German or Spanish??

[midas]

I would like your opinions. DS is choosing classes for HS and he must take a language. Our school offers German or Spanish.

We thought Spanish was a no-brainer because it's quickly becoming a primary language here in the US. A friend told us German is important if one wanted to enter the computer field since many software companies are European or German based.

DS is interested in the computer field, but nothing firm. He wants to take German. Another option would be to take 2 years of German and 2 years of Spanish. This would give him exposure to both languages, but he wouldn't master either.

What is anyone's experience here? Thanks.

 

[Rora]

Honestly, I'd take Spanish. Spanish will be useful whether or not DS does anything with computers.

I also don't think it's wise to split the foreign languages. My mom is a high school spanish teacher and she and her co-workers believe that colleges like to see as many years of one language as possible. Her school offers Spanish, Chinese, ASL, French, and Hebrew, so she's not just looking for more classes for herself!

OP- it also boils down to what DS wants to take. Does he have a preference? If so, let him just take that!

Best of luck!

 

[golfgal]

I thought more software companies were based in Japan? I didn't realize they were more in Germany.

Spanish will have more practical day to day uses in the US. Our oldest took Japanese and is taking Chinese in college. Our twins are taking Spanish. German is offered at our high school but isn't all that popular. Most Germans speak English too.

 

[Christopher Robin]

He wants to take German.

This.

 

[Mixie]

Spanish.

Most european companies that hire people from another country end up speaking English at work anyway. Spanish is more widely used elsewhere than German.

 

[Pigeon]

Spanish, hands down. I had to take German in college because it was a requirement for my major, and it was a total waste even back then. Unless your child is planning to spend time in Germany or in one of the neighboring countries, he is very unlikely to find it useful.

Our schools offer French, German, Russian, and Latin. It makes me crazy that they don't offer Mandarin or Arabic. Preparing today's youth for yesterday's world, I guess.

I work at a university. We've dropped our German program in recent years, like many other institutions.

 

[midas]

OP- it also boils down to what DS wants to take. Does he have a preference? If so, let him just take that!

He had a 9 week primer of German this year, but no Spanish. This has him leaning toward German. Also, a friend of his in 9th grade now is taking German and he said it's easy and they don't have to do much.

Golfgal - I didn't realize that either and I was surprised when he told us that. I'm researching it. I did read that German is easier to learn because it's similar to English.

BTW, how do you quote 2 poster in 1 reply??

 

[jen0610]

DS took spanish back in 7th grade and didn't like it. He has signed up for German as one of his electives for next year.

While DH and I both think spanish would be more useful to him, he didn't like it and if it's not something he wants to do, so he is making the decision to take the class he wants to take.

 

[midas]

I think he wants German because he had some exposure to it. He hasn't had any Spanish at all. I think he is also basing this on our friend's comment about German for computers. I want to verify that first. He's not dead set on German, but leaning because of those reasons.

 

[golfgal]

He had a 9 week primer of German this year, but no Spanish. This has him leaning toward German. Also, a friend of his in 9th grade now is taking German and he said it's easy and they don't have to do much.

Golfgal - I didn't realize that either and I was surprised when he told us that. I'm researching it. I did read that German is easier to learn because it's similar to English.

BTW, how do you quote 2 poster in 1 reply??

Click this button

for each post you want to quote. When you have them all selected hit reply at the bottom of the page. When it comes up, scroll down to the end of each quote-- QUOTE]--and start typing.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I speak both (I learned Spanish living in Spain in highschool and German here as an adult). Spanish is substantially easier to learn than German. The grammar is much, MUCH easier in Spanish. Obviously, it is spoken in a lot more places and probably a bigger asset within the US.

It is true, however, that a lot of software companies are here (loads of SAP workers and more than a few micorsoft as well--there are likely others but in my immediate area those are the big 2 that i see bringing over many Americans) and it is still a really good language for engineers to have overall.

Honestly, I think the PP is correct that having him study what HE is interested in is probably the best way to go about it.

 

[Momvic5]

My ds14 took Spanish his first semester and hated it. He did very well in it, but he hated it so much I let him drop it. There was no use in pushing something on him that he wasn't motivated to do. I figured he was only going to take two years of it(freshman and sophmore years), and since we do not speak Spanish at all in our home I thought he would lose a lot of what he learned after he quit taking it. We live in Texas, but even so, we don't use Spanish enough for him to maintain it. He will be taking two years of American Sign Language starting next school year.

