the other hand, nobody speaks French. That, however, is only true for Central & Eastern Europe (with the exception of Romania, where they prefer French). In Western Europe, so also in Scotland, people are more likely to speak French.</p>
<p>Viel Erfolg/Bon courage with whichever language you choose! </p>
<p>Take French. It’ll be a good application of your Latin, and you’ll get more use out of it bcs French people resist learning English. </p>
<p>In contrast, a lot of Germans speak some English. In fact, some Germans speak English better than most Americans. </p>
<p>Ooops, correction, in the UK more people prefer French (at least that was the case when I lived there), and in Western Europe it really depends. In some countries they generally speak both.</p>
<p>Forgot to add, French is the official language of the Olympics & along with English the most used one in the EU, although preamble is right, German is the most widely spoken in it. </p>
<p>I’d choose French, too - it’s more widely spoken (with literature from the Carribean, Western Africa, and Northern Africa being especially robust, in addition to “metropolitan” France) plus if you know Latin you’ll find it rather easy to learn. Therefore you’ll be faster at “using” the language you learn, whether for communication or for reading literature.
(That’s not to say German is a bad choice - I speak it too - but I’d prioritize French over German, and add German later if you wish).</p>
<p>Neither. I took college French and I am ethnically German. (so I speak a smattering of each)</p>
<p>If you live in the US, take Spanish. It is more widely spoken and used. Only take French or German if you plan to live or work somewhere that has one of those languages as their primary language. Maybe if you plan to study the literature of one or the other.</p>
<p>If you live in the UK, it may make more sense to take one of them just because of the EU.</p>
<p>Other good options: Mandarin or Arabic</p>
<p>Spanish, hands down. I am taking it myself - Rosetta Stone.
I strongly believe that “If you live in the US, take Spanish” I also found that Rosetta Stone approach is more effective than school lectures.</p>
<p>Don’t do mandarin or arabic. At this point, all you’ve learned are dead languages. Wouldn’t it be practical to speak a live one well?</p>
<p>Here’s a good column by NYT Nicholas Kristof on the subject. His wife is Chinese.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/opinion/30kristof.html?_r=0”>Opinion | Primero Hay Que Aprender Español. Ranhou Zai Xue Zhongwen. - The New York Times;
<p>I voted French before, bcs Spanish wasn’t given as an option. If it is an option, I vote Spanish. </p>
<p>^ Be careful not to confuse practical and useful.
Spanish is practical for certain occupations or in certain areas, but OP is likely looking at graduate school in English or Comp Lit where French and/or German are requirements (and French a stronger requirement while Spanish can replace German - for comp lit, being able to read 3 or 4 languages is a given, as is translation experience/courses).
Spanish is often taken as a default language in high school, which makes sense for immediate purpose, but for professional purposes one really needs to look at one’s objectives and the default option is unlikely to be right in many cases.
Examples: If going into Oil/Petroleum engineering, French is more practical (Canada’s oil sands and extractions!) unless of course one chooses Arabic (in that case, an intensive program is needed, because it takes about 5 times longer to get even to a minimal level than for Italian, French, or Spanish.)
For engineering, German is useful along with English. For math, Russian and French (I’d still pick French because Russian is much harder). For history, one should know the languages spoken in the area of specialty with, if possible, their older version, especially if one needs to get into archives. Same thing for international relations and development economics: specialty area languages with these coming in addition to French. Chinese is also useful for some areas of Africa (in addition the at least two national languages.)
Someone who’s interested in Chinese or Arabic really should take the Intensive program at Middlebury (or other similar programs) and/or get admitted to one of the Critical Language Flagship Programs. Otherwise, the level achieved is unlikely to be of professional use, even if of course it’ll be great for cultural discovery and general knowledge, and certainly better than knowing nothing - on campus study for 2 full years (5 hours/week class + lab + about 12hours hw/week each semester) will need to be complemented by a year abroad (a year, not a semester) and even that will not suffice for workplace fluency, but it’ll be enough to get respect and understand what’s going on and why it’s going on.
