French Vs German Language scope

[Former Member]

Hi

I have to learn a language.

I have to select among below two languages.

French or German .

Now their are 2 parameters on which my selection is to be based.

Parameter 1 :

Which language suits my job skills set.

I.e. which language should I learn so that it provide me better opportunities in below mentioned skills (Which I have)

SAP Java Development (Netweaver Domain)

SAP Portal (ADMIN level : role management, nwe desktop creation, user management, iviews etc.)

Abap (Basic knowledge)

Web Dynpro java (Again basic knowledge)

Parameter 2 :

Which language is easier to learn.

I dont know wether this is right place to post such matters, but please do comment or kindly move my post in correct forum.

I need guidance on above, so please do comment.

Thanks.

[Former Member]

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[Former Member]

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[Former Member]

I am told that if you already speak a few languages, then learning 2 at the same time is easier to put dedicated effort into than learning them one after the other.

But considering the most famous, easiest and probably successful method to learn a language, you might need to make some moral sacrifices if you take that route to learn both.

Tip: The Elsass would be a good place to start looking...

Good luck,

Julius

[matt]

Before attempting German, the following article should be read: [The Awful German Language|http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/awfgrmlg.html#x1]

[Former Member]

I've been learning German for three years now (by myself and in a not so regular way), reading spiegel.de etc.

Also started learning French recently. Now I'd dare say French is way easier than German in that once you are through with the almost seemingly impossible pronunciations and the zillion tenses of verbs (in French) the vocabulary is all English (the kind you would use to impress people).

Also any word in any of these three languages is cognate in at least two of the languages (mostly G-E and E-F). However then there are words like fenetre and Fenster (window) the common things between French and German.

Now what German does is to add these prefixes er-, ver-, ein, aus, zer, auf-, an-, zu-, fertig-, etc to root verbs to create a lot of verbs which do not always correspond to the parent verb (especially with er- and ver-). And then there are those 'annoying' words like Verleger (Publisher), Vertrag (Contract), Gesetz (law) etc which don't seem to be logical in their etymology. Maybe it is because it's not your mother tongue. Or maybe it's because German speakers haven't tinkered much with the language over the centuries.

Gender Identification has been easy though.

Pushpraj

Meine .02 DM

[matt]

> Also any word in any of these three languages is cognate in at least two of the languages (mostly G-E and E-F). However then there are words like fenêtre and Fenster (window) the common things between French and German.

Not come across the English word - Defenestration, then - The act of throwing something (or someone) out of a window.

[Former Member]

in Austrian German we have "fensterln", which also is a verb related to Fenster. you might want to research its meaning and try to explain it

anton

[matt]

>

> in Austrian German we have "fensterln", which also is a verb related to Fenster. you might want to research its meaning and try to explain it  
> 
> anton

"leo" is my friend. Great word.

[Former Member]

>Pushpraj wrote

>>Meine .02 DM

seems like it is quite a long time ago that you read spiegel. Since beginning of 2002 we have the EUR instead of the DM and so also Cents instead of Pfennige.

Siggi

[Former Member]

Siggi wrote :
seems like it is quite a long time ago that you read spiegel. Since beginning of 2002 we have the EUR instead of the DM and so also Cents instead of Pfennige.

Actually have been reading it regularly since 2006. I knew about Euro but DM sounded more Deutsch

It's really hard to keep up with spoken Deutsch though.

Pushpraj

[former_member186746]

> 

Siggi wrote :

seems like it is quite a long time ago that you read spiegel. Since beginning of 2002 we have the EUR instead of the DM and so also Cents instead of Pfennige.

> 
> Actually have been reading it regularly since 2006. I knew about Euro but DM sounded more Deutsch 
> 
> 
> It's really hard to keep up with spoken Deutsch though.
> 
> Pushpraj

You should've said meine zwei Pfenninge.

I am totally biased in this but I would go for the German language.

Amongst other things, it's also better to curse in German then in French. Even the word for curse words sound cursey:

Schimpfwörter.

[matt]

oh, I don't know, there's some GREAT french swearing. For example, ****** de *****

Or when the English were so impressed with a valourous French regiment, during Waterloo, they said to the French something along the lines of - "Oh valourous men, surrender". The leader cried out "*****"

Oh, **** these filters!

[anish3]

This message was moderated.

[Former Member]

If you knew both languages already just at this moment and if you were following le grand boucle (aka Le Tour de France) also right now you would find the names of the mountains they are climbing in a few minutes quite interesting if not funny. For example Col de la Schlucht, Col du Bannstein or Col du Platzenwasel. I must admit I don't know what a platzenwasel actually is, maybe it is some kind of a Wolpertinger.

anton

[JPReyes]

I think it pretty much depends on whats your mother language... Mine is Spanish, so latin languages (Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese) will be easy enough to learn as the base is pretty much the same. While learning german will probably be a bit more challenging... specially because theres so many dialects that even germans get lost in translation.

