For those who pick French over Spanish for a foreign language study....

[Merry]

What are your reasons for doing so?

 

I think part of my problem is that I am deaf so I would not be picking a language by how the sound of it appeals to me. My ds won't really care, I don't think. He's hard of hearing himself. He does enjoy music and can talk on the phone but I don't think he would pick a foreign language by how the sound of it appeals to him. My reasons would be based on practicality and literacy.

 

Around here, it doesn't really matter which language we take in terms of practicality, I don't think. We are in the middle of America where there is no major group of Spanish or French speakers to talk to. But there is an elementary homeschool French class where some of my ds' friends go. That would be great for the social aspect and the opportunity to practice French with the teacher and the others. There are no Spanish classes until high school. But our church sends the youth to Mexico every year on a missions trip. Spanish would be handy then. So I could pick an elementary Spanish curriculum to do at home until high school.

 

We are also learning Latin. Does either language seem to work better with Latin than the other in terms of reinforcement and overlap? Does it matter?

 

French has marvelous medieval literature and Spanish has Don Quixote. But if I had to pick a language for literature alone, I would pick Italian for the Divine Comedy. But I really don't see how we can get Italian instruction here, oh well. Can you add other titles to either French or Spanish that we would want to read which might help us decide?

 

Right now, I am leaning toward French because of the homeschool class but I also have to think long term because of the potential missions trips and also the spreading Mexican culture.

 

Emily

[Blueridge]

While I think that learning Spanish would have been more 'practical', we chose French instead. I had some classes in high school and college, so at least I had a bit of experience in the language. I also personally feel that the French language is very beautiful when spoken. Thirdly, our family heritage is French, and that gave the girls a sense of it's significance to them.

[Laura Corin]

As far as literature in French is concerned: drama (Moliere, Racine, Corneille); philosophy (Montaigne, Decartes, Sartres); novels (Hugo, Zola, Flaubert, Camus); Poetry (Verlaine, Lamartine, Baudelaire). Others will disagree with my lists.

 

We chose French for three reasons: it's a little harder than Spanish, so better to learn when you have the time to concentrate on it; the local schools teach it, so if the boys decided to go to school they would be prepared; I have a degree in it.

 

Laura

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

Right now, I am leaning toward French because of the homeschool class but I also have to think long term because of the potential missions trips and also the spreading Mexican culture.

 

Emily

 

There are plenty of countries where French would be needed for mission trips. While your church chooses to go to Mexico, there are many other destinations. Haiti right now has great needs. Many African countries too.

It's the goal of "Mission Monde" btw

http://www.mfbp.org/index.htm

[Laurie4b]

Latin will work well with either Spanish or French.

 

I'm not sure I'd choose based on the literature. By that time in the language study, your teen will have his own opinion as to which language to study!:) Really. I chose Spanish because it is the 3rd most spoken language in the world and because we do have a sizeable Spanish-speaking population around here. However, once the dc got to high school, they chose Italian and Portuguese. I"m not going to make them do Spanish when they have their own reasons for choosing the other language.

 

So I'd decide based more on what makes sense now. Things change.

[jld]

Dh is French, so it was a no-brainer. I'm also surprised at how prevalent French is throughout the world. I really had no idea. It's a beautiful language with a culture behind it that commands respect.

 

I'm really glad I didn't have a choice in this because I don't think on my own I would have been wise enough to pick it.:D

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Well, we are doing French because I have a Masters Degree in French literature and I am fluent in French. I took Spanish along with French in High School and Latin in college. I would like my kids to learn both French and Spanish, but I personally chose French to teach them myself. I could do Spanish, but whenever I try to speak it, it comes out in French!

 

Anyway, I think spanish is slightly easier to learn, just from a pronunciation standpoint, but if you want the support of a group, go for the French. I think there are merits in learning either language. And if your ds learns French, it will be easier for him to pick up another romance language, like Spanish, later on.

[FaithManor]

My youngest will be studying French.

