[Spartikus]

Is it easier for an American w/ English as a native language to learn French or German?

I've read that English and German words often sound similar and have similar sentence structure.

[Muffnbluff]

Originally Posted by Spartikus

Is it easier for an American w/ English as a native language to learn French or German?

I've read that English and German words often sound similar and have similar sentence structure.

German is definitely much closer to English than French. The sentence structure is kind of backwards, for example they'd say "I am to Germany going" instead of "I am going to Germany".

[Spartikus]

Originally Posted by Muffnbluff

German is definitely much closer to English than French. The sentence structure is kind of backwards, for example they'd say "I am to Germany going" instead of "I am going to Germany".

You were saying the German sentence structure is backwards?!?! How does one get use to that?

[MontegoblueE92]

I'd probably go with French. Most people have a lot of exposure to Spanish. So I would choose a Romance language over something else.

[nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn]

Originally Posted by Muffnbluff

German is definitely much closer to English than French. The sentence structure is kind of backwards, for example they'd say "I am to Germany going" instead of "I am going to Germany".

Uh not exactly like that. But yeah, the sentence structure is mainly different. Just not in the example you gave.

I am going to Germany = Ich gehe nach Deutschland.

But you can even debate what I just said because German has so many words, and some are very specific. I could also say, Ich fahre nach Deutschland or Ich reise nach Deutschland. And that basically means the same thing.

But yes, German is probably easier then French. English is a Germanic language, so there are a lot of words in German that sound or look like the English version.


An example of the sentence structure being different would be if I said, I have travelled to Germany. Ich bin nach Deutschland gereist. Which literally translates to, I have to Germany travelled.

[Muffnbluff]

Originally Posted by ferrari355fi

Uh not exactly like that. But yeah, the sentence structure is mainly different. Just not in the example you gave.

I am going to Germany = Ich gehe nach Deutschland.

But you can even debate what I just said because German has so many words, and some are very specific. I could also say, Ich fahre nach Deutschland or Ich reise nach Deutschland. And that basically means the same thing.

But yes, German is probably easier then French. English is a Germanic language, so there are a lot of words in German that sound or look like the English version.


An example of the sentence structure being different would be if I said, I have travelled to Germany. Ich bin nach Deutschland gereist. Which literally translates to, I have to Germany travelled.

Yeah, the past tense stuff is more what I was getting at. I'm a little rusty on my German, haven't been there in 9 years.

[pmeloche]

Originally Posted by ferrari355fi

Uh not exactly like that. But yeah, the sentence structure is mainly different. Just not in the example you gave.

I am going to Germany = Ich gehe nach Deutschland.

But you can even debate what I just said because German has so many words, and some are very specific. I could also say, Ich fahre nach Deutschland or Ich reise nach Deutschland. And that basically means the same thing.

But yes, German is probably easier then French. English is a Germanic language, so there are a lot of words in German that sound or look like the English version.


An example of the sentence structure being different would be if I said, I have travelled to Germany. Ich bin nach Deutschland gereist. Which literally translates to, I have to Germany travelled.

It's not that the German language has so many words it's just that the sentence structure is different than English and French. In your example you use "gehe", "fahre", and "reise" to say that you are going to Germany. That is not a good example, "fahre" and "reise" are not synonyms of "gehe", which is german for the verb "to go". "fahre" is german for "to drive" and "reise" is german for "to travel". These three verbs have their equivalent in english and french for that matter. The verb "to go" has a tendency to be overused in the english world.

As a speaker of French, English and German myself I find the OP's question an interesting one. In terms of sentence structure English and French are identical except for two important aspects: adjective placement and how verbs are conjugated. In English, the adjective is placed BEFORE the subject as opposed to French where it comes AFTER. A "Melbourne Red M3" in English becomes a "M3 Melbourne Red" in French. Conjugating a verb is a bitch also. We have the same six pronouns but we are missing the neutral "it". Also, the "s" is added to the second person of singular in French instead of at the third person of the singular in English. I also found the English language to contain much more idioms than the French language. We don't "blow up" things in French we "explode" them.