The DoD dropped Rosetta Stone because it found that while it’s useful for the very basic level (it’s GREAT for achieving A1 proficiency; okay for A2 but starts showing its limits), it doesn’t allow students to reach even B1 level (threshold/AP).</p>
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<p>No, in the international oil arena, the language is English. The oil sands in Canada are in Alberta, an English speaking province. </p>
<p>^ Well, if you’re buying, everything is in English internationally (except for anthropologists trying to understand feather roll exchanges… :p). If you’re selling… you better speak the language of those who are buying. 
(that’s actually a Chinese business principle but I think it applies).</p>
<p>Overall, when people speak of practical aspects, they mean the way the other person does business, the way their culture functions, what codes exist that the language conveys, what you’re supposed to know about their culture in order to get respect, ie. the language’s framework as much as the language itself.</p>
<p>Primarily Alberta but other territories also (BC, NB, and even Quebec reaching into NYS)… and anyway, all of Canada must handle everything in both languages ( we’ll not mention Québec’s loi 101 :p)</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone, for the input! I plan on my four undergraduate years being the last years I spend living in the United States, and in the UK, French is by far the most widely spoken foreign language (23%), followed by German (9%) and Spanish (8%). It sounds like most people are recommending French, which I made a two-day attempt at learning earlier last year, so I will probably stick with that - plus, the thought of reading Sartre in the original is just too exciting, haha. Learning German in the future would also be fun and would act as a good gateway to Old English, so that’s probably something I will end up doing. Thank you all again! :)</p>
<p>I speak both French and Chinese so I’m bias to say French and yea, I do think it sounds better to the ear. </p>
<p>@MYOS1634 I have to comment that while it’s true that when it comes to buying, everything is generally in English, you will develop much better relationships with the people you buy from if you know the language of the person you’re buying from. Take China for example, in order to sell to customers, there are numerous Chinese natives in China who also speak English, but for most of them, their English is either abysmal, heavily accented, or not very strong. I’ve seen many non-Chinese speakers buy stuff for both personal and business reasons in China and while many have succeeded, it limits them in negotiating, communicating, and again in business relationships. Speaking Chinese will allow you converse with them on a much deeper level. Plus, if you plan to live in the place you work or do business in, it helps in your general daily life as well.</p>
<p>^I totally agree, and what you said above nicely illustrates what I meant about not confusing practical (buying) and useful (actually understanding people and their culture).</p>
<p>I studied Latin and French in high school, then more French, Mandarin, and a minority Turkic language in college. I also considered a Native American language and a minority Iranian language in linguistic studies. However, back in my hometown, everyone learns German. Deutsche-Welle, a German channel, even comes on the basic TV channels at home, and sometimes I put it on, even though I understand nothing. I’ve worked in France, though I was mostly with German researchers. KNowing some German would have been useful for working with them, but they all spoke both French and English.</p>
<p>Anyway, I think you’ll find a use for pretty much any language. Sure, I only studied a minority Turkic language that’s spoken in China, but I found it much easier to navigate in Turkey after taking it. Its cognates with Arabic even helped me out in Morocco! German and French are obviously both of even greater practicality. In an overall international view, French is clearly much more widely spoken. Beyond Central Europe, German won’t get you far. But, since it sounds like your future plans are quite firmly focused on Europe, the languages are about equally practical - especially considering that you can get around in Europe very well in English.</p>
<p>If your interest in English extends into interest in the English language’s history, I would recommend German. While English and French have contributed heavily to each other, English is more genetically close to German. Beyond that, I think you can flip a coin.</p>
<p>I think any English speaker can, for the most part, choose a second language based merely on their interests. English is widely spoken enough that unless you’re planning to live and work somewhere, you can largely pick up what little you would need to know of other languages on the fly.</p>