French or German?

I would be more inclined to disagree with your first point. An awful lot of words in German can easily be guessed by an English speaker with no knowledge of German as they are very similar or identical to the English equivalent.

But English, then again, certainly has a very bold history of taking words from as many languages as possible.

Perhaps I've been learning French for long enough that it feels more natural than it really is!

But it seems to me that French, particularly at higher levels (which is slightly irrelevant given that this is question only in the scope of GCSEs), shares many of its words with English - or at least they're very close by comparison.

I've randomly selected a paragraph from my upcoming speech for my A2 speaking exam. Even in just these sentences most non-French speakers would get the gist of what I'm saying, and this is supposed to be the complicated end of French.

Really, once you know the basics of French (i.e. knowing that prendre = to take and an = year), it is easy to understand. Speaking is another matter.

Spoiler

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 21

SiaSiaSia

16

Original post by flippantri

Considering English has Germanic roots...

True but we borrowed a lot from French, especially in middle English's formative years.

(Degree in French and German)

Reply 22

Student403

19

Original post by elen90

Perhaps I've been learning French for long enough that it feels more natural than it really is!

But it seems to me that French, particularly at higher levels (which is slightly irrelevant given that this is question only in the scope of GCSEs), shares many of its words with English - or at least they're very close by comparison.

I've randomly selected a paragraph from my upcoming speech for my A2 speaking exam. Even in just these sentences most non-French speakers would get the gist of what I'm saying, and this is supposed to be the complicated end of French.

Spoiler

I agree that many languages share traits with English, but the reason in your example non-French speakers would get the gist is because it's a piece about a modern affair, which (in my experience in a few other languages known at only a basic language), is quite easy to do. I feel like a piece of poetry for example would be much harder to understand.

Reply 23

flippantri

10

Original post by SiaSiaSia

True but we borrowed a lot from French, especially in middle English's formative years.

(Degree in French and German)

I know, I wasn't questioning your knowledge, I was just saying, we also have a lot of Germanic roots, so it isn't fair to compare and say which one is easier.

(Learning German since age 8)

Reply 24

elen90

12

Original post by Student403

I agree that many languages share traits with English, but the reason in your example non-French speakers would get the gist is because it's a piece about a modern affair, which (in my experience in a few other languages known at only a basic language), is quite easy to do. I feel like a piece of poetry for example would be much harder to understand.

I don't understand poetry when it's in English, let alone another language :afraid:

Reply 25

SiaSiaSia

16

Original post by Inexorably

I would be more inclined to disagree with your first point. An awful lot of words in German can easily be guessed by an English speaker with no knowledge of German as they are very similar or identical to the English equivalent.

But English, then again, certainly has a very bold history of taking words from as many languages as possible.

1st point: I have a degree in German and I struggle to recognise words sometimes. I never have this problem in French
2nd point: literally not just English at all. Many languages have strong histories of borrowing.

Reply 26

Asolare

20

Original post by Student403

Grammar can certainly be, pardon my French ( :ahee:

), a bitch in German. But there aren't too many exceptions and it's more a case of learning the many structures which don't actually change much.

There's also the lovely aspect of being able to create your own compound words out of the known pre/suffixes, most of which will make sense combined.

Yeah it's never really the exceptions* that are hard, it's just the most bizarre way (to an English speaker) of phrasing some sentences.

And yes when you need to use a term but you don't know it so you try and shove 2 related words together and it works *hallelujah*

*minus the goddamn PLURALS

Reply 27

Student403

19

Original post by Inexorably

Yeah it's never really the exceptions* that are hard, it's just the most bizarre way (to an English speaker) of phrasing some sentences.

And yes when you need to use a term but you don't know it so you try and shove 2 related words together and it works *hallelujah*

*minus the goddamn PLURALS

True the plurals are annoying :wink:

Reply 28

Asolare

20

Original post by elen90

Perhaps I've been learning French for long enough that it feels more natural than it really is!

But it seems to me that French, particularly at higher levels (which is slightly irrelevant given that this is question only in the scope of GCSEs), shares many of its words with English - or at least they're very close by comparison.

I've randomly selected a paragraph from my upcoming speech for my A2 speaking exam. Even in just these sentences most non-French speakers would get the gist of what I'm saying, and this is supposed to be the complicated end of French.

Really, once you know the basics of French (i.e. knowing that prendre = to take and an = year), it is easy to understand. Speaking is another matter.

Spoiler

I can understand some of that text and it's surprising how much is recognisable to an English speaker :tongue:

I assume it is simply the fact that once they are spoken, from there on in it seems more difficult for a non-French speaking person to understand?

I tried to grab my own example and I do kinda relate to your first point... as I understand the words I'm struggling to now think "wait is this just easy because I know it, or would a non-speaker recognise too?"

Here is an example I grabbed from an article just for reference (I would presume an English speaker could guess a fair amount)

Spoiler

Original post by SiaSiaSia

1st point: I have a degree in German and I struggle to recognise words sometimes. I never have this problem in French
2nd point: literally not just English at all. Many languages have strong histories of borrowing.

1: I guess this is just going to be an individual case-by-case basis then.
2: I am aware, but I simply said it as English is still renowned and jokingly mocked for doing this sometimes.

Reply 29

Asolare

20

Original post by Student403

True the plurals are annoying :wink:

The language would be better off without such a misfortune :wink:

Reply 30

Mac.Doll

1

German, I feel like it is much easier to learn.

Reply 31

username402722

19

Original post by slothonist

Apparently German is easier than French

Not in my experience- I can speak both to some extent. I have watched French language films without subtitles in France and understood them, but would have no chance with a German language film.