NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
I was just having a discussion with somebody, and they stated that it's easier to learn German going from English than it is French. Is this true? Why?
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Going from English, easier to learn French or German?
- Thread starter NotTheGuyYouKill
- Start date
- Status
Dusk Soldier
Member
French is easier.
Because of the Norman invasion of England, French and English share something like 30% of their vocabulary.
Because of the Norman invasion of England, French and English share something like 30% of their vocabulary.
German and English both have saxon roots so it might be easier esp. regarding transparent words whereas French is a latin language.
Though both French and German have very complicated grammar compared to English. French is my first language and English was pretty easy to learn, but when I tried to learn German it was hell.
Though both French and German have very complicated grammar compared to English. French is my first language and English was pretty easy to learn, but when I tried to learn German it was hell.
It depends who you ask. German and English are in the same language group but the former's grammar is far more complicated. On the other hand, I find speaking German far easier than French, which has a lot of sounds very foreign to English.
Basically, both languages are going to suck for you to learn so it probably doesn't matter which one you choose. Best of luck!
Basically, both languages are going to suck for you to learn so it probably doesn't matter which one you choose. Best of luck!
dinazimmerman
Incurious Bastard
What if I know English and Spanish.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
I think that's just how foreign languages are often learned in the US. People who come out of the American foreign language system end up being much better at reading and understanding the language than speaking it.
German, even though most English words are French/Latin/Greek. Hearing French being spoken sounds like people hawking stuff up and moving it around their mouth with their tongues to me.
French
The Albatross
Member
German, for structure.
Either are valuable languages to learn, especially if you end up pursuing an advanced degree in the humanities, where upon most important works were written in english, French, German, or Latin.
Either are valuable languages to learn, especially if you end up pursuing an advanced degree in the humanities, where upon most important works were written in english, French, German, or Latin.
FUBAR McDangles
Member
I took three semesters of German in high school and two semesters of French in college and I would say it is French > German in terms of easiness to learn.
Plus it's a lot more fun to speak in to boot.
Plus it's a lot more fun to speak in to boot.
Not really. Most people from any language will do that.
You Are Viewtiful
Member
I studied both for a bit and I found French to be easier. But then again we have French class since childhood in Canada so maybe I already overcame the harder parts of French lol.
German is Germanic but the grammar is not all that similar to English, not as much as you would expect. Vocabulary wise I believe English has more in common with French.
German is Germanic but the grammar is not all that similar to English, not as much as you would expect. Vocabulary wise I believe English has more in common with French.
speculawyer
Member
German. English is Germanic language.
D
Deleted member 231381
Unconfirmed Member
German is easier because structurally it resembles English slightly more. You can recognise more French words just by resemblance to English, but vocabulary is never the hard part of learning a new language - the hard part is how all the vocabulary is supposed to fit together. German does so in a way that is not unnatural to English speakers.
thesoapster
Member
German. Angleish 
Although I think sometimes I understand more French words off the bat, reading a translation, German always seems to make more sense to me inherently.
Although I think sometimes I understand more French words off the bat, reading a translation, German always seems to make more sense to me inherently.
Sure English has some complex rules but for example this one is not that important (I think ?) and most people probably won't really care if you don't respect it. I was thinking about irregular verbs for example, or really complex tenses that are way more common in French.
That can't be as worse as learning English in France. We're taught a really clean, old-school English without any slang or accents and relying too much on transparent words. This is why most French people really struggle at first when they have speak English, they're used to read and listen to it but never to speak it.
Italian, but its useless
I'd imagine Dutch is the easiest. In fact I'm pretty good at reading Dutch even though I've never studied it for a second.
As far a French or German specifically I'd imagine German is slightly easier because.of the grammar, but really any western European language wether romance or germanic should be pretty easy. I personally think Italian and Spanish are easier than either of the others.
As far a French or German specifically I'd imagine German is slightly easier because.of the grammar, but really any western European language wether romance or germanic should be pretty easy. I personally think Italian and Spanish are easier than either of the others.
Probably means RP, or along those lines. TV English, trying to avoid any particularly regional mores.
And I find French easier to pick up, but not by much. Those suggesting German because "the grammar's similar", are way off too.
As has been touched upon, as another Romance language I do find Spanish avoids some of the difficulties English speakers encounter with French as well.
Dragonborn
Member
I learned French somewhat but it was made easier because I speak flawless Spanish. If I didn't, there'd be a lot of stuff that would have been tougher to pronounce since certain sounds are never even used in English.
I've never given German a try though.
I wonder how hard it is to learn English, for a foreigner
I've never given German a try though.
I wonder how hard it is to learn English, for a foreigner
I wouldn't say sexing up Italian women is useless.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
Frisian is mutually intelligible with Old English
SecretMoblin
Member
Honestly they're probably about the same if you have no prior education in any other foreign language, but it's probably a bit less daunting to get over French's initial hurdles than German's (one less pesky grammatical gender to worry about, not having to deal with 4 cases for everything, etc.).
"Easier" depends on a number of factors so the answer isn't really simple.
"Easier" depends on a number of factors so the answer isn't really simple.
The US State Department put out a guide explaining how much time it would require a native speaker of English to learn other languages on average.
I would post it here, but every time I think of it I can never find where it is.
Edit: Er, found it.
It looks like French is slightly easier, despite the Germanic roots of English.
I would post it here, but every time I think of it I can never find where it is.
Edit: Er, found it.
It looks like French is slightly easier, despite the Germanic roots of English.
