<p>Spanish is SOOO much more relevant to everyday life than either other language. </p>
<p>Chances are you're going to forget Latin or French the minute you get out of high school. Spanish...that you're going to find plenty of opportunities to use.</p>
<p>I haven't read the majority of the other posts, so I do apologize if I repeat a bunch of previous comments.</p>
<p>Between French, Spanish, and Latin, I'd definitely go with Spanish. In the past 5 years, I've taken some (a few for only a 1/4 of a year) of Spanish, German, French, and Japanese. Personally, I don't like French pronunciation, and I hate butchering a language... and it just feels awkward to me when I speak it. Alas, I haven't really attempted the language recently, so I probably ought to give it another chance.</p>
<p>Excuse my mini-rant, but I'm one of those people who thinks that Latin is stupid. Unless you have an undying curiosity and passion for Ancient Roman literature... it's useless (IMHO). I've heard a lot of people say that it helps you to learn other languages, or pick up terms that they'll want in the future for Med School or Law School. I think that's crap. You can learn the roots without learning the rest of the language (which is dead anyway, so the chances of walking along the street and happening upon someone conversing in Latin are... slim to none). That's just my opinion though.</p>
<p>Spanish is, as I'm sure you've been told, is more "useful." Considering the rising Hispanic community in the US (depending on where you live, of course), knowledge Spanish is becoming an increasingly valuable and necessary skill.</p>
<p>I am sad, though, to not see German... but I'll keep the comments on that to myself. :)</p>
<p>(I currently study Spanish and German, if that influenced my opinion at all...).</p>
<p>Any argument for Latin is definitely crap. I have better languages to occupy my time. Latin is just one of those cultural quirks that's left over from the old days when elitists used Latin to demonstrate their superiority.</p>
<p>And not all schools offer the same languages. The OP's school may not offer German. I know of only two schools in my area that offer German, and the overwhelming majority of people here are descended from Germans. My school offers only Spanish, though I'll admit that that is rare.</p>
<p>^ I would disagree with you on the first paragraph, but I have too much respect for you to get into a senseless debate.</p>
<p>WHat is the best Spanish dictionary ? I need to get one.</p>
<p>I have an actual Spanish-English dictionary (I have three of them, actually). Of those, my favorite is Webster's Spanish-English Dictionary (it has an orange cover, and I got it at Barnes & Nobles if that helps). </p>
<p>Online, I go to WordReference.com. Due to how easy the site is to use, and the forums where fluent speakers discuss different usages of different terms, I find it more convenient than my physical dictionary the majority of the time.</p>
<p>I have seen the one from Collin's, Oxford's and Webster's and I am confused now about which one to choose.</p>
<p>Confused how so?</p>
<p>Generally, all dictionaries are incredibly similar (the language itself isn't really changing from book to book). Personally, I look first for format... how easy is it to look up a word I'm looking for, how clear is the text, etc.</p>
<p>Because I don't know which publisher to choose ? All of them are prestigious publisher.</p>
<p>I have the Pocket Oxford Spanish Dictionary Plus Grammar + Culture + Communication, and it's better than any other I've seen. It's definitely too big to fit in any normal person's pocket. The cover of mine is blue, ISBN 0-19-861072-6. I got mine at some obscure bookstore in the mall. I think it was Bookland. It also has cultural notes in both Spanish and English. Online, I use dictionary.com.</p>
<p>Thanks. I will try to look at Barnes and Noble</p>
<p>Is this this one ?</p>
<p>Yes, that's it. Notice how it's a pocket dictionary, yet it has 1061 pages. Don't expect to put it in your pocket.</p>
<p>french is more used for international stuff in europe... and asia. and africa. so if you want to travel off the american continent, it's more useful than spanish...</p>
<p>^Umm...no. English is much more influential than French. And only the most educated in Asia and Africa speak French. The common people usually don't. So I stand by my advice to pick the track with better teachers, since that will pay off more in the long run.</p>
<p>I find it hard to believe I've taken classes in all those languages...</p>
<p>I originally took Spanish for my language requirement, but I hated it. Since I live in California, it's by far the most popular language to take. It's practical. But unfortunately, people take it by default and the class experience was awful with lots of people who only took it because it was required.</p>
<p>I've taken French for the last three years, and I agree, after getting used to the accent and such it's not so bad. French shows up in film a lot, one of the few times I get to use French practically...it's just too bad my French skills aren't up to understanding rapid spoken French. x_x;</p>
<p>And Latin. I absolutely despised Latin. It takes a lot of memorizing vocabulary at first, and I hated translating Latin, with their funky sentence structures. I'm sure it could be fun for a real nerd.</p>