 

Dh and I want the children to be interested in studying the language and a culture that speaks that language. We both think that this interest is more likely to lead to some fluency than if we forced them in to the standard "everybody takes Spanish" path. DD did study Spanish but for all of the right reasons...she was genuinely interested and going into the medical profession in an area with a high number of both legal and illegal immigrants from Mexico, it made sense to her.

 

Ds 13 will be studying German. He is a World War I and II buff as well as having several relatives who have been stationed in Germany and so he is fascinated with the language. That's fine with me because he will be more motivated to learn it. We also do not live too far away from Frankenmuth, MI. which still has a lot of Bi-lingual individuals and some jobs available for an adult who can speak even a little conversational German.

 

DS 11 wants to learn Danish because my dh's family is from Denmark. Well, specifically his Great-Grandfather was from Copenhagen and his Great-grandmother was half Danish/half American. So his grandfather was 3/4 Danish. Unfortunately, grandpa's father died when he was nine months old and living in Chicago...she abandoned her Danish heritage, lived with her American relatives, re-married, and never, ever attempted to impart to her son any of his Danish roots. So, ds has a real desire to learn the language and eventually travel there and visit with some of the cousins.

 

DS 10 will be learning French. I think he wants to do this to please me beause I minored in French in college. As for why one would study French over Spanish....I guess I'm not a good person to ask because I find that most high schoolers rarely use the language they studied in high school no matter what it is, and therefore, it isn't practical...a hoop that is jumped for college admissions. Not that I'm bashing a foreign language...it's good brain training. But, that old phrase, "use it or lose it" comes to mind and most kids never have opportunity to really use it so they eventually grow cobwebs in that part of their memory bank.

 

As for practical uses for French, I know of four very nicely high paying jobs in Detroit right now for any individual who reads French well enough to translate business documents. I have used my French quite a bit to help my DH when he first transferred to his current assignment because French is a common business language in Europe and so when he would get memos (sometimes the writer would inadvertently go back and forth between French and English) or during a heated conference call, the arguers would suddenly give up their English and get into a "French war" and he'd yell for me to come running. Though very, very rusty, I could usually tell him the gist of the conversation. I've also used it when traveling in Quebec, though I've never met a non-bilingual person there, I've found it easier to just ask for directions in French or order in French when everyone around me is doing the same because it doesn't require the listener to "switch" over their thinking processes.

 

My French learner boy is very interested in the French Revolution as well as French colonization in Canada. His aunty speaks French very well (spent a few months in Paris and then in Normandy) and he knows that his maternal great-grandfather landed on Utah beach on D-Day as a paratrooper and fought his way through Northern France, helped emancipate several French towns from the Germans, and then marched to Berlin. Though my grandfather never wanted to speak of the war, it was very obvious from his paratrooper exploits that he'd learned a lot of French during his time spent there fighting for survival. This completely fascinates the 10 year old. So, I know that he is more likely to really study the language than if we just assigned one and said, "Hey, you have to earn two credits of this."

 

So, this probably didn't help you at all. That said, if the student is interested in European politics, working in an European embassy, or dealing with international law (it's pretty important, from what my sister explained to me, to know French if you are going to deal in international law), or work for a business that does a lot of banking in Europe, it could be practical.

 

Faith

Edited July 14, 2010 by FaithManor
incomplete sentence

[Brigitte]

The primary reason we picked French over Spanish is that my family is from Belgium and we love to travel there and in France. My secondary reason is that French is a bit harder. Once they learn French, Spanish will be very easy to pick up.

[eternalknot]

We picked French for two reasons:

 

1. I have the background for it (studied for 12 years, language and literature);

 

2. my kids play pick-up and organized soccer with lots of Spanish-speaking families, and they're learning it informally that way.

 

It's been interesting to see how much more quickly they've picked up Spanish (casually) than French (formally) in the conversational sense, but how much more they've learned about language and grammar from their French studies. We had been doing Latin for a year prior to beginning French studies, and continue to study it as well.

[gingersmom]

I picked Spanish for my children because that is what I learned in school/college.

