Starting in year 7 - better to learn French or Spanish as a second language?

[puffyisgood]

And why? Grateful for any thoughts, thanks.

Both are fine. What does school offer? Or are you truly getting a choice?
We got assigned to a language. We were allowed to express an opinion if we had very strong reasons for one language over the other.
I'm just hoping DC2 gets the same language as DC1!

Both my DCs did Spanish in Year 7 as that was the only choice. At the time I wasn’t that happy about not having a choice but am quite glad now. French would have been fine too and am sure they would have just got on with it.

I am basing this on no evidence but just something I’ve observed locally is that schools based in more affluent areas seem to offer French/German whereas schools in less well-off areas offer Spanish. Like I said, just something have noticed locally here.

Does your DC have a preference?

I think, sometimes, you just get attracted to one language and not another. Since French and Spanish are similar in terms of difficulty, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for your DC to choose whichever one they just prefer the idea of. Although, I do suspect Spanish might be a little more useful given how very widely it is spoken.

At my university in the eighties, the sex ratios were approximately 10:1 female to male for French and 1:1 for Spanish. So maybe if you have boys Spanish might be preferable.
However, some time after I left school my old school couldn’t find a replacement Spanish teacher and some children had to give it up after a year.

Get your child to chose both if possible!
If not Spanish is more widely spoken and easier for English speakers phonetically but French is more classic and easier to not get confused with Latin American or Spanish from Spain words.

Yy either is fine as everyone says. Does your dc have a preference? Spanish is IME more popular as more children have gone or can see themselves going there on holiday. Both useful, both similarly Romance, from Latin, both challenging for a native English speaker to pronounce well (r in French, j in Spanish for example), both with some great literature if they plan to continue study.

Spanish - far more widely spoken, the Spanish are generally far more forgiving and encouraging when someone tries to speak their language. Culturally, it's just different - I am a linguist, have lived and worked in both countries, although I also love parts of France, it's just more 'fun' in Spain. School trips tend to be better too. Only caveat would be for an older student who is interested in working for the UN or European Institutions where French is the official language. Mind you, even that is definitely not a barrier.

I would think about also the area you are living and the language opportunities there and exposure your dc will have. This impacts language as well. The more exposure the more likely they are to learn it. Spanish is widely spoken yes, but in our area there are way more French speakers so my dc hear French spoken all the time out and about. My kids are bilingual, so they will play with dc in the park in French when they see them speaking French. And there are French activities in the area etc. So French would be easier to support. But also, if your child has preference, I would go with that one. It would be great for them to be passionate about the language.

Thanks for the pointers. He can only study one in year 7 and has to express a preference [which they don't guarantee to accommodate].

I have a son who claims he wants to do French, I think mostly because he did a few very little bits of Spanish at primary school and didn't like it. I doubt he'd like French much either.

In terms of their importance in the world, I suppose Europe is much nearer than South America + France has a GDP that's roughly equal to the combined GDP of Spain/Mexico, with Argentina/Belgium also roughly cancelling each other out GDP wise... with the other smaller and/or further-off places that come after those countries probably not being of any real consequence to a typical Brit. Obviously that'd be far less true if we lived in, say, one of the southernmost US states.

Overall, I doubt there's much in it.

Have to say of all the factors I’d be considering in my choice, am not sure the GDP of Belgium or Argentina would be one 😁

Spanish (obviously) ... It will become a majority language at some point in the US

The un has six official languages
With french spanish english as main working languages

Go to USA, spanish is second language

Eu has nearly 27 official languages but either of f and s is great

Spanish is easier at GCSE I reckon (former language teacher). However what will be most likely to predict success in languages (non evidenced opinion to follow) is how much they like it and buy in to it being useful - so that’s very individual and might not correspond with what is easier.
Someone who ends up loving languages or needs one in later life could go on to study the one they ‘missed’ at school. If it’s just a case of getting another gcse then I’m not sure it matters that much - you could still do well in French even if Spanish is a bit more straightforward at that level (imo).

@Jovanka IME it’s staffing that will affect what languages are offered- younger teachers are more likely to have learnt Spanish at school so are in turn more likely to teach it. Older departments seem to be more inclined to French and German. This could be link to areas of affluence though - it’s an interesting observation.

It depends on your kid (wanting to learn something is a big advantage)

It also depends on where you might take him to practice. If the answer is you only ever holiday in Devon then it probably doesn't matter - but if you holiday in Spain/France (or any other place that speaks these languages) then the practice overseas will help him loads.

My dyslexic language loving y8 daughter LOVES Spanish and does reasonably well in French (she does both yr7/8/9 then chooses) she says when she doesn't get confused one helps the other but she is definitely better at spanish as that is where we go on holiday so she practices! Spanish appears to have a simpler/more similar phonetics system to Engish but that's only based on what I see as I'm not a spanish speaker - but do speak some French & German.

French GCSE is HARD! My ds wishes he’d chosen Spanish in hindsight, despite already having studied French for 4 years (which is why he picked it). And he’s a bright boy predicted nearly all 9s

Haha. Well I'm not talking about very precise estimates/stressing over whether to use purchasing power parity exchange rates, etc. But along with geographical proximity, economics is, ultimately, the key factor in deciding what languages to speak... e.g. in the 1980s or 1990s, more people in the UK/US wanted to learn Japanese than they did Mandarin Chinese, despite Japan/China being similarly far away & latter having many more speakers... whereas now, due to much faster economic growth in China, the popularity of the two languages has presumably flipped.

DS has just done GCSEs in both. I don't think there's much in it, difficulty-wise, and the languages are fairly similar to learn, so I'd just let your DS pick and go with that.

I teach both languages to GCSE and my gut would be to opt for Spanish:

• The grammar is easier to pick up for a native English speaker
• The new GCSE (that current Y7s will sit first) will have a greater emphasis on phonics, including pronunciation and transcription - this will be significantly easier in Spanish
• Pupils tend to be more familiar with Hispanic culture and are more engaged as a result

If they are showing a keen interest in languages at this point and have a strong understanding of English grammar from KS2 then either language will be fine, but if they may be a more reluctant linguist then definitely opt for Spanish.