French or Spanish

[Dixie Landoe]

hey y'all, got a question for you.  tomorrow's when I need to turn in the list of courses I want to take for next year.  I've got everything planned out except for the language portion of it (I'm required to take 2 credits worth of language courses, both of the same one).  so... which one would it be more advantageous for me to take?  French or Spanish?  keep in mind that I want to travel the world when I get older, mainly for the sake of my job as a wildlife biologist.  my primary target areas are North America (mainly Alaska and Canada) and Siberia, but aren't limited to only those, and I'll probably go to South America to study there (especially the zorros *Spanish for foxes* and the maned wolf *teehee, half my species, gotta love 'em*).  so... which one would you take based on my life setup, or at least which is more worthwhile?

[Banjo]

For canadian travel, you might want to take french. I think they still speak it over there, at least in parts. Or I could be wrong and they never spoke french... MEH!

On the other paw, Spanish has many words that are similar to the English language, making some parts of it easy. And spanish is quickly becoming one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. At least that's what our spanish teacher has said, but then she's also an idiot so don't take my word for it.

 I'm in spanish right now, second year, and personally I hate it. I don't want to give the wrong impression, I'm not good at foreign language, I never have been. To bad it's required of you, unless you like it of course. We can substitute other courses for our language...

~~Banjo Bear~~

[HockeyRaven]

If your primary target includes Canada, French could be very important.

[Monoceros]

What, no Latin?

I'd take French but my reasons are different.  I'm probably not travelling anywhere outside the US so I would take a language in order to read literature in that language.  There's a lot more I'd like to read in French than in Spanish.

On the other hand, my mother's from Chile and the fact that I only just barely read Spanish with the help of a dictionary and can't speak it at all is a source of much guilt.

On the gripping hand, with her Europhilism and love of "culture" and Good Books and so forth, she'd probably be really proud of me for learning French.

But you've got more practical concerns, agentfox.  If you wish to travel to South America then there's no question that you should take Spanish.

[Dixie Landoe]

heh, I wish there was a Latin course at my school.  I'd have jumped on that the first chance I got, since all scientific classifications for animal names are done in Latin.  however, *sigh*, my school can't seem to find somebody to teach it.  after I get a few more repleis to this I'll make my decision, since it's pretty even right now.

[Taren]

I'd choose Spanish, sence it is much easier to learn, IMO.

[Sleet]

Though I've taken spanish for four years or so, I'd say go with french. French seems to flow better and it sounds prettier.
Plus, I don't think the french term for "unravelled it" is as long as the spanish term, "desenvolviendolo" :/

[Odjnn]

I'd say Spanish, especially for the literature, there's nothing like it '>

For functionality, Spanish may be more versatile. All of Central and South America speak Spanish (except for Brazil) and I'm pretty sure Quebec is the only French speaking province of Canada. Plus they speak a slight variation of French, but I'm not sure how much it differs

Or you could be extremly studious and take both  '>

[Pepper Porcupine]

[Terrible stereotypical accent]
We, we, we, French is for me!
[/Terrible stereotypical accent]

[Choky]

Quote (SleetFawx @ April 14 2005, 8:15 pm)

French seems to flow better and it sounds prettier.

In Spanish there arnt any words that sound like you have excess phlem at the back of your throat,on the other hand in French its every second word '>
 -Learn Spanish and be able to speak to most of the latin world PLUS negociate Mexicans from cutting you up '>
 -Learn French and be able to speak with the Canadians that dont already speak English PLUS be able to comunicate with $hitland(oops,I mean France) '>

 My 2 cents '>

[Arbutus]

Quote (Odjnn @ April 14 2005, 8:19 pm)

I'm pretty sure Quebec is the only French speaking province of Canada. Plus they speak a slight variation of French, but I'm not sure how much it differs

Yeah, you're right. Most foreigners think of Canada as being bilingual (English/French), but that's misleading. It goes on a province-by-province basis, I believe, and most of the provinces and territories are exclusively English, although if you want to speak French there I'm sure no one's gonna stop you.... Québec is the only exclusively French province (they actually have laws there saying that if there's any English on shop signs, it has to be 30% smaller than the French text! ), and New Brunswick's the only fully bilingual province. And yeah, Canadian French is a different dialect from the Parisian French that Americans learn in school anyway... they're certainly mutually intelligible, just different.

*cough* Sorry, linguistics student here. Anyway, yeah, Spanish will probably turn out to be a lot more useful, because Latin America is a wildlife biologist's field day, LOL. But even if you don't become a wildlife biologist in the end, Spanish is only becoming more and more useful in the US itself. (Though I actually find myself in the opposite position... I read a lot of history studies for class in which the authors are arrogant enough to simply quote other texts in French, German, Latin, etc. and assume that everyone can understand them. =: P So French is useful in academia, I guess.)

Canadians, feel free to correct or rebuke me on any of the above. =; )

[Savaaha]

tough choice. I marked spanish tho. I would think its more widly spoken in the americas than french.

[Burr]

As a latino I am biased. Take Spanish! You can watch Telemundo and Univision and understand what all the sexy women are saying!

