Why is it better to choose French as a second language over Spanish?

Posts0Likes0Joined11/7/2018LocationKingston / JM
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Lately I made an observation that a lot of people are opting to learn easier languages such as Spanish as a second language. So, here are a few reasons why I think you should pick another when taking up a new language. 


In the United States, you hear a lot of Spanish everywhere and that you should learn Spanish.


1. Offer and Demand: You want more chances to get a job? There are plenty of Spanish speakers around you, especially if you live in the USA or in a country where Spanish is your second language or perhaps it was mandatory in school. You might see lots of job offers for Spanish Speakers but they’re more like to choose a native Spanish speaker over you. Meanwhile, when you see a job offer requesting, for example: French or Chinese speaking individuals you’re less likely to have a fight or any competition especially if you’re fluent in the language. 


2. If you speak English, learning French should be easy. Why? It’s often said that French is one of the harder languages to learn when compared to languages like Spanish but I beg to differ. Why? English owes a great deal of its vocabulary to the French language, making the French vocabulary much easier to learn. Memorizing lists of vocabulary will thus be reduced while learning French, then the grammar and lexical similarities between “les languages latines” (latin languages) will make it easier for you to take on Spanish some time later if you haven’t already.


3. Similarities: If you really want to learn Spanish, here’s why I think you should learn French first. English is closer to French (for native English speakers) and French is closer to Spanish. At the end of it, you won’t just have a second language but you’ll be fluent in two languages apart from your native language – now that’s a win-win!


4. French is the language of International Relations: If you’re into Relations Internationales (International Relations), learning French is a pretty great idea because French is both a working and an official language of the United Nations, the European Union, UNESCO, NATO, Francophonie, the International Olympic Committee, Red Cross and international courts. Proficiency in French is essential for anyone considering a career in any of these international organizations.


5. Travel Options: If you’re someone who likes traveling overseas then learning French is a good idea. You can use the language as your passport – French opens up your travel options like crazy. Of course, you can still travel to a country or countries where you don’t speak the language or don’t speak it well, but being able to communicate and understand will definitely enhance your experience, trust me. You’ll be able to get around not only in Paris and the rest of France, but other lovely destinations like French Polynesia, Quebec or Switzerland.


6. Love: Did you know that French is the language most often used to translate romantic expressions, ahead of other European languages? This was discovered in a survey by Google Translate. If you’re a romantic, you’re romanticizing someone or looking to be romanticized by someone you sure know that French is considered as “langage de l’amour” (language of love).



Feel free to share your own personal opinions on why it’s better to learn French over Spanish or why you should learn French first if you want to learn Spanish.


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#1
Posts0Likes0Joined11/7/2018LocationManila / PH
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Learning English, Korean

I work in a staffing firm for call centers in the Philippines and French agents actually get paid way more than Spanish agents. :) Most starting offers for Spanish speaking agents with zero call center experience start at 30k. The offer for French speaking agents with zero experience start at 45k. :) I've also seen job offers for French agents go as high as 120k. The highest I've seen for Spanish agents is 80k. :P

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ikay

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#2
Posts0Likes0Joined10/7/2018LocationTrece Martires City / PH
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Thanks for this. Now I wanna learn French. lol

do the right thing even when nobody is watching

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#3
Posts0Likes0Joined11/7/2018LocationKingston / JM
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Wow, I find that really amazing for someone in a call center to be making that much. A lot of international and European organizations are French speaking too - it really is like a language of the elite or whatever.  

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#4
Posts0Likes0Joined11/7/2018LocationKingston / JM
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It's a good idea, it comes with a lot of opportunities for example what @ikaymoreno said.

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#5
Posts0Likes0Joined11/7/2018LocationManila / PH
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Roshane.Brooks wrote:
Wow, I find that really amazing for someone in a call center to be making that much. A lot of international and European organizations are French speaking too - it really is like a language of the elite or whatever.