 

[goofy4tink]

Back in 7th grade, the kids that had done very well in English were allowed to register for a foreign language. They offered French or Spanish. You would basically take the first year over the course of 7th and 8th grades, and then take year two as a freshman, and so on. My dd opted for French. She did just okay. She got to high school and took French 2..did okay, but really hated it. So, she switched to Latin in her sophomre year....I think she heard the class was going to Italy!!! She barely sqeaked by. Since colleges want two years of a language, minimum, she had to take Spanish 1 as a junior and then Spanish II as a senior since our state doesn't recognize one year of language before high school..so three years of French for no credit basically!!

She is excelling in Spanish..one of her best grades this semester. She says it is ridiculously easy. Now, I think that may be simply because she has two other language courses behind her, so she 'gets' the mentaliy of a foreign language. But, still...she loves it and is doing exceptionally well in it.

 

[Pigeon]

I think he wants German because he had some exposure to it. He hasn't had any Spanish at all. I think he is also basing this on our friend's comment about German for computers. I want to verify that first. He's not dead set on German, but leaning because of those reasons.

That's what the schools around here are doing. They are giving fifth and sixth graders a token amount of language instruction to get them interested in taking it in jr. high. They only do German and Latin, because so few students want to take those languages. It's just marketing to try to boost enrollments.

My dd wanted to take German because it's what she had in sixth grade, but we made her take Spanish. After a week of Spanish, she was fine with it.

I was told in college that we had to study German because much of the old chemistry literature was in German, and at that time, some of the big scientific companies were German. It was such a total waste of my time and I never needed a word of it.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

If he wants to take German, let him take German.

My older dd took Spanish, in HS and college and my younger dd who is in 8th now is taking French. She will go on to French 2 for her Freshman Yr in HS.

There is not "right answer" here. Is Spanish more useful here in America? Yes, of course.

Ultimately I want my kids to take what interests them.

 

[midas]

Thanks for everyone's replies.

Of course we will let him take whichever he wants.

I don't think he highly prefers German. He was influenced toward German by having a primer, his HS friend taking it, and our friend's comment about computers. If those same influences were toward Spanish, he would be talking about Spanish.

I was looking for opinions so we could give him pros and cons for both so he could make his decision. We did tell him (which he knows) that Spanish is the 2nd language in the US and gaining popularity.

I did tell him if he took German and became an engineer for Daimler-Benz, we get first dibs.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Thanks for everyone's replies.

Of course we will let him take whichever he wants.

I don't think he highly prefers German. He was influenced toward German by having a primer, his HS friend taking it, and our friend's comment about computers. If those same influences were toward Spanish, he would be talking about Spanish.

I was looking for opinions so we could give him pros and cons for both so he could make his decision. We did tell him (which he knows) that Spanish is the 2nd language in the US and gaining popularity.

I did tell him if he took German and became an engineer for Daimler-Benz, we get first dibs.

You might want dibs on BMW also Even VW has some pretty nice vehicles over here (and they make Audi)
DD14 is home from school now. She says Spanish is the easiest langauge she has ever studied. German is the hardest. French is still much easier than German but not as easy as Spanish and hard to pronounce.
My husband is an engineer (which is pretty much why we are here now--he works for one of the biggest privately held manufacturers in the world on headquarters are here so they moved us out) and boy I wish he or I had studied German in school

 

[SpecialK]

We just went through this with our son last year. I was pushing fro Spanish for its usefulness, DS wanted German because he's a WWII buff. He's taking German.

Bottom line, even taking four years of language in high school isn't going to make him fluent, so he may as well take what he enjoys. I took French all through high school and college and I could hold a conversation in French as easily as in English. Now I'd be hard-pressed to string a couple of sentences together.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

DH and I both took German. It's a neat language, I liked taking it, I think I had a 99 average in that class. It also helped DH navigate Europe, even in the Czech Republic!

I picked up some Spanish from travel and local folks who don't speak English as their native language. I'm far far far from fluent, but I can carry on a basic conversation or ask for help or directions.

 

[minkydog]

Let him take what he wants to take. Nothing wrong with taking German. My DD17 had the opportunity to take Spanish, French, German, Italian, or Latin. We live in Atlanta, which is one of the fastest growing latino markets in the U.S. I thought surely she would pick spanish (seeing as how EVERYTHING is written in spanish and English here.) But, no. DD chose latin. I didn't really understand that, but I didn't make waves. She ended up taking 7 semesters of Latin, making mostly As and a few Bs--good for her GPA, considering how bad some of her math grades were. Latin has helped her a lot in vocabulary, too.