When you decided to learn a language, one of the hardest things is knowing which one to go for.
Due to how many resources there are available, most English speakers are torn between learning French or Spanish. In fact, should I learn French or Spanish was a question my students often asked me when choosing their exam subjects.
So, while the choice is entirely personal, here are some ideas to help you decide which language to learn.
French or Spanish? Here are the 5 considerations
1. Why are you learning the language?
Firstly (and importantly), you need to ask yourself what your motivation is for learning the language. If you’re choosing a language for career progression, you might have different considerations compared to someone choosing a language to go travelling.
When you know why you are choosing to learn a language, it can help you decide which one to go for.
If you’re learning just for fun, consider the cultures too. Are you into French cinema? Do you love Spanish food? Do you follow French football? Or do you love Mexican cuisine? All of these are valid considerations when deciding whether to learn French or Spanish.
If you have some experience with both languages, just ask yourself which one you prefer. When my students were faced with this decision, I would always say choose the one you enjoy. When you like something, you’re much more likely to get more out of it.
2. Your language background
Do you know any other languages? If so, this might help you decide between French and Spanish. If, for example, you speak some Portuguese, then you might find Spanish a little easier to grasp. If you know some Creole, French will be easier.
If you only have English as a language, it’s a tough choice. Both of these languages are Romance languages and so share many common characteristics. Learning one can help you learn the other so even if you choose French now, you could always learn Spanish later on (or vice versa).
What’s more, once you’ve learnt one language, you develop so many skills that the second language is often easier and quicker to learn. Think about it, when you understand all the grammatical terms, verb tense types and how languages can differ from your native English, there’s so much that you don’t have to learn again with the next language.
3. How hard is the language to learn?
Many people, particularly those interested in reaching a certain level, want to choose the easiest language. So, is French or Spanish easier to learn?
Essentially, there are difficulties in both languages. To compare, Spanish is a phonetic language, which means that you’ll never struggle to pronounce words as they’re written. French, on the other hand, is more like English. Sometimes, you’ll pronounce the ‘s’ on the end of a word, sometimes you won’t. But it’s not as hard as English is for foreign learners and there are pronunciation rules.
There’s a common thought that Spanish is easier to learn for English speakers. And while that might be true initially when you’re working with present tense and simple tenses, there are actually more tenses and moods in Spanish than in French (imperfect subjunctive anyone?!).
If you consider the vocabulary, you’ll find more similarities in French due to the shared history between France and England.
Overall, though, you can weigh up each language all day and still not be able to decide which is easier!
4. Universality
The good news is that whichever of the two languages you choose, they are both widely spoken around the world.
According to Ethnologue, Spanish is the 4th most widely spoken language in the world and has 548.3 million speakers. French comes straight after with 274.1 million speakers. For comparison, there are 1.5 billion English speakers, and 1.1 billion Mandarin Chinese speakers.
While there is a clear difference in how many millions speak Spanish compared to French, 274.1 million speakers is still a phenomenal amount of people!
The biggest difference between the two is where these languages exist. Aside from the obvious France and Spain, due to colonisation, both of these languages have travelled the world.
Spain is the official language of many countries in Central America and South America. French, on the other hand, is spoken in Canada, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Belgium, and many African countries like Gabon and Senegal as well as Lebanon and Haiti.
So, the main question is, where are you planning to go?
5. Your location
If you’re reading this from the United Kingdom, you don’t have to travel far to speak either one of these languages with a native speaker. If, however, you’re based in the USA, it’s probably more feasible to learn Spanish, particularly in the south of the country. For anyone in Canada, or close to the Canadian border in the U.S., you might consider French instead.
Reason being, learning these languages in these locations could open up job opportunities – or provide natural opportunities to use the language.
Why is studying French important?
If you find yourself still unsure, let’s look at why it’s important to study French.
As mentioned above, French is the fifth most spoken language in the world. You’ll find French speakers on every continent – even if it’s as a second language.
In the Americas, you’ve got Quebec, Haiti, and Louisiana where you’ll come across lots of French speakers. In Europe, you’ve got Andorra, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Belgium, and France – of course!
In Asia, you’ll find French spoken in Lebanon as well as Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. In Africa, you’ve got Algeria, Congo, Mayotte, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and Gabon to name a few.
And finally, in Oceania, you’ve got the likes of Wallis and Futuna, Tahiti, and Bora Bora as well as the rest of French Polynesia.
French is an important cultural language
As well as locations, French is important in terms of its rich culture. If you love art, architecture, history, poetry, books and food, French is one of the best languages to learn.
Even if you’ve never learnt French, you are probably already familiar with a lot of its culture – especially the food, art, and literature. How about Boeuf Bourguignon, a class of Bordeaux, and crème brûlée?
What’s more, with French being so widespread due to its past colonisation, you can explore other cultures too like African cultures and Creole. By learning French, your world will open up to so many wonderful aspects of culture.
Why is studying Spanish important?
Like French, Spanish is widespread. The great benefit of learning Spanish is that you have dozens of countries to visit, with each having its own take on the language and culture. Argentina, for example, has a vastly different way of speaking Spanish, which is so interesting.Â
Though Spanish isn’t spread over all of the continents, you’ll still find many interesting places to visit. These include Spain, Gibraltar, and Andorra in Europe. As for the Americas, you have Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Panama, Uruguay, Peru, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, and Ecuador to name a few. What’s more, in the U.S., there are so many native Spanish speakers too!
Spanish is an important cultural language
Just like with French, learning Spanish opens you up to so much culture. Though Spanish culture is less well known globally than French, it is still a great culture that is considered to be one of the most interesting.
Food-wise, you have paella, gazpacho, tapas, tortilla, churros, and many famous red wines like Rioja. What’s more, you have lots of other official regional languages too – like Catalan and Euskara to name two.
In Spain, the arts also have a lot to offer – you’ve got flamenco, Salvador Dali, Picasso, and Gaudi – not to mention the many fiestas like the running of the bulls in Pamplona.
Final thoughts: French vs. Spanish
If you still can’t decide, is there an option to learn both? Though learning two languages from scratch at the same time can be quite confusing, many people do it.
If you would like to learn both but don’t fancy this, you might be asking should l learn French or Spanish first? The truth is, it’s great that you want to learn a language, and if you want to learn two – even better! However, the decision is really individual and only you can decide!
Buena suerte/bon courage!