[Arbutus]

Quote (Burr @ April 14 2005, 11:03 pm)

As a latino I am biased. Take Spanish! You can watch Telemundo and Univision and understand what all the sexy women are saying!

ROFL, Spanish TV is amazing. I watched an episode of Sábado Gigante once (I think it was Sábado Gigante) and, um, it started out with a Family Feud-type game show that quickly turned into something vaguely like Double Dare, that game show on Nick with all the slime. There were huge eggs rolling down from chutes in the wall, and two of the guys had to catch as many eggs as they could and put them in baskets. It was like an old Gameboy game. And somewhere in there, one of the family members got dragged off and eaten by a guy in a lion suit, for reasons which I did not understand at all but laughed heartily at. '>

[Om]

I think Spanish would be more widely useful, even in the US.

But... (big but) I'm assuming your in High School right now... unless you keep your skills sharp after you get out of High School, it really won't matter which you take - you'll lose most of your proficiency... it's one of those use it or lose it things.

Just speaking from experience - about a year into my Master's in Biology... I took Spanish for 3 years in High School and remember only a little of it. So... from proficient to pretty bad in only 5 years. O.O

-Kai.

[AvianGrrl]

Way back when I was in high school, I took French, Spanish, and Latin. I was quite the linguist. Heh.

I voted Spanish, just because the hispanic population is exploding in this country. I'm currently taking a spanish course for healthcare providers... at least a quarter of my patients are spanish speaking and it would help if I could communicate with them. If you plan on visiting central/south america, spanish would be useful.

So would french, if you plan on spending an inordinate amount of time in the francophone regions of Canada. Remember that French and Spanish are both romance languages and are very similar in structure/grammar/sound, so once you speak one fluently you'll at least be able to understand a good portion of the other.

[CarLOS]

I agree, if you're heading in the northern direction here, French would be most beneficial. Many Candain government funded wildlife programs will not even hire you if you aren't French/English bilingual.

Spanish might be best if you're gonna stick to the lower states.

Quote (Choky @ April 14 2005, 10:25 pm)

-Learn Spanish and be able to speak to most of the latin world PLUS negociate Mexicans from cutting you up '>  -Learn French and be able to speak with the Canadians that dont already speak English PLUS be able to comunicate with $hitland(oops,I mean France) '>

'>  '>  '>  

Yup!  For overall utility Spanish has it all over French.  The Canadians & the French are the only ones who don't know French is a dying language.

[P_Z]

I heard Spanish was easyer. And besides, i study french for the 4th year and its a real pain in the ###.

[CarLOS]

Quote (Oxymoron @ April 15 2005, 4:02 am)

The Canadians & the French are the only ones who don't know French is a dying language.

There's three French languages spoken here, which one? '>

[Golgamoth]

if it was me i would pick spanish ... but im canadian and i understand a litle french anyways...(can read it better then i can speak it ) but impo i think all canadians can understand a little french .. even if it is just bonjur'e'. (hello also my keyboard and fonts suck so leeme alone you french people) also carlos is right .. if you speak french there is a vastly greater chance of geeting a job here then if you didnt.. and some places wont hire you unless you know it..

also i think women think french is much more sexy then spanish... (cept canadian women they just telll u to #ug off... belive me ive tried '> )

[Abe]

Spanish!

Not only is the language like 10 times cooler than French ( '> ), but with the rising Hispanic population in the US, it'd probably be fairly useful in the longrun.

But yeah, if you ever wanna go to Canda or something, you might want to take French. *shrugs*

[Dixie Landoe]

well y'all, after looking at the votes, I'm gonna go with Spanish.  'specially since as some have pointed out, South America is mainly latino and Spanish-speaking.  however, don't give up hope, my furiends in Canada, for I have also thought of something else!  I could either a.)  take both of them at the same time, or b.) go with one for class and teach the other to myself over the summer.  '>  of course, if it's really true that Canadian gov't jobs require you to be French/English bilingual, teaching myself may be necessary anyway.   (yes I'm a big time overachiever; I have no qualms against doing this).  personally, I would rather go up to Canada to study (I love the cold and forests), but as it would seem, South America sounds like it holds better opportunities.  

at any rate *hugs all that have replied*  y'all have been an awesome help to me with this, and many other things in the past, so a thank you and a big hand go out to all of you, and I hope I can repay you sometime soon for your contributions.  '>

[Burr]

Quote (Arbutus @ April 14 2005, 11:15 pm)

And somewhere in there, one of the family members got dragged off and eaten by a guy in a lion suit, for reasons which I did not understand at all but laughed heartily at. '>

LOL yeah that show is great even though it's horribly politically incorrect. Actually my favorite bit is the singing contests they have (which started waaaaaaaay before American Idol was ever thought of). But the cruel part about the contest is they try to distract the performers in all sorts of ways. Don Francisco will put on silly hats and stand really close to them, and this trumpet player in a ghost-like costume called El Jackal will dance with them and stuff, all while the Lion is looming in the background to take away the contestant if he or she fails, which is signaled by El Jackal playing his horn. Y... FUERA! Y... FUERA! A LOS LEONES!  '>

[Pillowmint]

Well It seems you've already decided, but I'm still gonna throw one "Vive le Québec!" in there! '>