Which language is easier to learn - German or Spanish?

Question

Hi everyone! :)

I have the choice of learning another language at my school which I thought would be quite fun. I already know English, French and Swedish and have the opportunity to either learn German or French. I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice regarding whether it's easier to learn German or Spanish or which language you think I should choose?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much! :)

Best wishes, Sophie

Answer 1

Spanish is much easier, especially if you already speak french. I speak french fluently and spanish is so easy to understand due to all the similarities. German is harder to learn though, so personally, I'd go for spanish. Good luck :)

Answer 2

PLEASE NOTE:  English is a GERMANIC language.  It is NOT a mixture of Latin and French, although it does contain a fair amount of vocabulary derived from French.  English has ties both to Swedish and to German, which are also Germanic languages.

French and Spanish are Romance languages; they are descendants of Latin, the Roman tongue.    

However, with this as background and taking into consideration the languages you already speak, I would say go with the Spanish if you're interested in the 'easier' language.  German is hard to master.

Answer 3

both are actually really difficult,

but i recommend you to learn spanish, you may use it more than german and i think its easier

Answer 4

English is essentially an agglomeration of Latin and French, Latin being the basis for Spanish and French having very close ties to it. Because of this, you will naturally be able to understand a small amount of Spanish right off the bat.

It is, however, true that a number of our words come directly from our Norse heritage - However, the German language structure is very different from most other European languages (3 genders, for example) making it more difficult to learn.  

Answer 5

To become proficient in speaking and reading :

Spanish : 23-24 weeks (575-600 class hours)

German : 30 weeks (750 class hours)  

Answer 6

Hi Sophie,

I´ve studied languages all my life and would say, that German is definitely harder to learn than Spanish. It has many more grammar rules and exceptions. It is kind of in the neighborhood of Swedish whereas Spanish is closer to French.

Spanish is spoken in far more countries than German. Think aboutwhat you´re going to use the language for later: for traveling, work or whatever.

Listen to German once and to Spanish and notice what you like better.

Hope that helps!

 

 

Answer 7

I'd guess that german would be easier since you alredy can speak both swedish and english.

Answer 8

I study spanish but german is ment to be easier as it has no irregular verbs and the setting out of sentences is like English

But I think I would have trouble with the spelling in german (seems very confusing!), but some Spanish words are similar to English so it would be easier in that sense.

but either langage would be great to learn, good luck! :)

Answer 9

Spanish, much easier than both English and German, both pronunciation and grammar.  

Answer 10

Spanish. I am on an exchange in germany and a friend in spain and I believe spanish is easier from what I have heard. Also sounds alot more sophisticated when you speak it than german. though it depends on why you want to learn a language

Answer 11

I learned Spanish in high school and I studied German in college. In my opinion, Spanish would be easier. While both are basically spelled as written, German has some important differences that will make it more difficult to pick up:

1. A complex case system.

2. Three genders--masculine, feminine, neuter

Spanish nouns only change form for gender and number. German nouns and adjectives change form for gender, number, and case.

Example:

maestro bueno (good teacher-male)

maestros buenos (good teachers-males)

maestra buena (good teacher-female)

maestras buenas (good teachers-females)

In Spanish, the only thing that changes is the ending of "teacher", to indicate if it's masculine or feminine, and singular or plural. Pretty easy.

In German, it becomes more complex, because the form of "good teacher" will not only depend on gender and number, but also its case. German has four cases: nominative, dative, genitive, and accusative. Nouns, adjectives and articles change form depending on which case it's in.

The nominative case is when a noun is in subject form.

The dative case deals with the indirect object (the recipient of some sort of action).

The genitive case deals with possession.

The accusative case deals with the direct object.

Looks look at definite articles in German vs Spanish for example.

In Spanish, you only say 'el' (masculine) or 'la' (fem) regardless of the position of the word in the sentence.

In German you have these possibilities:

Masculine

------------------

Nominative: der

Accusative: den

Dative: dem

Genitive: des

Feminine

--------------------

Nominative: die

Accusative: die

Dative: das

Genitive: das

Neuter

--------------------

Nominative: das

Accusative: das

Dative: dem

Genitive: des

So, as you, while you only have two articles to memorize in Spanish, you have three forms in German (der,die,das) and all of the changes these articles undergo depending on the case.

I haven't even included the indefinite articles.

Finally, Spanish is simply more practical for people living in the USA. South of our border is Mexico and the rest of Latin America. You'll always encounter more Spanish speakers than you will German speakers. There are more sources of practice material. Many cities have at least two Spanish channels.

Let me add this: Unless you go to Germany or Austria, most Germans you encounter will speak English, so they will be less likely to want to help you with your German. However, there are tons of Spanish speakers that don't speak any English, so you'll get more practice with live people.

So, learn Spanish first, German later.