That's in Philippine Peso though, okay? :P So Spanish agents go from $650 to $1500 per month. French agents go from $850 to $2300 per month. English-only agents go from $230 to $500. Lol. 


The highest multilingual offer I've seen is for Mandarin. 136k PHP ($2500) per month. And some of them quit because they got a better offer. Lol. O_O

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ikay

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#6
Posts0Likes0Joined11/7/2018LocationManila / PH
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Michelle.Batan wrote:
Thanks for this. Now I wanna learn French. lol


Start taking loads of free courses. Then when you can write sentences and know at least 200 words, enroll for a course at Alliance Francaise. You'll prolly end up investing around 60k - 100k in tuition fees but you'll get it back fast if you get hired as a multilingual.

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ikay

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#7
Posts0Likes0Joined11/7/2018LocationKingston / JM
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I’m a little confused the first prices u listed are pesos or USD?

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#8
Posts0Likes0Joined10/7/2018LocationTrece Martires City / PH
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thats Philippine peso

do the right thing even when nobody is watching

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#9
Posts0Likes0Joined11/7/2018LocationManila / PH
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Roshane.Brooks wrote:
I’m a little confused the first prices u listed are pesos or USD?


The original post was in PHP. I added a comment though where I converted it to USD.


Spanish agents go from $650 to $1500 per month. French agents go from $850 to $2300 per month. English-only agents go from $230 to "$500. Lol. 

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ikay

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#10
Posts0Likes0Joined11/7/2018LocationKingston / JM
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ikaymoreno wrote:
Roshane.Brooks wrote:
I’m a little confused the first prices u listed are pesos or USD?

The original post was in PHP. I added a comment though where I converted it to USD.


Spanish agents go from $650 to $1500 per month. French agents go from $850 to $2300 per month. English-only agents go from $230 to "$500. Lol.


Got it now! 

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#11
Posts0Likes0Joined11/7/2018LocationManila / PH
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No problem. :) Is multilingual support big bucks in your country too?

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ikay

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#12
Posts0Likes0Joined11/7/2018LocationKingston / JM
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ikaymoreno wrote:
No problem. :) Is multilingual support big bucks in your country too?

Yeah, it is but there isn't a high demand for multi-lingual people.

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#13
Posts1630Likes1092Joined18/3/2018LocationBellingham / US
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Roshane.Brooks wrote:
Lately I made an observation that a lot of people are opting to learn easier languages such as Spanish as a second language.

If you're comparing Spanish to Chinese, I think it's fair to say Spanish is much easier for a native English speaker to learn. But Spanish and French? They are approximately the same difficulty level. Please check out this chart from FSI.

In Thailand now. Next up Tanzania and Philippines.

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#14
Posts0Likes0Joined11/7/2018LocationKingston / JM
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leosmith wrote:
Roshane.Brooks wrote:
Lately I made an observation that a lot of people are opting to learn easier languages such as Spanish as a second language.

If you're comparing Spanish to Chinese, I think it's fair to say Spanish is much easier for a native English speaker to learn. But Spanish and French? They are approximately the same difficulty level. Please check out this chart from FSI.

It's said that French is easier to learn in terms of remembering the vocabulary because it and English have a lot in common then once you've learned French it's easier to learn Spanish. I do agree that Spanish isn't a hard language to learn.

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#15
Posts0Likes0Joined11/7/2018LocationManila / PH
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Learning English, Korean

I think it also depends on what your mother tongue is. :)


Spanish is easy for Filipinos because not only do we share a lot of words, the pronunciation of a lot of the sounds are similar too -- especially vowels.


French, German, and Korean would be harder because they have a lot of sounds that we do not have in our language -- especially the guttural sounds in German and Korean.


English is spoken by a lot because we get more than 10 years of studying it in school. Sounding like a native speaker is a different matter though. Tagalog only has 5 vowel sounds. English has around 20.

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ikay

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#16
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