Which language is harder German or French?

Answer 1

Having learned both languages, I can say with confidence that German is harder due to its complicated grammar. English speakers may have some problems with the French pronunciation, though. German pronuncation is simpler; a word is written EXACTLY as it's pronounced, to the ending consonant (that's why it sounds harsh). French and Spanish, contrary to popular belief, are not written as they're pronounced.

Answer 2

I wouldn't say one was harder than the other because eventually you are going to run into a wall of grammar with both that doesn't have any english equivalent - german cases, french tenses...i gave up on french a long time ago, but I still haven't given up on german yet, personally I believe french may be more difficult but that's just cos I was forced to learn it at school and I never wanted to....

Answer 3

The text book answer holds that French is easier. The answer is not that simple, however.

First a bit of history. Old English was a Germanic language, very closely related to, and mutually understandable, with regard to Dutch and German. Along came the Norman invasion of 1066, and the language changed forever, because of the infusion of French words from the ruling class.

Today in English, the "higher" words look like French. Mansion, mutton, lunar, port. The "common" words with the related meanings (house, sheep, moon, door) look like German. English is related to German on a basic level, and to French on a reading-a-newspaper level. Either way you will find some "help", and some difficulty.

The tense structure in French is quite complex, and pronounciation is long and hard to get a feel of. But the French words in English are more recognisable, so that helps a lot.

German's tense structure is simpler (but not simple). Pronounciation and spelling correspond perfectly, but the case system is a thing to get your head around.

Both languages have grammatical gender, which English does not have.

In my own experience, German is easier. I mastered it quicker, and to a better extent than I did French. For some reason Germans themselves think that German is very difficult. I enjoy that, when I travel there they mistakenly think that I am very clever.

Nobody in France will think you are clever if you speak it, rather they will think you are late in coming if you don't. Their word for late is "retarde".

Answer 4

Having studied all 4 at various levels, I'd say that German is the toughest. The spoken German is particularly effortless for an English speaker to gain knowledge of. Spanish and French are linguistically established the identical means. Latin is the groundwork of each Spanish and French, and Latin is an excessively pleasant language, even though the sentence constitution is bizarre, they usually have got to have a gender hooked up to each unmarried factor. German, nonetheless, is likely one of the grammatically so much complicated languages in the market. They even conjugate their articles. These folks are whacked out (no offense to them).

Answer 5

German. I speak french and I know a little german too... German is a lot harder to learn. But french is difficult too...

Answer 6

German is more difficult at fisrt but once you get the basics it's easier than french would be, apparently

Answer 7

French looks harder, at least in my opinion.

With German, you can learn pronunciation and grammar relatively quickly, and it's easier to sound out words because there aren't so many different sounds and silent letters.

Answer 8

French, because it has so many silent letters, and German is more like English.

Answer 9

german

Answer 10

My daughter is taking German and she loves it. She says it's
not hard and that it's similar to English.