JustHatched 12,103 Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 @dead_x_12 is getting close to high school and he is starting to consider which foreign language class to take. His options are Spanish, French or Russian. Which would you choose? I think he should take Spanish because far more people in the USA speak that than the other 2, he is leaning towards Russian (dunno why) but it could have future opportunities if he were to really get into it. Quote The funniest thing about this particular signature is that by the time you realise it doesn't say anything it's to late to stop reading it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge 7,248 Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 I would say Spanish. For practical reasons. But any could develop into opportunities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LN-MLB 2,583 Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Spanish would probably be more useful from a nation-wide standpoint, but Russian would actually be more useful where I live to some degree. We have a huge Russian speaking population here though. When I was in school, we had a choice between three: Spanish, French, and German. I chose German, but I have only used it a few times since and now I've pretty much lost all that I picked up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge 7,248 Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 I wish I learned to speak German. We were also given the same options as LN. It was not mandatory, so I didn't learn any at all. I instead took an Intro to Foreign Language. That allowed to get a rudimentary understanding of the 3 offered at school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fido_le_muet 5,197 Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 (edited) Spanish for the reasons you mentionned Hatch. I think Spanish is the most spoken language after English in the US so it's probably more useful to learn spanish. Now, if dead_x already has a fairly precise idea of what he wants to do later, and if Russian is useful to that, then he should go with it. Edited February 24, 2016 by Fido_le_muet Added more stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja 719 Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 I'd say spanish aswell. I always hated to learn french because it was hard in school i didnt get to choose because we standard had: english, french and german Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prodigy_Rocks_ 231 Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 (edited) French. I'm taking French right now and my teacher gave us a handout that states some benefits of learning French. Though some of the reasons can be applied to any other language, here's some that spoke out: 1. Increased understanding in English. A majority of English words are derived from French such as "electricite" (electricity) and "fantastique" (fantastic) 2. Handy when traveling. French is the 2nd most used official language with English being 1st 3. Increase in salary (more money from job) 4. Making new friends. While the other 2 languages are just as good, I have to choose French as my recommendation. Also I recall my Grade 8 French teacher saying that learning Spanish was easy for her because the French mechanics are similar. Edit: Just remembered that there's not a lot of French speakers in the US than Canada, so I would probably choose one of the two that is most spoken in the US. Edited February 24, 2016 by Prodigy_Rocks_ Quote A quadratic function can be written in vertex form: f(x) = a( x-h )^2 + k *^2 means squared* The vertex form is helpful because it tells you the location of the vertex (h,k); (x,y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PapOiteE 465 Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 If you were in Europe I'd say french, for the reason n.2 that prodigy said. But, since he is in the US, spanish is the best choice in my opinion, because a lot of people speak that language in your country. I learned spanish, it is very easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TECHFL227 422 Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 On 2/23/2016 at 2:08 AM, Prodigy_Rocks_ said: French. I'm taking French right now and my teacher gave us a handout that states some benefits of learning French. Though some of the reasons can be applied to any other language, here's some that spoke out: 1. Increased understanding in English. A majority of English words are derived from French such as "electricite" (electricity) and "fantastique" (fantastic) 2. Handy when traveling. French is the 2nd most used official language with English being 1st 3. Increase in salary (more money from job) 4. Making new friends. While the other 2 languages are just as good, I have to choose French as my recommendation. Also I recall my Grade 8 French teacher saying that learning Spanish was easy for her because the French mechanics are similar. Edit: Just remembered that there's not a lot of French speakers in the US than Canada, so I would probably choose one of the two that is most spoken in the US. How did your French class turn out? My daughter is getting ready to start and she is really nervous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prodigy_Rocks_ 231 Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 19 minutes ago, TECHFL227 said: How did your French class turn out? My daughter is getting ready to start and she is really nervous. ATM, I'm taking Grade 11 French. It's such a pain in the butt, our French teacher started speaking French to us this semester. If she is in Grade 10 or below, she's "tout bon" (all good) 1 Quote A quadratic function can be written in vertex form: f(x) = a( x-h )^2 + k *^2 means squared* The vertex form is helpful because it tells you the location of the vertex (h,k); (x,y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G37 3,444 Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 On February 23, 2016 at 2:08 AM, Prodigy_Rocks_ said: French. I'm taking French right now and my teacher gave us a handout that states some benefits of learning French. Though some of the reasons can be applied to any other language, here's some that spoke out: 1. Increased understanding in English. A majority of English words are derived from French such as "electricite" (electricity) and "fantastique" (fantastic) 2. Handy when traveling. French is the 2nd most used official language with English being 1st 3. Increase in salary (more money from job) 4. Making new friends. While the other 2 languages are just as good, I have to choose French as my recommendation. Also I recall my Grade 8 French teacher saying that learning Spanish was easy for her because the French mechanics are similar. Edit: Just remembered that there's not a lot of French speakers in the US than Canada, so I would probably choose one of the two that is most spoken in the US. Not sure what your source is for that to be honest. Every one I looked up has French in the bottom bracket of every top 10 credible list I've encountered. And that's a deficit of hundreds of millions in comparison. And I'm talking total speakers, not just native. As everyone has mentioned, Spanish would be the most practical and beneficial to someone living and working in the contiguous U.S. States as well as almost anywhere in Central or South America (massive percentage of the world's population anyway). If Chinese or Arabic were ever offered, as difficult as they are to master, especially with our English mechanics, those would go a long .. long way too. But for this, Spanish would be my personal choice. Just don't fall out of practice with it. I took 6 years of it and had a hearty grasp on speaking, reading and listening and understood almost all of the grammar aspects (it's simple compared to our language) but never used it. The roots are all still there though so I could pick it back up quickly. I took a year of French as well and to me it seemed like beginning that language was more difficult at first and became easier while Spanish was just the opposite, starting easy and gradually becoming difficult. Not sure though, that was a long time ago. Quote "If you ride like lightning, you're gonna crash like thunder." - The Place Between The Pines Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prodigy_Rocks_ 231 Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 2 minutes ago, G37 said: Not sure what your source is for that to be honest. Every one I looked up has French in the bottom bracket of every top 10 credible list I've encountered. And that's a deficit of hundreds of millions in comparison. And I'm talking total speakers, not just native. As everyone has mentioned, Spanish would be the most practical and beneficial to someone living and working in the contiguous U.S. States as well as almost anywhere in Central or South America (massive percentage of the world's population anyway). If Chinese or Arabic were ever offered, as difficult as they are to master, especially with our English mechanics, those would go a long .. long way too. But for this, Spanish would be my personal choice. Just don't fall out of practice with it. I took 6 years of it and had a hearty grasp on speaking, reading and listening and understood almost all of the grammar aspects (it's simple compared to our language) but never used it. The roots are all still there though so I could pick it back up quickly. I took a year of French as well and to me it seemed like beginning that language was more difficult at first and became easier while Spanish was just the opposite, starting easy and gradually becoming difficult. Not sure though, that was a long time ago. Not sure if you're referring to my reasons, but I still have the handout my French teacher gave me. Quote A quadratic function can be written in vertex form: f(x) = a( x-h )^2 + k *^2 means squared* The vertex form is helpful because it tells you the location of the vertex (h,k); (x,y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G37 3,444 Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Just now, Prodigy_Rocks_ said: Not sure if you're referring to my reasons, but I still have the handout my French teacher gave me. Mostly just referencing your quote for the approximation in French speakers compared to other global languages. It's nowhere near at the top of any language list I've seen (numbers wise). The rest is just my own insight on why Spanish > French, for U.S. folks. Obviously being bilingual will make you more desirable in many a field. Quote "If you ride like lightning, you're gonna crash like thunder." - The Place Between The Pines Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prodigy_Rocks_ 231 Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 12 minutes ago, G37 said: Mostly just referencing your quote for the approximation in French speakers compared to other global languages. It's nowhere near at the top of any language list I've seen (numbers wise). The rest is just my own insight on why Spanish > French, for U.S. folks. Obviously being bilingual will make you more desirable in many a field. Haven't checked the facts, and was just assuming at the time. Quote A quadratic function can be written in vertex form: f(x) = a( x-h )^2 + k *^2 means squared* The vertex form is helpful because it tells you the location of the vertex (h,k); (x,y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LN-MLB 2,583 Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 2 hours ago, G37 said: I took 6 years of it and had a hearty grasp on speaking, reading and listening and understood almost all of the grammar aspects (it's simple compared to our language) but never used it. The roots are all still there though so I could pick it back up quickly. I took a year of French as well and to me it seemed like beginning that language was more difficult at first and became easier while Spanish was just the opposite, starting easy and gradually becoming difficult. Not sure though, that was a long time ago. Uh, what? I found Spanish to be extremely difficult, especially in regards to the pronunciation. Granted, like I said, I took German, and only had a random Spanish class while in junior high school, but I'd say that German is much easier for native English speakers--both with pronunciation and grammar compared to both Spanish and French. Perhaps that's just me though. I agree though, unless you practice and speak a second language on a regular basis, you will quickly lose and forget significant portions of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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