Tradescanthia Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 German, German, German...just don't mention the war :hihi::hihi: I did French at school, terrible teacher had no language skills, she just concentrated on grammar 'out of a book'. Conjugating the bloody verb..............I know what needed conjugating....... Spanish would have been far more usefull................The use of the French language is limited, depending on where you go. English, German and Spanish will see you thru' anywhere. French is useful if you are a wine snob........... I work for the bloody French, 'nuff said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 the main thing is which language she wants to speak, herself. If she's only ever learnt French and not German up to this point, then it's an impossible question to answer. How is she to know whether she would love learning German, or hate it? Personally I prefer German; I don't think either language is all that "useful" in the modern world, which relies almost exclusively on American English and Mandarin Chinese. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teddybare Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 German, as it is more closely related to English as a language than English it is to French, and our culture is closer to Germany. Also German is very useful as a business language. Guten Tag - Good Day Ein Glas Bier - A glass of beer Die Sonne scheint - The sun is shining Meine Mutter/Vater/Bruder/Schwester - My mother/father/brother/sister zehn, zwanzig, hundert, tausend -ten, twenty, hundred, thousand There are many more examples I remember from A level but that's off the top of my head! au contraire. Never been to a cafe? http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_French_origin 29% French origin, 26% Germanic languages. Even argue that the other big chunk,29% Latin, was closer to French than German. Ask a german to say butterfly- "schmetterling!" just not a nice language at all. Hard on the ears. Comes a close second to Klingon in "world's worst sounding language" category. Also, you'll rarely meet a German that doesn't know English. So the language for business is cobblers. Last successful invasion of Britain was by French speaking Normans. 3 lions standard- Richard I - French. France is much closer geographically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJC1 Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 I'd go with German. Better for jobs and a brilliant place to travel. Inter-railed all over germany in 2004. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callippo Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Spanish is also important ; you still need it in Latin America, and if you have Spanish, you're more than halfway to Portuguese and Brazil, Spanish and Portuguese are like French and Italian. Spanish is also easy to pick up. If I was suggesting somebody to learn a single European language, other than English, I would say Spanish would likely be the most useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJC1 Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 au contraire. Never been to a cafe? http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_French_origin 29% French origin, 26% Germanic languages. Even argue that the other big chunk,29% Latin, was closer to French than German. Ask a german to say butterfly- "schmetterling!" just not a nice language at all. Hard on the ears. Comes a close second to Klingon in "world's worst sounding language" category. Also, you'll rarely meet a German that doesn't know English. So the language for business is cobblers. Last successful invasion of Britain was by French speaking Normans. 3 lions standard- Richard I - French. France is much closer geographically. This is true! Germans speak English, whilst the french refuse to in france. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callippo Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 the thing about the French is, they just can't understand why the United States and Canada, South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc aren't speaking French today. the whole point of the French revolution was that they were going to bring about, all just exactly that sort of thing. in the event, it didn't turn out that way at all. obviously they're disappointed. However, French is a beautiful language and sounds beautiful, though not as beautiful as Italian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcustard Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share Posted May 17, 2012 I've just found out that If she does the accelerated learning course in either language, she can gain a GSCE at 14 (which is 2 years earlier). Then has the choice to either do her A level in that language or do the other language and gain a GSCE in that at 16. Best of both worlds. When she's done both languages she can then choose which one she wants to do the A level in (if she hasn't already done it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llamatron Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 The answer is probably either. Both give you a better chance at picking up other languages. Don't stress about it now you learn so little at that level anyway. I did both and got by in switzerland with a mixture. I like german much more and in an example of my hideous racism I prefer the general german mentality and much prefer holidaying in germany. Maybe choose based on the language spoken in places she wants to visit as whatever happens she will learn more by visiting the country and talking to people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs patching Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 My daughter is learning German at school and loves it. The only trouble is she practises at home and as i know no German at all i cant tell if its right. I would agree that it is useful to learn a less common language as it may help with getting a job in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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