 

We go into NYC several times a month and there are always opportunities to practice speaking Spanish (starting with their grandmothers doormen).

 

I have traveled to South America and loved that I could speak Spanish (badly) to them.

 

I traveled to Italy (several times) and apparently my Spanish sounds like Italian because they had no problem understanding me. I on the other hand was less fluent in Italian-Spanish. :D

[Heather in AL]

But there is an elementary homeschool French class where some of my ds' friends go. That would be great for the social aspect and the opportunity to practice French with the teacher and the others.

Emily

 

I would chose French based on your above comment. Having support and a place to practice the language reinforces what is learned.

 

I took French in high school because my mother had taken it back when she was in school and could help me a bit. I grew up in Florida, so Spanish would have been a 'given'.

 

I ended up marrying a Frenchman (had I even thought this was a possibility, I would have studied French MUCH harder in school! :tongue_smilie:), so this is the language our children are learning... it's important to me that they be able to speak to their family.

 

Finally, I have heard over and over how much easier Spanish is to learn than French, so I figure if they go 'the hard way' first, it will be easier to learn Spanish. I can attest to this by the fact that I can read some Spanish and I only had three years of high school French and a semester in college.

[Chris in VA]

We did French and Latin. For dd, I would choose French over Spanish b/c of mission opportunities and European/African travel.

[CalicoKat]

I speak French fluently. I learned it as a child and I lived overseas in a French speaking country.

 

However . . . . .

 

 

We're learning Spanish. :D

 

1. Spanish is the foreign lang. being spoken in our area.

2. My kids wanted to learn to speak with our neighborhood kids

3. I started learning Spanish in college and I'm psyched about continuing

 

Eventually someday we'll start with French. Truly it's about what my kids can absorb and learning reinforced by their contact with the language outside our classroom.

[TravelingChris]

I picked French for my oldest because at that time he wanted to become a historian, particularly focusing on European history, and so the choices were French and German. I had experience with French and none with German so French it was. Then we were stationed in Belgium so it turned out to have been a great choice for him. He was also my natural speller so French was not so hard for him.

 

My two girls are doing Spanish. Why- they both have trouble with spelling English and I had to choose the easier language. For my older dd, it makes a lot of sense since she wants to be a criminal prosecutor and more witnesses here in the US are likely to speak SPanish then French. For my youngest who may become an engineer, no language is particularly necessary so the easiest is it.

[MorganClassicalPrep]

Well, I'm currently learning French, and I only know basic conversational Spanish, so French it is.

 

The other thing I considered is that there are many more resources for learning Spanish. So if she decided later to pick up Spanish, it would be much easier than picking up French.

[katemary63]

My perspective:

 

I took 4 years of French is high school and loved it. I thought I was being a bit different. Most kids took Spanish and I didn't want to do the "normal" thing. That is my ONLY reason for choosing French at that time.

 

As an adult, I have kicked myself a million times. I ended up living in an area where there were many Spanish speakers. I ended up taking two missions trips to Spanish speaking countries. I ended up taking Spanish as a non-traditional student at university because I needed it. I LOVE Spanish now and am studying it with DD9 through Rosetta Stone. I also know that in every city I have lived in, in WI, IL and AR, it is commonly advertized that Spanish speakers recieve special consideration when applying to many jobs and also often recieve a pay differential. I've never seen an ad for a speaker of French.

 

I gave none of my kids a choice. They studied Spanish! :D

[Brilliant]

My dd took 2 semesters of college French as a high school sophomore. I *really* wanted her to take Spanish, since it's so common here. (I've been told twice in the last week, "No English", when I've asked someone a question.) But I let her follow her interest. Still not sure if it was the right thing to do...I really need someone to translate the Meg Whitman ads for me. :)

 

Likewise, my ds is learning German for the same reason FaithManor's son is. :) I wonder why boys interested in WWII want to study the language of the losers??

[hana]

We live nearly half the year in Canada (Ontario and Nova Scotia), which is a bilingual English/French country, so it just made sense to us to focus on French.

