Which language should I learn: Portuguese or French?

Question

- I am 15 years old, in secondary school
- I am quite fluent in German (3 years), good at Spanish (1 year), and Japanese (home-study off and on).

- There are more Portuguese speakers than French, but French is wider spoken.

- Would knowing Spanish make French easier, and the same for Portuguese, or would it cause confusion...

Answer 1

Theres some conflicting information in the answers given so far. Portuguese is the sister language of French, and Spanish is the sister language of Italian. You'll find more similarities within these pairs than you would if, lets say, you paired Italian with French.

All that being said, they're all Romance languages so knowing one will in many ways help with learning another. Never fool yourself into thinking that they are so similar that you can get by on Spanish while in Portugal or Brazil, for example. Catalan and Galician are their own languages, so treat them like they are and respect the people who speak them as a native language.

Personally, I taught myself fluent Portuguese and semi-fluent Spanish. I'm also half way there with Italian. It's hard for me because of the similarities...the very thing I'd hope would have helped me in the learning process. Its a double-edged sword.

In the end, I'd say choose something you're passionate about, don't choose something based on the number of speakers or anything like that. And if it's not the language that you're passionate about, then at least have an interest in the culture which will make you want to learn the language in order to understand it better.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Knwoing Spanish would help immensely in learning Portuguese, somewhat less for learning French. Of course, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian are all Romance languages which come from Latin so they have their similarities. Spanish is much closer to Portuguese than French, though. Someone who speaks French would probably not understand Spanish without special learning. Someone who knows Portuguese would probably understand Spanish (but most Portuguse speakers don't like being addressed in Castillian Spanish.


Another idea is to do what I did: learn Latin first and then you get to see how all the romance languages changed. There is somewhat of a pattern. And there are other Romance languages you might be able to pick up- such as Catalan(which is spoken in East Spain and is between French and Spain), Galician(which is a dialect in NW Spain which is closer to Portuguese than Spainish) and Provencal (which is spoken in Southern France and is like a Italian/French/Spanish mix, but different from all 3 at the same time).

Answer 3

I'm not sure Latin would really be helpful. I'm French, never learnt Latin (I went to a Latin class twice, then stopped!), but was very good at Spanish. However, you seem to be interested in languages in general, so it could be a good idea as it can be helpful at university (if you study literature, and things like that). But Latin is not spoken anymore, so... And Provencal, by the way, is not really spoken anymore. A few people from the South of France decide to learn it again, but I've never met anyone who's decided to study eat, or could speak it (except my great-grandmother!).

I had friends who studied Spanish, and then went on to study Portuguese, and they said it was a bit confusing. But I can't really help you on that one as I'm French, and don't know if you would confuse Spanish with French. I think Spanish people can more or less understand Portuguese, but I'm not sure to what extent they can (I know Italians and Spanish can understand each other a bit). But as a French speaker, you can't understand Spanish. Anyway, I'm not sure it would make a difference for you as you're not a native Spanish speaker. That being said, a lot of words are similar (Spanish and French for sure, probably the case for Spanish and Portuguese), but the pronunciation is different.

Living in America, it might be "better" for you to learn Portuguese, as it's spoken in Brazil. However, French is also spoken in Quebec, and as a first language in plenty of countries (mostly in Africa). So, it depends where you live in America, and which culture you're more interested in.

Anyway, since you seem to like languages, I'm sure you'll be able to learn the other one later!

Answer 4

I would have to lean towards French only because of the country's status as a developed country ( 1st world ) . On the other hand Brazil has been the country of the future for quite some time. There are immigrants from Brazil in France and French in Brazil.

Here are some benefits to learning French - http://www.exploringabroad.com/reasons-for-french.htm

benefits to learning Portuguese - http://www.exploingabroad.com/reasons-for-portuguese.htm

Personally, I like the way portuguese sounds though. It has become more chic in radio station eclectic songs nowadays than French. either way, a good choice .

Boa sorte em seu escolhe.

Answer 5

I say both. There's nothing wrong with a liitle more knowledge.

Every language that you have described derives from the olde latin language. So knowing anyone of these languages before knowing the other would make the next language easier to learn.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that it wouldn't matter which one you learn first, knowing Portuguese would make it easier to learn French and Spanish. Knowing French would make it easier to learn Portuguese and Spanish. Knowing Spanish would make it easier to learn French and Portuguese. So either way you go, its a win/win situation.

Answer 6

French

Answer 7

French would be sooo easy since you know spanish. I speak spanish, and find Portuguese really difficult, and I am great with languages.

I suggest you learn portuguese...it is more of a challenge. If you want an easy A, learn french. It really depends on if you want to work in another country. You can speak french in the middle east, europe, africa.......and Canada, eh?

Answer 8

Portuguese, French, and Spanish are all Romance languages so learning one would definitely help you learn one of the others. You should ask yourself WHY you'd want to learn one over the other...if you're interested in working in Brazil someday then Portuguese would make more sense but if you're more interested in Africa then French would be the way to go.

Answer 9

French--I took French because it is an international language, while Portuguese is used in South America and Portugal, many European and worldwide countries speak French.

Answer 10

French is most wanted in the world .