What second language should I take up?

Question

As an American who is moving to Scotland (grad studies), I'm interested to learn another European language as a second language. But which one? What would be most useful, widely used, etc? Spanish? French? Italian? German? And what's easiest to learn?

Okay, okay, WHICH then. Go, call the language police! Geez! I'm sorry, I'm just a dumb American, but at least I am trying to make an effort.

Answer 1

I've been to Scotland (which I loved), and a few other European countries. In Scotland itself English was all I ever needed, but I found Spanish (and I also speak French & Italian) was my most useful language in other European countries. French was second.

Once you learn Spanish the other romance languages are easy and you can easily follow either French or Italian. Remember that when you are trying to communicate wtih another person who does not speak your language, the easiest way to get your point across is to use facial gestures, point to things, pantomine things, etc. Sounds silly but it works.

Note on languages: French was not my favorite to learn, but once I learned it it was great to realize that for Italian I either use the Spanish word with slightly different pronounciation or the French word for something. 80% of time this method will get you the correct Italian word.

Answer 2

Well, as others have already said, Spanish is the most widely spoken.

However, as for the easiest, I would say German as it is the closest to English so you find some words are exactly the same, like 'computer', or similar like 'yes' is 'ya'.

I did Spanish for a year, but found it too difficult and kept confusing it with French. So then I dropped French & Spanish in year 10 and took German.

P.S. I notice that the person below me who put German was the hardest language for English-speaking students has learnt French & Spanish, but not German.

German is the only language I got 100% in on a test at school and it is also the only language where I can pick up a translation dictionary and find the infinitive, and form a sentence out of it. I could never do that with French or Spanish and I did French for 5 years.

I learnt how to do it in German in just over a year, and there was a one year gap in-between where I did Spanish instead.

Answer 3

English is a Germanic language and so some parts would be relatively familiar. French has loaned us so many words that it, too, has some built-in familiarity, and Spanish is perhaps the easiest structure.

English, French and Spanish are the most widely - spoken languages, so in a way, it hardly matters - you will be able to communicate with a lot more of the world with any of those. That wasn't implying that an American doesn't speak English, BTW. It just came out that way. lo

Be prepared for English not to be spoken in Scotland! They think they are speaking it, but what they say can hardly be called English!!

Welcome to Britain.

Answer 4

Spanish would be the most useful upon your return to the USA and many other countries speak Spanish.

However for dealing with Europe, German is probably the most useful. Even the French are speaking English these days (upsetting Chirac no end) and part from being spoken at the Olympics, Eurovison it is not that widely spoken anymore.

German would also help you understand the scandnavian languages easier as well.

So Spanish or German IMHO, the choice is yours!

Answer 5

I don't understand why so many people say Spanish. French is the most common language in Europe (after English of course) followed by German.
Maybe all the replies come from people who go on holiday in Spain!
PS For an English speaker I would rate French easiest, then German and third Spanish. If you are learning a language that might stand you in good stead for a future career I would suggest Russian, it's fun but not easy.

Answer 6

The one European language that will help you the most (assuming you return to the United States) is Spanish. If you live up near Canada, you might consider French, otherwise, English and Spanish are the most frequently used in the states. Spanish may not help you at all when you're in school, however.
Swahili is fun, French is like poetry, Italian is like singing. Spanish will get you further.

Answer 7

Depends how easy you learn and how motivated you are. As a native born European, I learned 2 of the Scandinavian Languages and German and Dutch. I can vouch for German being the most widely spoken in Germany, and the countries around it, also you can get around in the German language in any of the Scandinavian languages, and even some Slavic ones. ( Like where I was born. ) I've never heard Spanish until I came to North America, so I can't vouch for that since it sounds god awful to my ears. Hope this helps.

Answer 8

spanish is the most widely spoken, but only because of south america. you're not planning on living there though, are you? some people call spanish a 'beautiful' language but italian and french are also romance languages and are equally as 'beautiful'. german is the technically the easiest to learn because it's a part of the germanic branch of languages (one of those languages in the branch is english - should make it slightly easier). of those four, german is the most widely spoken in europe (as a first language), although english probably is overall overall (people learning it as a second language). personally, i think you should learn french, but i only think that because i can speak it as a second language :) bear in mind that learning a second language is never easy - it's not as simple as just memorising a different set of words - you have to learn a whole new set of grammar rules and get used to them , which takes time

Answer 9

I would suggest Spanish, it will be very useful if you move back to the US. Plus, since most of the European languages have a similar root, leaning one makes it easy to understand another. I learned Spanish, but can decipher a lot of French, Italian and other languages by simply comparing the words to Spanish.

Answer 10

Spanish is the best of the European languages, in my opinion that is. I am English and took up French and Spanish when i was 12, and have continued to study Spanish through my GCSE's and through my A-Levels. I would say Spanish is the most interesting and is also very widely used all around the world. e.g most of the countries in South America speak Spanish as well as the Caribbean