German or French

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>I have just finished my freshman year in college and I am having a problem deciding which language to take. First off, let me say that I am a philosophy major and that contributes to my decision. </p>

<p>I love german philosophy and it would be great to read in the original language. German also sounds really fun. I want to jump into reading in german ASAP </p>

<p>French is an amazing sounding language and France is such a great country. I would prefer to be fluent in french over german. I also like french philosophy, but not as much as german.</p>

<p>Whichever language I choose, I will have to start my sophmore year. I plan on starting the other language my junior year. Will it be hard starting one language the year after I start another? Any opinions on any of this?</p>

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<p>I know a girl who's in German and French at the same time and she seems to be handling it well. Personally, I am doing a French minor, and I love French. Not to be like, arrogant or anything, but I think French is a more important language worldwide than German. French is spoken in Canada, parts of the Caribbean, all over Africa, parts of Asia such as Laos, and in several European countries. I know next to nothing about German, but I'm pretty sure German is spoken most just in Europe, mainly Austria and Germany. I think it might be easier to learn German though seeing as it and English are derived from Germanic languages, while French is derived from Latin like other Romance languages such as Spanish, Italian, etc. I haven't had too hard of a time learned French, and though some of the tenses give me trouble, I think that happens with all languages.</p>

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<p>Actually, according to some kinda study (I know, real authoritative right but somebody posted it on here awhile back) French/Spanish/Italian were said to be easier to learn for native English speakers than German. </p>

<p>
[quote]
I would prefer to be fluent in french over german

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Didn't you answer your own question then?</p>

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<p>Germany has the largest GDP in Europe, French was the international language of diplomacy in, like, the 18th century. You decide.
French is spoken in France, and is one of a few languages in the other European ones. In the most notable one, Switzerland, German is a much more widley-spoken language. In Canada and the other former colonies, it is rarely the only language. </p>

<p>In my opinon, German is actually useful. French is pretty-sounding with a nice tradition, but greatly overestimated in terms of actual usefulness. </p>

<p>Of course I'm a German major and opinionated. Pick the one that interests you. If you want to learn a language for strictly utilitarian purposes, Chinese and Spanish are probably moth more useful than either.</p>

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<p>German sounds awesome.</p>

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<p>Germany is the third largest economy in the world. German is by no means less useful than french, both are important languages. Being able to speak either fluently will help you dramatically. I greatly respect anyone that devotes themselves to learn a new language.</p>

<p>In terms of difficulty, german is slightly harder than french, while french is slightly harder than spanish, italian, and portuguese. This shouldn't weigh much into your choice however because any language is going to take time to learn.</p>

<p>I agree with what Jumbosox said.</p>

<p>Whichever one seems more interesting to you is the one you should choose, theres nothing worse than learning a language you don't care about. </p>

<p>I myself chose german and love it. It is BEYOND FUN to speak! =0) You really can't go wrong with either.</p>

<p>If you want to work in one of the two countries, france will be harder to get a job in, germany has more job opportunities in general than france for foreigners.</p>

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<p>I am very interested in both french and german, and there lies my conflict. I just really want to start reading german philosophy in german as soon as possible. However, I would also like to be fluent in french so I figured that I should start french first so I have more time with it. BUt I just really, really want to read in german. </p>

<p>This seems like an easy decision but Im really having a hard time with it.</p>

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<p>German! But I'm biased. </p>

<p>I find German fun and fairly easy, especially to read...so you should have no problem with it. French will probably take more time and effort...so maybe take it first if you're really interested in becoming a fluent speaker. </p>

<p>But what do I know. Good luck! :D</p>

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<p>I would go with French...it would be more useful when traveling the world, imo.</p>

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<p>french is spoken by more. It is easier to learn than german, and it is still useful in international diplomacy. Other than that it has no other uses, and i dont really like the language.</p>

<p>OMGOMGOMGOMG...
Charizardpal just posted right above me...weird.</p>

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<p>Start with French, as it is the more foreign language. And when you begin German next year, it will seem ridiculously easy.</p>

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<p>I disagree BIGTWIX that French is easier to learn than German. German is germanic and the grammar is so similar to English and probably the hardest part would be the conjugation. Well, maybe that's just because of my background, but I started French 8 years before German, and after a year of German, I could speak the little I knew much more fluently than all the French I'd learned in nine years, although my French knowledge is still solid.</p>

<p>But yes, you're right. French is a UN language, still widely used and important. German is good for read philosophy, music and math.</p>

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<p>AUlostchick, French is not spoken all over Africa. Roughly 1/3 of Africa's population is officially Francophone.</p>