As for the German language, the sentence structure differs from french and english. The article/subject goes first, the verb is second and if you have a past particle it goes last. In theory, all the remaining words of your sentence can be put in any order. The main departure from french and English is the declination of the article/pronoun. For those of you who have learned Latin in school you will understand the "rosa, rosae, rosare" reference. When you build your sentence you have to look at the kind (masculine, feminine, and neutral) of your subject and adjust the preposition preceding the subject depending on the kindness of the subject and its function in the sentence. If the subject is the actual subject of the sentence it will decline differently than if it is a complement.

When President Kennedy famously declared himself a Berliner in the 60s he said: "Ich bin ein Berliner" which meant that he was a specialty pastry doughnut from Berlin. You see, Berliner can be either neutral (the pastry) or masculine (a resident of Berlin). The only way to tell in a sentence is how it is declined. Since Berliner was used by President Kennedy as a direct complement he should have said: "Ich bin einen Berliner". Of course, everybody knew what he meant and nobody laughed in his face.

To conclude, because of this declination business I find the German language to be the toughest language to learn between French and German for an Englishman.

However, by reading posts on this forum and on other forums I think people should spend more time learning the English language properly instead of taking the task of butchering another language. It's staggering to see how people don't know the difference between "its" and "it's", "your" and "you're" and "their" and "they're".

[Heinzftw]

French

[BimmerDom]

I speak French so....

Seriously, if you know basics of Spanish 101, you'll do OK in French. I can't understand spoken Spanish (unless they speak real slow), but I can read it very easily.

I'll have time to practice the Spanish, leaving for Cuba in a couple of weeks!

[AlexWK]

Originally Posted by pmeloche

When President Kennedy famously declared himself a Berliner in the 60s he said: "Ich bin ein Berliner" which meant that he was a specialty pastry doughnut from Berlin.

Do you recommend German to someone who failed his Spanish class? How's the pronunciation?

[Seminole]

German. Then you can understand WW2 games.

Kidding aside, I really did pick up on some very basic German from Return to Castle Wolfenstein back in high school. Basically just Danke, Schnell, Willkommen, Hallo/Guten Tag, and Auf wiedersehen. One day in class this German exchange student slipped up and said "thank you" to me in German, and I replied with "willkommen" which shocked her that I knew some German. Thought that was pretty cool.

[jibaholic101]

french.....much easier than german....

[MCMLXXXIX]

German

i learned so much just from listening to Rammstein songs lol

it catches up quick

[Spartikus]

Thank you all for your input. I'll go with German.

[nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn]

Originally Posted by Spartikus

Thank you all for your input. I'll go with German.

Good choice. Germany always wins against France...hehe

[BrianDesigns]

French is very complicated. Lots of exceptions in terms of grammar rules. I learned both English and French at the same time and French always gave me trouble.

[Heinzftw]

Originally Posted by BrianDesigns

French is very complicated. Lots of exceptions in terms of grammar rules. I learned both English and French at the same time and French always gave me trouble.

Same^^ When I was I a kid in grammar school I went to a school that spoke french and english. Sadly got taken out of the school when I was 7 so I lost pretty much all my french. Got by in france a few years ago for a couple of weeks so it was chill.

All I pretty much said the entire time was
Omellete du fromage
Frittes (fries)
and toilette

[Comet]

I find them at the same difficulty.

My problem is my lack of vocabulary in german.
Otherwise, I'm fine in it.

[Ferg]

I speak both an German is much easier than Frech. Although I will admit the only reason I learned French in the first place was that was the class with all the fine women, LOL!

[ragingclue]

My personal experience was that French was easier.

[BimmerDom]

Originally Posted by Heinzftw

All I pretty much said the entire time was
Omellete du fromage
Frittes (fries)
and toilette

Corrections:

Omelette au fromage
Frites
... but your toilette OK, I guess you are most familiar with that one

[Leilani]

Originally Posted by pmeloche

...I find the German language to be the toughest language to learn between French and German for an Englishman.

+1. Having lived in both Germany and France for 2 1/2 years each, I picked up French in about 6 months quite easily...and well, German is a completely different story!

Originally Posted by pmeloche

However, by reading posts on this forum and on other forums I think people should spend more time learning the English language properly instead of taking the task of butchering another language.