Spanish vs French: which should you learn?

Estimates for a native English speaker, following the US Foreign Service Institute’s groupings. Languages the Institute does not rank are placed beside their closest relatives. Your own pace will differ.

• You want the widest everyday reach of any language an English speaker can learn quickly, and a base for Portuguese and Italian.
• You will use it in Spain, Mexico, most of Central and South America, and large communities across the United States.

Watch out for: verb endings and the two verbs for to be (ser and estar) take practice.

• You want a language of diplomacy, cooking, fashion and film, and an easy bridge to Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
• You will use it in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and a large part of West and Central Africa.

Watch out for: spelling and sound are far apart, so listening and speaking need more attention than reading.

Spanish. It is one of the friendlier languages for English speakers. Many words look familiar, the spelling is regular, and you can say any word you can read. Verb endings and the two words for to be take practice, which is why we have you build and say whole sentences.

French. Reading comes faster than speaking. Silent letters, linked words and the French r take time, so most of your effort should go into listening and saying sentences aloud.

In both, the quickest fix for pronunciation is the same: hear a whole sentence, say it out loud and check how close you were. That is the loop 4ToSpeak runs on every sentence.

Spanish and French are close relatives, so a lot carries over. Learn one, and the second takes noticeably fewer hours than starting from scratch. Start with whichever you will use sooner.

If you cannot decide, start both for a week at 15 minutes a day. After seven days you will know which one you look forward to, and motivation matters more than the difference in hours.

Start Spanish or start French, both free with no card.

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