[elise1mds]

Spanish would make a LOT more sense for us because we live in an area where there are a lot of Spanish-speaking people and I do know a fair amount of Spanish, but DS insists he wants to study French. And that's all there is to it. :D

[AHASRADA]

I have similar reasons to the rest of the posters:

 

1. I have a degree in French

2. dh and I are both fluent in French

3. ILs are all fluent in French, but not English

4. We travel to a French-speaking country regularly to visit ILs

5. We are currently living in a predominantly-French area

 

Incidentally, I minored in Spanish in college, but have had no opportunity to practice it for 15 years and have thus forgotten how to speak :tongue_smilie:.

 

I would love for my kids to learn Spanish at some point, since it can be so useful in North America. However, French is definitely the de-facto 2nd language in our family.

[Merry]

go with French mostly because of the local French class. I cannot teach any spoken foreign languages at home. The information about missions trips to French speaking countries was great!

[Ester Maria]

Our primary focus were some completely different languages (first of all, English was a foreign language to the children, being originally Italians; then there was a heritage obligation to incorporate Hebrew studies; as well as the obligation of the tradition of learning classical languages in the family), so it was only recently that we got to the point of even considering adding a formal study of one more language.

Now DD13 has decided to add French to the load and do a five-year lycee equivalent study of it. We were very supportive of the decision, and the reasons were:

 

1. She has a rather solid, albeit informal, background in the language that she attained during her stays in Europe - she is not exactly beginning a study of a completely new language but, rather, deepening the study of something vaguely familiar.

 

2. A practical consideration: French is a VERY useful language in Europe, especially on the locations she is likely to visit or spend some time in the future. French is also a VERY useful language on the global scale and, in addition to English, the only language that can be truly called "the world language" by its importance, whether as the first or second language or lingua franca, on all continents.

 

3. French has been traditionally a language of diplomacy and international relations - it opens many doors not only in politics, but also in international business and communications. The knowledge of French or German in Europe is a BIG plus in many spheres.

 

4. French has been traditionally a "scholarly" language - not only there is a vast body of literature (as in fiction) in it, there has also accumulated quite some body of scientific, legal, historic etc. professional literature and scholarship in the language. Being able to access that huge body of literature in the original adds both to personal satisfaction and professional development.

 

5. DD is most likely going into humanities and French is an excellent choice for anyone whose spheres of interests include philosophy, literature, history, etc. Not only some of the best places to study those are in France, but the knowledge of French and accessibility of literature in French connects quite some number of prominent European intellectuals. French has never ceased to be an important language in those circles.

 

6. We have almost a tradition of learning French in our family, both mine and my husband's - very few people in our extended families have not learned French to a relatively proficient level. Common cultural associations that one is going to grow while learning French will connect our daughter to other members of our extended family, as well as to thousands of like-minded and like-educated individuals. Being francophone has traditionally aided one's entrance into certain circles, and has been nearly a mark of excellence of education - almost to an extend classical languages were. I don't know of ANY modern foreign language - barring, possibly, German, but in a different way - that has such a status in academia, the knowledge of which adds that much to one's "academic" CV and the familiarity with whose "cultural literacy" is that emphasized.

 

7. Knowing French will aid her Italian and Latin and create one more bridge towards the understanding of the historical development of neo-Latin languages as well as towards learning other Romance languages.

 

8. Have I mentioned it's beautiful? :D

[Merry]

I pasted your answer for my future reference. It's truly valuable and hard to find information.

 

My ds is only nine so I'm not sure where he is headed but I'm sure that wherever he goes, French will enrich his life. You say that French is the language of diplomacy and international relations....I'm sure that French has an important place not only in international business and diplomacy but also in social relations such as missionary work, international aid, and tourism.

 

As for the beauty of the language, I've heard about that:)

 

Thanks!

[Whereneverever]

We picked French because I speak it easily. I know some Spanish and we may start that in a few years as well, but for now French is easiest.