That's fascinating. I didn't know
If you have time here's a youtube video with clips from the various Germanic languages. It's pretty interesting to be able to sorta understand some of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8LxRfdLrlU
Ganzlinger
Member
You Are Viewtiful
Member
Try Swedish. The grammar isn't fucked up like German and it's still Germanic. Very easy for an English speaker to grasp even though it's not useful xD
Dutch sounds a lot like English. When I was in Amsterdam and a person around me would start speaking Dutch it would take almost 2 or 3 seconds for me to register that it wasn't English that they're speaking.
Dutch sounds a lot like English. When I was in Amsterdam and a person around me would start speaking Dutch it would take almost 2 or 3 seconds for me to register that it wasn't English that they're speaking.
NYCmetsfan
Banned
French, though German pronunciation might be easier.
Nobody posted the Mark Twain take down of german?
http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/awfgrmlg.html
Nobody posted the Mark Twain take down of german?
http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/awfgrmlg.html
NYCmetsfan
Banned
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
I've studied only a little bit of both, but I felt like German came more naturally and was much easier to pronounce.
Also, the German folks I know also typically speak English a lot better than the French/Belgian people I know. Or at least, their pronunciation is better and they speak more naturally. That could just be the people I know, of course.
Then again, a German friend once told me that Germanic speakers look upon English fondly as something that originated from their languages, while a lot of French people tend to resent English's rise to prominence. I'm sure that's not true for everyone, but it was interesting to hear.
Also, the German folks I know also typically speak English a lot better than the French/Belgian people I know. Or at least, their pronunciation is better and they speak more naturally. That could just be the people I know, of course.
Then again, a German friend once told me that Germanic speakers look upon English fondly as something that originated from their languages, while a lot of French people tend to resent English's rise to prominence. I'm sure that's not true for everyone, but it was interesting to hear.
But the key in learning any language is syntax. English shares much of its grammar with German.
once you know how to construct a sentence in any language, the easy part is expanding your vocabulary.
Surface of Me
I'm not an NPC. And neither are we.
I'm not the guy to ask since I failed at learning either language, though I think more French stuck.
NYCmetsfan
Banned
The thing is german's syntax isn't as similar to english in ever day usage as its origins would have you believe. There's no such things has split verbs, verbs at the end of sentences, compound words the size of the moon in english.
French has differences but there is a much easier 1-1 translation for people learning the language and more more formulaic rules that a english speaker can grasp.
You Are Viewtiful
Member
But knowing 30-40% of the words right off the bat is a huge help. Anyway Standard French grammar isn't THAT different from English. They have way more similarities than differences. Only French adjectives are in some twilight zone. I'd say the time saved in vocabulary learning can be put into grammar learning and you'd still have some time saved over compared to German.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
You really don't, though. Not only do you not know how to pronounce them, but there are plenty of occasions where the underlying meaning may be the same or similar, but the scenarios in which you'd typically use the word are different.
Also, it's not like there isn't a good bit of vocabulary overlap with German.
In fact, take a look at this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_similarity
"English was evaluated to have a lexical similarity of 60% with German and 27% with French."
Not definitive or anything, but it's worth noting.
Yes. Have you ever tried to learn French or German? English is easy mode in comparison.
Yeah, this. There are tons of words that have slightly (or completely) different meanings even though they look pretty much identical in both French and English. Assuming you know what a word means just because it's similar to a word in your own language is a surefire way to confuse the person you're talking to and/or look stupid (this comes from first hand experience, I also had that mindset before moving to an English speaking country and realising that I actually didn't know jack).
yeah we have alot of common words but why would anyone bother to learn dutch. I mean we're taught 3 different languages at school because nobody besides Belgium and the Netherlands speaks it.
OpinionatedCyborg
Member
Go for Frisian or Scots if you want to be a language hipster.
Sakura
Member
As others have said, English is a Germanic language so it should be easier to learn.
Sure, English borrows a lot of its vocabulary from French... but so what? Remembering words is hardly the hardest part of learning a language. Besides, English also has a ton of German words. In fact I'm pretty sure the most common English words we use all the time are mostly Germanic. While English might have a lot of French origin words many of them are rather, er, not used so often in English, and in either case may have different meanings any way.
Sure, English borrows a lot of its vocabulary from French... but so what? Remembering words is hardly the hardest part of learning a language. Besides, English also has a ton of German words. In fact I'm pretty sure the most common English words we use all the time are mostly Germanic. While English might have a lot of French origin words many of them are rather, er, not used so often in English, and in either case may have different meanings any way.
Okay I'll admit German grammar actually is kind of fucked up. Keeping up with all the genders and cases can be tough, but I still found the structure shockingly similar to English. There are a lot of sentences in German that sound extremely close to their English equivalents, almost to the point where an English speaker with no German knowledge could still work them out if they listen hard enough.
And I agree on the Dutch similarity. If you study German, Dutch kinda automatically becomes somewhat readable. According to Wiki they're partially mutually intelligible.
The problem with Germanic languages though is, studying them in-country (like I did German) doesn't actually force you into the language as much because a shitload of people in those countries can carry a conversation in English. I think a recent chart said in Germany it's like 50% of people and in Scandinavian countries it's like 85%.
It's the closest living relative to English unless you count Scots. There's disagreement as to whether Scots is a separate language or just a dialect. In any case, it's the only one that's mutually intelligible with English.
And I agree on the Dutch similarity. If you study German, Dutch kinda automatically becomes somewhat readable. According to Wiki they're partially mutually intelligible.
The problem with Germanic languages though is, studying them in-country (like I did German) doesn't actually force you into the language as much because a shitload of people in those countries can carry a conversation in English. I think a recent chart said in Germany it's like 50% of people and in Scandinavian countries it's like 85%.
It's the closest living relative to English unless you count Scots. There's disagreement as to whether Scots is a separate language or just a dialect. In any case, it's the only one that's mutually intelligible with English.
- Status