Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Which European language to study?

Our middle school offers French, Italian, and Spanish starting in 7th grade, with the same language being taken in 8th grade. Selective colleges expect several years of study of the same language, so a student is likely to persist with the same language in high school. The majority of students take Spanish, with the remainder about equally divided between French and Italian. An obvious reason for an American to learn Spanish is the large number of Spanish speakers in the country. What arguments could one make for studying French or Italian instead?

I studied French in school and could help him practice if he studied it. I wonder if this outweighs the practical advantages of Spanish. There are "language and culture" AP exams in all three languages, but only Spanish has an additional "literature and culture" exam.

Mandarin and Latin are offered only in high school.

Practically? To me, German is the #1 choice, French the #2. (And yes, I know that German was not on your list; it's "my" #1 choice for practicality)

German is the industrial language of Europe. My wife's aunt works for Zeiss, where German clearly offers advantages. This is also true in chemical engineering.

And France is still a major world power. My former partner's son (Princeton/Harvard) practices law in Paris. So, there's clearly opportunity there.

I deal with Spanish clients all the time. In order to deal with them we just hire an interpreter from the temp store, so from a "practical" standpoint, it's economic value is "$7.50 per hour."

My hispanic (libertarian - Ron Paul) Spanish-speaking assistant now refuses to translate because she's sick of doing it (meaning going to the courthouse), so it's up to the temps.

I guess you wanted input on Italian, too.

I would point out that Italy effectively isn't even a real country in Europe. It's a fun language that you take for fun and not for practicality.

I'd say it depends on your goals. Spanish and German have the practical advantages you and Jon mention. Travel and business aren't priorities for us. Instead, we chose French because (i) I speak it reasonably well and so can help more, (ii) reading French is an important academic skill (same case could be made for other languages, but French for what my dc is interested in is the best case), (iii) I always find it embarrassing when educated people mispronounce French (or German, actually, so dc will take both -- French and to a lesser extent, German, terms are ubiquitous in some fields). Probably you could make a similar case for many other languages, but given dc's status as a humanities kid focused on English and French literature and history, French and later German fit for him.

Not even a real country? What about the food????

There are lots of real countries in what we today call "Italy."

Each has a different kind of yummy food!

Culturally, there are arguments for studying all the languages you mentioned; what matters will be where your son wants to live or work, and in what field. If he shows an interest in diplomacy, or senior levels of business requiring access to government officials, French has a stronger legacy than the other languages you mention. German is a widely spoken second language used for commerce. Likewise, if your son shows any entrepreneurial or social enterprise interest, Spanish would be a strong bet given that the global population base and growth rate of mother tongue Spanish speakers is considerably larger than the same for the European languages.

As an American, I'd pick Spanish or German, if your son shows any interest in working in Europe. As English is an indo-Germanic language, his rate of learning German will likely be faster than for a Romance language. However, Spanish is a relatively easy language to learn because it is so regular, which is important given his relatively late start.

As a practical consideration, I'd also consider what immersion opportunities your son would have available outside the class, as that's the way language is learned best. Are there second language clubs or cultural associations for the languages where you live? I'd assume a few hours a week-- maybe 5-- of immersion to become proficient.

My suggestion would be to find out who the teachers are, because if they're native English speakers, it may be a waste of time. I spent two years with a very good French teacher only to find myself unable to converse in it with anyone but her, on account of my ear was tuned to the language as spoken by one with a strong American accent. The native speaker sounds alien to me.

My Hispanic DW regularly translates/corrects movie dialog in Italian, and says she can do the same in Portuguese, so those three are basically interchangeable (French is the one Romantic language not interchangeable because its phonics are a train wreck). That and the fact that Spanish is spoken over a huge portion of the globe, and even here in the US, gives it amazing utility from a practical standpoint.

I endorse Jon's opinion of Italian. Apart from the fact that it would also help you converse in Spanish and Portuguese, it has no practical value. You don't even need it to visit Italy.

I vote for French. It is the language of diplomats, and all UN documents are produced in both French and English. While there are a lot of Spanish speakers in this country, I can't think of any academic pursuits that would require you to speak Spanish. While there are more Spanish speakers than French speakers worldwide, the French speakers are spread throughout the world, whereas Spanish speakers are mainly in Mexico, Central America and South America (and of course, Spain).

All three of mine were in a French immersion school from Pre-K through part of elementary. Eldest went on to take German in high school, while middle kid takes Spanish. They both took/take French in HS, but were placed at a high level due to their immersion experience.

Italian should be easy to learn if you know French and/or Spanish. My two older ones can "read" Italian well enough to get the main idea of a story. Another thing to watch with Italian - if your school cuts a language, it will be Italian. Our district did this a few years back.

Honestly I don't think it matters unless the child in question can be expected to find learning languages very hard. It just is not that difficult to learn any of those languages to a standard higher than is likely to be offered in school, so if any of the languages is needed for practical purposes later, it's fine to learn them later. Or do them all simultaneously now with help from the web (duolingo is nice for basics, and free). Picking one for school, I think I'd go for whichever seems likely to be taught best - what does the grapevine say? If that doesn't return an answer, pick whichever appeals; or maybe, whichever the child is *least* likely to learn later for practical purposes. That argues for Italian, which is a beautiful language...

Italian is useful if he likes opera.