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I'm a student in the U.S., and it's my time to decide whether I'll be taking Spanish or French. I'm pretty torn, because I know Spanish will be more useful, but French just has a bigger appeal. Looking for some general advice or pros/cons. Thanks!
(p.s. I'm fluent in Hebrew if that changes anything, although I doubt it will.)
The pros of learning French are that you can then use French. The pros of learning Spanish are that you can then use Spanish.
To decide which language to use, you might consider:
Only you can answer these questions in your circumstances, and only you can weight and prioritize them.
For immediate use: Are there people around you who use the language? Are there books, movies, games and so on that use the language? Do you know someone who speaks the language?
For long-term use: Are you willing to move to areas where the language is used? Can you make use it for seeking employment or while working if your future career (or studies)? Some media you eventually want to understand in that language? Anyone in your family who uses the language?
Practice should not be an issue with Spanish or French, both being huge languages. Maybe check out if you can find a language café or similar where you are; it might reactivate after corona.
Motivation is distinct from the intellectual reasons you might or should be motivated, as above. If you have an inherent motivation or preference, do not disregard it.
For difficulty, both of the languages are difficult and easy in slightly different ways; any detail on this should be a separate question.
For purpose, it could reading, watching movies, living your life in the language and moving to a country where it is spoken, or maybe learning about the culture. Would you learn Spanish and French for the same or different reasons? If different, is one them more acute now? Is learning one of them for that particular purpose easier than learning the other?
But, in the end, the choice is yours.
If I were you, I would choose Spanish as it is one of the most spoken languages in nowadays world.
I'm going to make a little comparison between both languages:
Over 275 million people around the world speak French; while over 572 million people speak Spanish worldwide, of which 477 million people are native speakers, according to a new report from the Spanish government's Cervantes Institute. Spanish is the official language of many countries in the American continent, and it is also spoken in African countries like Equatorial Guinea, where it is one of the official languages.
The culture and the richness of Spanish language could be a great reason to start learning this beautiful language too. Also, because of the impact of Spanish in music.
To sum up, learning Spanish can give you more opportunities than any other language as it has a bright future due to the impact in nowadays world, according to some sources.