Regards

Juan

PS: learn Spanish, its spoken in 25 countries.

[matt]

My neighbours are from Argentina. They have difficulty with French. With German - at least in Germany if you speak schriftdeutsch/Hochdeutsch, you'll be fine.

Mind you, seeing as Hochdeutsch is actually derived from a Lower Allemanic dialect, it should be called, Niederdeutsch.

[Former Member]

Hi,

With regards Parameter 2, in English schools we are taught French as the first foreign language, and then German is taught to those who excel at French. However, it's is said that (for an English speaker) German is the easier of the two to learn.

I however was not so good at French and so was never taught German.

Regards,

Nick

[matt]

Parameter 1: Learn German. SAP is German software. German will help you to work in Germany, Austria, Switzerland. French will help you to work in France.

Parameter 2: French is probably easier to get up and running with, for English speakers, as the grammar is more similar to English - with German, if you get the grammar wrong you can change the WHOLE meaning of a sentence. And you have to get pronunciation spot on. On the other hand, 65% of German words are similar to English, especially if you take into account consonantal shifts (p to f, t to s - so pepper -> pfeffer, water -> wasser ). German is easier to read, given that it is (usually) spoken exactly as it is written. German is a direct language - not much use for euphemism or wrapping things up nicely. French, especially when written by French people, is more flowery, and that can make it more difficult.

I speak, and have a liking for both languages. If I was to learn another language, I'd choose Spanish. However, with French and German, I find I can understand many other languages to an extent - Dutch, Norwegian, Italian, Spanish, Portugese, Romanian... even Swiss German.

matt

[Former Member]

...French will help you to work in France...  

Not to forget Réunion, Martinique or Guadeloupe which are very nice places! Errm, and parts of Canada of course.

[matt]

Oh yes, Canada, hey?

[former_member184657]

And parts of Louisiana too.

But of course, they say the [Cajun French |http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajun_French] is very different from the France French

pk

[Former Member]

>...French will help you to work in France...

>Not to forget Réunion, Martinique or Guadeloupe which are very nice places! Errm, and parts of Canada of course.

Hmm, Réunion, Martinique and Guadelouipe are actually parts of the French territory !

You can add Tahiti, New Caledonia and Guyane.

For foreign countries with people speaking French, you can add parts of Belgium , parts of Switzerland, Luxembourg, Italy (Val d'Aosta). French is also widely understood in numeous African countries.

Olivier

[matt]

> >...French will help you to work in France... 
> 
> >Not to forget Réunion, Martinique or Guadeloupe which are very nice places! Errm, and parts of Canada of course. 
> 
> Hmm, Réunion, Martinique and Guadelouipe are actually parts of the French territory !
> You can add Tahiti, New Caledonia and Guyane.
> 
> For foreign countries with people speaking French, you can add parts of Belgium , parts of Switzerland, Luxembourg, Italy (Val d'Aosta). French is also widely understood in numeous African countries.
> 
> Olivier

Yes, but apart from those countries, who speaks French other than the French?

Vietnamese has some French words in it, btw.

[Former Member]

Hi,

>Yes, but apart from those countries, who speaks French other than the French?

But every English speaking country. You know, since the Noman invasion of 1066, English is just French with a (very) bad accent (and a few saxon words...

I'm out of here before the flame war begins !

Olivier

[matt]

>

> Hi,
> 
> >Yes, but apart from those countries, who speaks French other than the French?  
> 
> But every English speaking  country. You know, since the Noman invasion of 1066, English is just French  with a (very) bad accent (and a few saxon words...
> 
> I'm out of here before the flame war begins !       
> 
> Olivier

It was Pascal or Descartes or some bloke like that said "English is nothing more than badly written French".

[Former Member]

Hi,

I think this is the right forum, I just don't know if this is meant to be a serious question or a joke (which I then don't understand).

But I'm looking forwar on answers trying to state that either language is - with no further boundary and/or inital conditions given - objectively easier to learn.

anton

[jurjen_heeck]

> Parameter 1 :

> Which language suits my job skills set.

That would be German as you'll find that all over your SAP systems.

> Parameter 2 :

> Which language is easier to learn.

That's a difficult one as it depends on the similarity between the language to learn and the language(s) you already know....

[Former Member]

Hi,

>Which language suits my job skills set.

>That would be German as you'll find that all over your SAP systems.

Even if I'm French, I do agree on this. Working on SAP software, it would be very useful some times to be able to read German.

Olivier