French or Spanish gcse? Which is easier?

[Elephantjuicelove]

Hi!

DS has sen issue that effect his memory.

He has not studied languages at primary. He will have a choice at secondary to learn either French or Spanish. He doesn't have a preference and I suspect he would enjoy both. I understand he might not take either as a GCSE but assuming he does what does everyone think?

What should I tell him to choose ?

I'd say go for Spanish. It's got a more regular phonetic spelling system and always seems less wordy than French. Plus it's spoken more widely.

Agree Spanish is preferable. I studied both for O level and A level. I think Spanish was easier because I had studied French initially but as previous poster has stated, Spanish is more widely used and therefore more useful.

Spanish pronunciation and spelling are far easier.

I think it is generally accepted that Spanish is easier to learn and as there are around 4 times as many Spanish speakers worldwide as French it is also far more useful. Indeed Spanish overtook German a few years ago in terms of the numbers doing GCSE and it is predicted that in a few years time it will overtake French. I think the only conceivable reason to do French is if a parent is sufficiently good at it to be able to give their DC extra tuition at home. DH claimed (due to an A in his O level decades ago) that he would be able to help DD with French but when I tested his knowledge by asking him to translate a passage into French his attempt was pitiful. So it will be Spanish for DD.

My DD got A* in French and Italian with totally useless parents who could offer no help at all! No GCSE gets you very far in conversing with native speakers elsewhere in the world and all languages have lots of learning by rote. Spanish is generally thought to be easier.

DD has just completed Spanish & French GCSE, Spanish only starting in y10. She finds Spanish easier. It is also spoken more widely across the world.

Spanish it is! super thank you everyone x