I'm from Hong Kong. My major has nothing to do with languages/business but the idea of doing a language as a minor appeals to me as I get to learn another language without paying any extra money. Should I minor in Spanish or French?
Spanish
>Took a course at uni and did a lot of self-learning by myself
>I like the way Spanish sounds more than French
>Spanish spelling and pronunciation is easier than French
French:
>Began to explore what French is like around a month ago
>French culture, history, literature and cuisine seems more interesting
>Would prefer living in a Francophonie country as opposed to a Hispanic country (moving to somewhere such as Colombia? No thanks)
Should I minor in Spanish or French?
up to you
>>16902737
you can learn two languages, you know
bump again
>>16902737
>Should I minor in Spanish or French?
where would you prefer to travel? which cultures do you like more? Choose the one you are most likely to use.
>>16902907
>where would you prefer to travel?
I like Europe, but I've already been to many countries in Europe. I've never been to a Spanish-speaking but I am not particular interested in travelling to Latib America, with zika, high crime rates, and all that. Only picked Spanish as I have someone to practice with and I find it pretty easy.
which cultures do you like more?
I like French culture more. I wasn't particularly interested in Spanish/Hispanic culture.
>>16902930
>I like French culture more.
I think this is the answer.
>>16902937
I like Germany even more I think, but France is also super cool. Differences between how much I like these countries shouldn't be that big, whereas for Spain/Hispanic countries, meh, still not very interested in them although I like the way Spanish sounds. I also like anime btw.
My Spanish friend is awesome, but the idea that we may lose in contact with each other suddenly dawned on me. And I will have almost no reason to learn Spanish after he disappears from my life.
>>16902737
This list may be useful:
http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/countries_by_languages.htm
French is still spoken in a lot countries worldwide, a lot people tend to forget this.
If you intent to ever travel to the African continent it will be a huge advantage. Also french has been fluently spoken by the 'elite' all over the world. Nowadays english has of course taken over as the most universally spoken language, but in eastern europe being fluent in french is definitely still mandatory to be considered well-educated.
Also, a lot of influential literature has been originally written in french.
Spanish however is spoken by more people if you look at quantity over quality. But if you are more interested in Europe over the America's I would think french is the better option.
>>16903066
Or is German or Japanese better?
>>16903066
I think with french you can make progress a lot quicker than with german if your native language doesn't have a germanic background. French is actually not that complicated to learn, grammer is pretty straight-forward. German is a bit more involved from what I heard from foreigners trying to learn it.
Can't really comment on japanese because I don't speak it, nor did I ever travel to Asia.
It is a very interesting country with a rich culture(apart from anime) for sure and considering you are from Hong Kong it may have advantages business-wise?
>>16903179
-->
>>16903130
I meant to respond to you of course, not to myself.
>>16903179
My major is unrelated to business. I am an introvert and it is very unlikely that I will work in the business sector due to my personality. I do agree that Japanese cuisine and culture is cool.
>>16903193
In that case just pick what you are most interested in culturewise, as someone suggested earlier itt.
I have to say that if you opt for german you would make friends there in no time because of the mere novelty of a Hong Kong citizen speaking their language.
Have fun whatever you decide and good luck!
>>16903207
>novelty of a Hong Kong citizen speaking their language
Pretty sure there are Chinese people in every country on earth and surely some of them can speak the language fluently?
I like all these cultures and languages, ugh. Don't know what to pick.
bump again
It is important when learning a language for there to be something that will motivate you during times when you might be tired of studying or thinking of giving up, and having something about the culture that you enjoy is a great source of motivation. Like for example, if you're learning French but it's becoming frustrating and maybe one day you just don't feel like studying, you could just think about the great French literature that you could one day read if you study hard; or if you're into music you could listen to some French music that you like and remind yourself that if you keep studying you could one day understand all the lyrics; or if you're into animation, you could watch some French cartoons, etc. This is also why Japanese is a great option if you don't mind anime and manga, or if there's other aspects of the culture that you like. Japanese is very difficult grammar-wise, but if you enjoy media that Japan produces, that helps a lot. And I mean a LOT.
>>16902737
>I like the way Spanish sounds more than French
>Spanish spelling and pronunciation is easier than French
I don't think any of these reasons are significant enough to base a decision to learn Spanish instead of French on. I totally get what you mean, but in the long run, the pronunciation difficulty probably won't make too much of a difference if you practice enough. It'll make learning the language pretty crappy at first, but after a while you'll get used to the new sounds you'll have to make. Spelling is a factor, sure, but one way you can practice spelling is by reading French, and guess what, reading French will be a lot more fun (and thus you'll be more motivated to do it) if you enjoy the culture (assuming you're reading books that reflect French culture). Also, if you enjoy the culture and engage in enough media produced by the culture, you will almost certainly start to like the way the language sounds. It happened to me with Japanese.
>>16903907
So... what should I pick?
Whatever you want op
>>16905466
This ^
Man, latin america is so fucking amazing... spanish... get some good friends that know the ins and outs of their cities and I swear I SWEAR you won't regret shit. Serious here.
>>16905897
And latin american culture is abundant as fuck, not only that, combine it with spain's culture and you got yourself a fucking amazing mix of culture.
>>16905904
Bit what is so interesting about Latin American culture. Lots of people here think that Latin America is just full of weed
>>16906001
Go with something else then
>>16906001
Ignorant fucks. There is tons of history (before and after colonization), rich variety of food, arts on the rise. Granted most of latin america is still developing but there are countries like Mexico and Chile where you will find some places are first wordlike
>>16907294
Worldlike*
