Spanish or French as a foreign language

Hi

My daughter is to choose between the two languages above before going into secondary school. Does anyone have any views on the pros and cons of each?

As no-one speaks Spanish in our house, we will be of little help to her in the future. We can all have a bash at French so will be able to offer at least some support should she need it.

I'm also hearing that Spanish would be more useful in the future as a business language but I really haven't got a clue.

thanks

unless she intends living in France, Spanish is spoken in a lot more countries and speaking population numbers are much greater, so I would think Spanish is more useful generally.

According to toplanguagejobs.ie, there are 91 jobs currently advertised seeking Spanish speakers versus 352 for French speakers in Ireland...

Spanish is more widely spoken, South America accounts for over 70% of this, though it is gaining significant ground in the US also.

If you want a language purely for future employment prospects, Chinese is probably the best bet!

runner said:

unless she intends living in France, Spanish is spoken in a lot more countries and speaking population numbers are much greater, so I would think Spanish is more useful generally.

Click to expand...

Yes if she wants to live in Spain or South America... For Europe, French is much more widely spoken.

I usually find that if I can't get by with German or English, French works in most places.

It is generally perceived that Spanish is an easier honour at Leaving Cert level. 83% of those who sit the paper achieve an honour, as opposed to 75% who sit French.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. She's veering towards Spanish for the best reason a 13 year old has - her friends are doing it.