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Which is EASIER? French, Spanish or German??

I'm thinking of taking a foreign language class during the holidays. Which is easier to learn out of those three. Thanks

Reply 1

swirl

Increasing in difficulty, I'd say;

1. German - it's supposedly very easy to learn for English speakers as there are a lot of similarities.
2. Spanish - though it's similar to French in terms of difficulty, language teachers at my school think that it's slightly easier to learn than French.
3. French

Though having said that, I'd say that the language you have the most interest in would be easier to learn as words just 'stick'.

Reply 2

Fleece

15

i'd say German was the hardest tbh....lots of complicated grammar points..as in 16 different ways of saying "the".
french is probably the easiest.

Reply 3

Enfalas

I'd say Spanish is the easiest... I did it for 2 years for GCSE and got a better mark than French or German which I'd done for 4/5 years respectively...

Reply 4

*River

15

Ditto the German, it's easy to begin with but wait til you get to all the grammar...

Reply 5

kellywood_5

17

I've never done German myself, but from what I've heard it's pretty hard. I'm doing A2 French and GCSE Spanish at the moment and I think Spanish is definitely easier (not just because I'm taking it at a lower level lol!)

Reply 6

Excalibur

15

I don't do French, but I do think that Spanish is the easiest - easier than German, which I have been doing for 2 years longer. As people said, German grammar is a pain in the backside sometimes (although once you get the hang of it, it's not that hard because it uses quite rigid rules). There is little in terms of word order in Spanish, unlike German, and many Spanish words are similar to English.

On the other hand, Spanish verb conjugations are also pain in the backside (present, preterite, imperfect, imperfect continuous, perfect, pluperfect, near future, future, conditional, passive, subjunctive, imperative to name a few :P: ) to learn. Each language has its easy and difficult parts, really.

Reply 7

Excalibur

15

I don't do French, but I do think that Spanish is the easiest - easier than German, which I have been doing for 2 years longer. As people said, German grammar is a pain in the backside sometimes (although once you get the hang of it, it's not that hard because it uses quite rigid rules). There is little in terms of word order in Spanish, unlike German, and many Spanish words are similar to English.

On the other hand, Spanish verb conjugations are also pain in the backside (present, preterite, imperfect, imperfect continuous, perfect, pluperfect, near future, future, conditional, passive, subjunctive, imperative to name a few :P: ) to learn. Each language has its easy and difficult parts, really.

Reply 8

lucho22

13

I'd definitely say german is the hardest - I did german french and spanish up until gcse - and initially was planning to carry on with all three languages to A-level, but german grammar and pronounciation was too difficult - and so is sentence structure. From what I've been told it's far harder to become ultimately fluent in german...+ I found that learning about Spanish culture was far more interesting...

Reply 9

Fluffy

15

It all depends on the kind of brain you have and how you learn and retain things. At School we were always told German was more difficult to master than French, but I always found German much easier...

There is no answer to this question, it's all a matter of personal preference...

Reply 10

Cirsium

19

It depends on what kind of brain you have
German is quite similar to English in some of the words. The grammar is crazy but it's very regular. Once you've learnt the rules it becomes relatively simple. It's why a lot of people find it sooo much easier at A-level because the finally have time to actually teach you why the grammar works instead of expecting you to remember things. So if you're quite a mathematical thinker then German is probably the easiest

On the other hand if you're more of a floaty kind of thinker then Spanish or French might be easier

Reply 11

james99

1

I would say German is easier to learn at a beginner's stage, but once you get past that stage and into the intermediate/advanced levels then it's definitely much harder than French or Spanish.

Personally I find French easier than Spanish, although that may be because I've been learning French for 7 years and Spanish for just 4 months so far.

Reply 12

TakeshiFan

Personally I find German easiest, although you really do have to learn your grammar well! It's a very logical language, and you can often work out a word you don't know if you know the meanings of the different components. Like 'das Vorurteil' which translates to 'prejudice'. If you break up the word and you know what each bit means you can work it out. Eg here, 'Vor' means before and 'Urteil' means trial/judgement. So by putting these together u can work out the proper meaning. Sorry if explanation was unclear :smile:

Reply 13

Dasa

I wouldn't say that German is "easier" than french or that french is "easier" than spanish...

Out of French and German - i find them both as challenging as eachother..that's what makes them so interesting to learn. Grammatically German is far more complex in comparison..forming the future tense requires more effort than in French, where ending will do..

Choose whichever one you find the most interesting...and challenging..you don't want it to be easy :P

Reply 14

austrian guy

German is very complicated. Maybe it is easys to begin with, but to become fluent will be hard.

Spanish and French are not very difficult. I prefer French, but the vocabulary simliar, the Spanish spelling mostly is more what you hear, so that a plus.

I'm fluent in German (well I'm Austrian) and French and my Spanisch is enough to have conversations, but essays often pose difficulties. I would really advise you on learning Spanisch (because it is widespread) or French (because it is a lovely lamguage).

Reply 15

Duck and Cover

15

French French French French French French French French French French French French French French French French French French

Reply 16

Allyria

I found Spanish easier but for A levels and things they apparently make them harder to compensate for the language being easier ... not sure if that's true, just something I heard. :smile:

Reply 17

Fenella

Personally I'll go for either french or spanish; they'll be more useful to you in the long term.