Should I take French?

Question

I took 4 years of spanish in high school and hated it, and i really want to travel abroad to France. How is French to learn and how is France?

Answer 1

Hi ! I'm French !  =D

Don't choose French !

French boys are nuts and ugly !  

In France it's always cold and raining

Spanish is better for you !

Les français sont très moches et en plus il fait toujours froid en France ! Ne choisi pas le français !

Answer 2

if your just planning to travel i would buy one of those "learn french in no time" discs

Answer 3

French is quite easy i find from what my freinds tell, as i never learnt it at school as i speak it natrually. Most people find it easy and it is quite similar to spanish in someways. The hardest things about it are all its tenses, and the grammar. For every rule there is there are always a few exceptions.

Answer 4

French is not overly hard, there are lots of irregular verbs, tenses, and exceptions to almost EVERY rule but it all pays off because France is AMAZING. Each region is unique, with its own culture, history, celebrations, and best of all, cuisine. And since summer is coming up, I hope you leave enough time to thoroughly enjoy the riviera.

And besides, you don't need a PHD in the language to travel in France. Its definately worth learning at least a few phrases, even though the majority of the population (under 70) speaks some english. They are much nicer when you make an effort, even if it is just, 'Bonjour, comment allez-vous?'.

The language also sounds beautiful, unlike some languages which are a little feutile - sounding.. so if you need some inspiration, rent out some french films and sit back and enjoy (with subtitles ofcourse).

Answer 5

You don't absolutely have to speak French to travel in France, but you'll get more out of the trip if you do speak the language!

If you learned Spanish well and found it not too difficult, then French will be relatively easy to learn.  A lot of the concepts are the same, such as some nouns being feminine and some being masculine, adjectives have to agree in gender and number with the noun, etc.  To me, one of the best things is that most regular verbs sound exactly the same in four of the six persons:  I, you (familiar), he/she, and they.  Of course, they are spelled differently, so that makes writing more difficult.  

I studied Spanish for about 6 years (25 years ago), and started taking French lessons about 2 years ago.  I'm the most proficient student in the class, and it is not because I'm all that smart -- the Spanish I learned has helped me tremendously with French.

Answer 6

Firstly, why did you hate Spanish?  If you didn't like the sound of the language, okay, try French.  If it was all the verbs, the vocab etcetc, French is very similar.

France is beautiful...if you go to the right places.  Definitely a place to say you've seen.  Depending how long you're there for, it's a very easy language to pick up as some words are quite similar, or the same as we nabbed them.  I know someone who only knew very basic GCSE French who went there for a month, she came back very confident in the language!  For me, I've done my French A-Level but as I'm on a gap year now (before studying it at uni), I've not spoken French for over a year and lack confidence/forget phrases.  However, one day in France and it comes flooding back.  If you want to learn French but hate the school-styled learning, definitely spend some time there.

Answer 7

If you are in the USA I suspect you'd find it hard work to learn French because you cannot just cross the Channel to be there like we can in England and it is important to have direct contact with the foreign country to pull all that you have learnt together. We all have different learning techniques and just because Spanish did not work it may just have been that you were taught badly rather than that you have no aptitude. I'd see what evening classes are available at your local college as it is always better and more encouraging to learn with others.

It is a great country with a large range of scenery and climate types and diversity of culture. Provided you know some French and, more importantly show an interest in learning, you will find French people very kind and hospitable. As an Englishman I have to say this discreetly of course...

Answer 8

@ Ilovegermany

You are supposed to answer this question in English, not in your native French. And you shouldn't boast about having no difficulty with French grammar when you forget the S ending of verbs conjugated with "tu" (this is not an exception, it's a general rule).

"il est vrai que tu trouvera le français peut être difficile surtout si tu commence ... "

Answer 9

It's not too hard, most people have a harder time learning english, but I took 4 years of french in high school.  I've never been to france though, my my teacher says it's different from the US in ways that they have alot of mom and pop shops, as opposed to big franchises we have in the US.  

If you want to learn French I would start my learning the 4 crazy verbs and their tenses.

Aller - to go

Avoir - to have

Etre - to be

Faire - to do/make.

Those are the most used verbs in france and they are the hardest.  Then learn as many verbs as you can.  Then learn about sentence struceture, then after you have the language do a bit I would learn the culture.

Answer 10

Learning enough French to ease your travels as a tourist is quite easy and, at least in the big cities, you'll find that almost everyone in the service industry (hotel clerks, waiters) speaks at least some English.

Answer 11

Personnellement je ne trouve pas que le français soit une langue difficile.Je la parle très bien alors lorsque vous dites qu'il y a beaucoup d' exceptions et de verbes irréguliers etc... je ne me sens pas vraiment concernée mais bon c'est mon avis personnel donc il est vrai que tu trouvera le français peut être difficile  surtout si tu commence q l'apprendre que maintenant?En effet il vaut mieux apprendre jeune, cela permet de mieux s'en souvenir et d'avoir un meilleur accent.

bonne continuation