French or Spanish in year 7?

[Al1Langdownthecleghole]

Not really an AIBU - sorry, but I wanted to enable voting.

DD has to choose her language preferences for secondary. She has chosen her first language and needs to choose between French and Spanish for her second choice. For background, she doesn't yet know what she wants to do when she is older, is a bit geeky, into science and history and quite likes music.

I'm slightly leaning towards Spanish, but only marginally and would appreciate some Mumsnet wisdom. If anyone uses the languages at work - please could you explain what you do? it might be helpful.

So Spanish would be better than French - YANBU

No, French is the better choice - YABU

Thanks in advance.

I personally found Spanish a bit easier to pick up, but it’s all a matter of preference really? I’ve only got a limited knowledge and don’t use it at work but have found it really useful for travelling abroad.

Either way she can’t go too wrong as learning a new language is only ever a good thing

What is her other choice?

I studied Spanish AND French at university so I'm not much help ;-)

I use Spanish in my job most days because I now work in a Spanish company. But there are plenty of French companies with offices in the UK (Danone, LVMH, Publicis...) & in some industries speaking French is a huge advantage (wine industry for example).

At your daughter's age, I would just recommend whichever one she clicks with the most. Even if her reasoning is quite arbitrary (she likes a TV show in Spanish or admires a French pop star) it's still a hook to get her interested. And then if further down the line she wants to try the other one, she can. I actually started Spanish at university after studying French & German at school.

Other choice is Latin Aroundtheworld - partly why I was leaning towards Spanish.

I did French at school, and other than in France and New Caledonia, I rarely use it. Yes, it gave me some basics of the romance languages, and helps in learning the others, but in hindsight I wish I'd done Spanish.

Purely on the fact that Spanish can be use not only in Spain, but the majority of Sth America speak it. Also, its similar to Italian, so much easier to also understand some basics whilst in Italy too.

Thanks bibbidybobbidyboo Now I'm thinking I should brush up my french and go and work in the wine industry - She slightly prefers the idea of Spanish - but doesn't really have a reason - and I was wondering if it was a sensible choice. I like your idea of going with what "clicks"

Latin is handy if she is going into a medical field, but otherwise might be fairly pointless.

I think don't get too hung up on future usefulness at 11 years old.
If you are actually going to take it to a high level, then it's better to have some enthusiasm for some aspect of culture, literature, history, geography etc.
No point learning the language of a country you don't particularly want to visit! It's only useful if you are inspired to use it.
So what I'm saying is, go with your heart/gut with this one, not your head.
And yes, I studied languages at uni and have lived in several different countries.

People often say that Spanish is a bit easier, but if she's doing Latin then she will probably find the grammar of either easy to pick up. I prefer French but that's purely personal really. I think whichever she fancies will be fine.

Spanish is more widely used around the world than french. I did latin at school & mostly found it a waste of time. It's interesting as a root language for comparison with some european languages (including English), but that was the only part I found useful.

DId she do any languages in primary? I think they normally do french here.

My DS wasnt keen on french in primary, so he chose Spanish to avoid anymore French. I wasnt sure he would take it, but he loves it and its probably his favourite subject now.

Also depends where you might holiday too as great for them to use in real life.

@elouera is right, Spanish is much more useful in the world of work ( have worked in a few global companies, whatever the discipline- marketing, sales, finance, HR, a Spanish speaker was incredibly valued)

Spanish is easier for me as I detested French at school.

Spanish. I did french but needed Spanish for working abroad (scientist).

It’s a far more logical language in terms of spelling and there are more countries that use it widely. Plus there are more songs, tv shows etc in Spanish that would interest a typical teen so it’s easier to get enthusiastic about imo.

I found learning Latin more useful than MFL at school... We studied the development of language. It came useful while trying to decipher other languages.

Of the two, my gut would be Spanish, due to it be widely spoken in the Americas, but learning to appreciate languages is more important at this age than the actual language you learn.

SPanish

The spelling of Spanish is much easier. She can learn French later if she wants.
She could always do a bit of Duolingo in both and see if one clicks more.

Alternatively, why not get to have a play on Duolingo or something similar with both French and Spanish and see if she gains a preference?

I would choose Spanish (on the basis that we go on holiday to Spain a fair amount and our Spanish is pretty rusty!)

I'd say spanish as it's much more widely spoken.

I'd probably suggest spanish and french though, and ditch the latin.

I also did both French and Spanish, loved both. I did find that Spanish made it easier to learn Italian.

Wow - that's more of a consensus that I was expecting. How very unmumsnetty!

Thank you for your inputs, I am taking on board the points about not overthinking it and going with what she thinks she likes the sound of (so spanish).

Duolingo is an excellent idea thank you GirlCalledJames - she actually has the app as she has been looking at Latin. I will suggest she tries out the other two to see if she has a preference.

Spanish and Latin are probably more obviously complementary (speaking as a Latin teacher who also speaks Spanish and French!), so if you know she's doing Latin then I'd go for Spanish alongside it, unless she has a particular interest in French.

No surprise from my user name, but definitely don't ditch the Latin! If she's a geeky type into history and music then it will probably be right up her street. And its puzzley aspect often appeals to science and maths types too. It's v useful and interesting linguistically, but also potentially opens up the whole of the classical world, which might be of interest. Most don't get the chance to study it, so seize your chance! Looks like I'm quite a lone voice in favour of French. Personally i think it's a very beautiful, elegant language, and much more useful in my family because we go to France on holiday a lot.

She definitely likes logic and puzzles noxestdormienda and has the potential to do ancient history & classics later on if she chooses so is very set on the Latin.