Retired in Euskadi

Daft as it might sound, what does your 11 year old think as to which language.
It's got to be a language that is enjoyable, though that can be very subjective, reading some of these posts.
I was no good at French at school; much better at German. But now, at 66, much prefer French!

Rosemary

Has your son tried out French and German on the internet to be in a better position to evaluate which one he thinks he might achieve a good understanding and therefore a good usage of his time.

Rosemary

dmu

Hi from the France forum!
FWIW, my two daughters had the choice between Spanish and German, in addition to English, when they went up to Secondary school. They chose German, mainly because I speak it and encouraged them, but most of their respective class-mates chose Spanish, the "easier" option. They were lucky enough to be in a small class of motivated pupils until the Bac and, xx years later, are both living in Germany now, one working in her three languages and the other finishing a second Degree in a German Uni.
At the end of the day, if you yourself don't speak either French or German, then your son should decide which language he thinks he'd be more comfortable with. French is closer to Spanish, therefore easier and useful for holidays or studying literature or philosophy later; German grammar/syntax is difficult for everyone, but is more "eye-catching" on a future CV and useful for reading technical and scientific works later on....
Good luck with the decision, but whichever language he chooses, if he is talented, he can learn others later....

chopera

Sorry for the long reply but this is something that has been nagging me as well. Our eldest is 3 and is bilingual Spanish/English. Maybe in a year or two I'd like him to start a third language. However I'm not finding the choice very straight forward. For a start he won't be learning the third language in the same, "natural" way that he learns English and Spanish. In fact it will require a lot more effort on his part, not only to learn it but also to maintain it in the future. This is important as he will have to learn other subjects at school at the same time and also, children's brains are efficient - if they conclude that there is no practical use in spending a lot of time and effort on learning a language, they will reject it. How many English schoolkids did a couple of years of French or German before realising it was far too much effort compared to other subjects?

Anyway, here are my thoughts on French, German and Chinese (I'm aware Chinese isn't an option for you):

1) French - easiest to learn and maintain. It has so much in common with Spanish and English that he should be able to do the grammar very easily, and also it will feel familiar. The main thing is the accent - he'll need to pick it up quite young in order to communicate well in French.

2) German - harder to learn. Probably more useful when it comes to finding a job - especially if the eurozone ends up becoming some kind of federation, with Germany at the heart. Difficult to maintain unless he spends time in Germany.

3) Chinese - let's get one thing straight first. It is NOT the language of the future. It is far too hard to learn this language, let alone maintain it. It simply cannot take off in the same way English has. Why? Because of the Hanzi character system. You have to learn several thousand of these characters in order to be able to read basic Chinese. And it takes years. So you can't learn to speak Chinese from a book or the internet. You have to spend a lot of time in a Chinese speaking environment to really pick up the language. You also have the problem that the characters give no indication of how a word is pronounced. Which is why China is full of regional dialects. So even if my son does master Mandarin there's a very good chance that he won't be able to make himself understood with a large amount of Chinese people anyway. In practical terms it really doesn't seem worth it. But, from an academic and cultural point of view, it may be worthwhile. Even if he never becomes usefully fluent in Chinese, there is still value in having some understanding of such a different and exotic language.

steviedeluxe

Maybe Arabic is the language of the future? (apologies for this, but the other thread was closed because we have this thread!)
Let's be honest - English is the world's language, and likely to remain so. So long as your child keeps a good native standard in English, they've got an advantage in life.

jimenato

from chopera

The Chinese suggestions are surely a red herring.

France will probably be easier but German will almost certainly be more useful, especially considering the number of Spanish and others finding work in Germany ATM.

Having said that, I have worked in many countries and the language used has always been English. Aside from kudos when socialising in the evenings after work (which I suppose might have borne fruit) there was not one time when a foreign language would have helped me which was a good thing as I would have needed about ten different ones.

Let the boy choose as in the end it probably won't make much difference.

jimenato

Barring global war or some other cataclysmic occurrence I agree. English is dominant and, crucially and significantly, its use is growing.

It will be more than a generation or two before its importance starts to diminish...

amideislas

My money says Arabic will definitely NOT be the language of the future.

Most of the Germans, Dutch, and Arabs we know both prefer English even though it is not their native language. The Germans, in particular - seem to find English to be easier to speak and understand than any other "2nd" language (and of course, they can't graduate from school without it), and - generally speaking - Germans seem to feel English is a perfectly acceptable "worldwide" language.

English is far from perfect, but it's already the most spoken language in the world. For those who care to dispute this, I'm not referring to "native" or "mother tongue" language - only that more people on the planet are capable of speaking English (1st 2nd or 3rd) than any other language.

Apparently Spanish is the most spoken "native" language (in terms of sheer numbers and geographical diversity), however, that's rather arguable when you compare various dialects of Chinese/Mandarin which have a very large population who speak these dialects natively, but these various dialects are very geographically limited, and can hardly be considered "world" languages.

steviedeluxe

The best niche language to have in Spain (in terms of tourism jobs) is Russian.
The average Russian tourist spends 159 euros daily, as opposed to the 93 euros by the average Brit.

fionamw

Those three words, small and insignificant though they may first appear, are pretty darned important. It's easy to slide in favour of Spanish on the basis that the child 'needs more help' with the non-native language. But without GOOD English of the native variety, you've not much advantage over any other nationality with good spoken and written English. I can speak with some knowledge, having direct experience of the excellent written English skills of an IGCSE student (Spanish) whose language would rival any English 15/16 year old's..... But whose spoken English on the phone to me was faltering at the very most.

Back accurately on topic, though:
I bumped into 11yo's class teacher after football (his, not hers!) and asked likely class sizes if most opt for German. She immediately said her son (a year above) had a good teacher/pupil ratio for French because most had opted for German. I mentioned this to 11 yo but made no more of it than just that's what she had said. A few minutes later, in the car on the way home, I asked him if he took my thoughts/views, his dad's, his teacher's and anyone else's out of the equation and just went on what HE thought, which would he rather take? The answer.......... French.
Why? 'Because (and this is sound 11 year old logic) there would be fewer people and I wouldn't get distracted'.
So - dad's and my debate yet to be had probably this evening as he's still in the UK until after the appointed decision day - there you have it!!!

lmj50

Hi glad he made the choice. I speak French reasonably well, my Spanish is not that good and speak English and Welsh. My daughter teaches French and Spanish, only started learning Spanish in University. I have used French to speak to people from various part of Africa and Lebanese friends. My daughter is marrying a lad whose mother is English and father is Lebanese. Father speaks French to the son. Great that I can understand it!
Good luck with his studies. I think French is a lovely language.

Fredbargate

The German language has lost its longest word thanks to a change in the law to conform with EU regulations.

Rindfleischetikettierungsueberwachungsaufgabenuebe rtragungsgesetz - meaning "law delegating beef label monitoring" - was introduced in 1999 in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

It was repealed following changes to EU regulations on the testing of cattle.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22762040

amideislas

Hee hee

(my first ROFL icon I believe - CMan: I realise this is your trademark, and I promise not to use it again. Please don't sue me).

Retired in Euskadi

And I bet that law in writing takes up more pages than the Bible.

Broken down into its significant parts it's easy to unravel; in fact the same as the English except that we put a hyphen in between all the words.

jennieJ

Glad he made a decision French is a beautiful language but then I am probably biased as I studied it for 11 years myself.