<p>Yes, Germany is Europe's economic powerhouse.</p>

<p>But I hope you guys are not missing the point. nicholjs is planning to take both French and German. S/he only wanted opinions on which to begin first.</p>

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<p>Fellow philosophy major chiming in...German, German, German, German :D</p>

<p>I'd wanted to take it for years, but ended up surprising myself by starting in college (rather than pursuing Spanish for my 3 semester language GE...more practical living in CA, plus I had had some in high school. Thank goodness for arbitrarily being assigned a German prof as my advisor!). Really, though, I had a blast. It's just a fun language to learn and to speak. Find me some French words that are as entertaining as *kaputt<a href="broken">/i</a>, *krank<a href="sick">/i</a>, or *handschuhe<a href="gloves...literally,%20hand-shoes">/i</a> ;)</p>

<p>I've heard from teachers of various languages that French is easiest to learn in the beginning, but among the most difficult languages in which to reach fluency, while German is difficult at the beginning, but continues at a pretty steady level. The reason given is that French has few hard-and-fast rules...lots and lots of exceptions. So early on, there's lots of flexibility, but eventually, the memorization becomes overwhelming. Conversely, German is ALL about the rules, so early on, it seems very strict, but once you have the basics down, you can do pretty much anything. Just the messenger with this info. But German is Germanic, French is romantic...English shares a lot with both of these languages, so which one you start first shouldn't have a big effect on how you do in the other one.</p>

<p>In fairness, I had wonderful language professors, which really helped. If you're really torn between which language you'd rather take longer, check <a href="http://www.ratemyprofessors.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.ratemyprofessors.com&lt;/a> and look at the French and German professors at your school. </p>

<p>I was also told that German would make sense for a philosophy major, but I definitely never reached a point where I could get much out of original works (and I took 4 semesters). So I wouldn't advise letting this be your primary motivation. Take what sounds fun to you, as learning another language should be.</p>

<p>And lastly, I find this hilarious (don't let it be discouraging): <a href="http://www.twainquotes.com/German.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.twainquotes.com/German.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Good luck, whatever your decision!</p>

<p>ETA: This post is a little nonsensical in parts because I originally thought you were asking which language to take, then realized (thanks to the post above mine) that you were only asking which to take first. Sorry for the mixed messages.</p>

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<p>what??!! german for philosophy??? HAHA!! dream on!! even spanish beats german in terms of philosophy or history. but, nothing compares to greek. with greek u have access to not just a whole mass of classical philosophy, literature, etc. (from both greece and rome all the way to fall of constantinople), but the new testament as well.</p>

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<p>do french!!</p>

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<p>"what??!! german for philosophy??? HAHA!! dream on!! even spanish beats german in terms of philosophy or history."</p>

<p>A few notable German-language philosophers: Nietzsche, Heidegger, Kant, Schopenhauer, Carnap, Hempel, Hegel, Schlick, Popper (the Vienna circle in general, really...major players in the philosophy of science)...<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German-language_philosophers%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German-language_philosophers&lt;/a> (list also includes Marx and Einstein). </p>

<p>And for completeness' sake, a few notable French-language philosophers: Descartes, Camus, Sartre, Diderot...<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:French_philosophers%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:French_philosophers&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>Spanish-language philosophers...<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Spanish_philosophers%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Spanish_philosophers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Now, I maintain that this should not be a guiding factor in the decision (especially since it's only a decision of which to take first, not which to take), but the point is that German is actually a very logical choice of language for a philosophy student (likewise, French, although I've heard that existing translations of French works tend to be better, which may or may not have any truth to it at all).</p>

<p>Anyway...just clarifying ;)</p>

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<p>"(likewise, French, although I've heard that existing translations of French works tend to be better, which may or may not have any truth to it at all)."</p>

<p>Student615, can you clarify this statement because this might be the deciding factor if I understand it correctly.</p>

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<p>French is probably slightly easier than German, if you speak English.</p>

<p>But I would start with the one that you feel the most personal motivation to learn. If first language is going well, I would suggest waiting three semesters at least before starting language # 2.</p>

<p>For philosophy, Ancient Greek might be the most useful!</p>

<p>Unless you are going to specialize in the German philosophers..</p>

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<p>
[quote]
I just really want to start reading german philosophy in german as soon as possible.

[/quote]

Believe me, you will need more than two years of college level German to read Kant or Nietzsche...</p>

<p>I have to agree with the previous posters that French will probably be easier for you to learn than German. Most introductory language courses are speaking intensive and if you only want to learn to read German, it might be a pain in the ass to keep practicing some German sounds that don't exist in the English language (can you imitate the hissing sound of a cat?)</p>

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