which is easier: spanish or french, what do you think?

Question

i have studied french for 4 years, and i can speak it well, so i have decided to start studying spanish.

i noticed, when learning the basics of spanish, i knew most of the alphabet, greetings, and numbers from learning french and just seeing spanish in videogames and music and movies.

from what i have heard: french starts hard and gets easier, while spanish starts easy and gets hard. What do you think?

Jaarceg: I believe what you are saying is spanish is much easier to learn right??? I just started spanish last week lol

Answer 1

Same thing here, studied French for 4 years and have just started Spanish. True that French is almost equally as hard all the way through, and my Friends who have been studying Spanish longer than I have say the middle gets really hard while we all agree the beginning is easy.
But was it only the numbers and greetings that you found similar?
I found most of the vocabulary similar as well, just a different pronunciation, I was the best in guessing the meanings of new words in my class because I was switching them into French in my head, you should try it more often.
I'm also told that grammar is very much alike.
Good Luck!

Answer 2

I did it the other way around & learned Spanish first, and then studied French. Knowing one before the other does help, because as you said, the roots are very similar & you can use one language to help you learn the other. I think Spanish is a lot easier, but only because the pronunciation is much easier. French is a sound that you have to build up to. Also, the liasons in French words make a big difference whereas Spanish is pretty straight-forward. Good luck!

Answer 3

Spanish and French are both derived from the same root language - latin - so knowing one makes learning the other a lot easier. The difficult part of Spanish is learning tenses and when to use which tense. Other than that, I'd say it's fairly easy.

Answer 4

sSPanish is much easier, but French has mor erewords. If you're planning on continuting your education, French would have many pay-offs. Before English became the widely spoken language, French was the key language of economy and politics. Many philosophers also wrote in French. To get the full grasp of these amny documents written in the French language, it should be read in French. Additionally, many, many, many high-level SAT vocabulary words have French cognates. And on an ascetic note, I find French to be much more euphonious.

And about what Fabiolillo said, Italian, Spanish, and French aren't the only Romance langauges. Portugese, Romainian, Catalan, and Romansh are also other Rmance langauges that are official langauges of different countries. There are also many other langauges that may only have regional recognition, such as Gallican and Sardinian.

Answer 5

All I know is I tried to take Spanish. I took French. But if you know French and want to learn Spanish anyways whats the difference? You seem like you want to learn it no matter what. So in that case I say Spanish is harder. Good luck to you!

Answer 6

Italian, spanish and french are all latin language: I mean that they share the same origin (latin) and 90% of the grammar and verbal forms, with some differences cause of the spelling or the pronunciation.
For example, the word "love" is translated "amour" in french, "amor" in spanish and "amore" in italian.
The verb "to have" is "avoir" in french, "haber" in spanish and "avere" in italian.
When you learn one of them, then it's very easy to learn the others, because you have to practise only the vocabulary.
To learn french was harder for you because you studied it first.
It would have been the same if you had studied spanish or italian first.
Starting to study spanish simply you have the advantage to know another latin language, and it will be the same if you'll decide to study italian.
Think about it, you can learn 3 languages at the price of one...:D

Answer 7

You'll for yourself, but according to some witnesses, mastering french takes 3 or 4 years, but it's a bit shorter for spanish, i've learned both and some others, and think it is true.

Answer 8

I've started both in September. so, while in these 3 months I have learned pretty much in Spanish (greeting, numbers, clock, food etc.), French is such a pain. the spelling is TERRIBLE. and the R sound you have to get used to.. eww. but, if you speak French, Spanish will be a piece of cake for you! XD they're way too similar.
I also speak Russian, so probably that helps with my French.
anyways, good luck! ;}

Answer 9

I think only those who start out as French speakers would choose French as "easier" over Spanish. Even though the grammatical structures are fairly similar, French orthography is much more complex - in that sense comparable to that of English.

Answer 10

If you learned french then spanish should come quite easy for you.
Spanish is much easier than French.