German or Spanish.. which language is easier to learn for a native English speaker?

[Anonymous]

German!

Spanish!

[WonderBell99]

I'm not very sure about Spanish grammar, but having learnt a decent amount of German, I'd say the grammar is a bit complicated. I googled this question, and a lot of other people have said German is harder to master. Though, keep in mind that Spanish might become more difficult as you progress.

@NathanDavis hey, sorry for the tag.. what are your thoughts on this question?

[NathanDavis]

I could only speak for Spanish since I've never tried to learn German but I made sure to read the other comments first

and I would tend to agree with @DryGermanGuy that they could be on the same level due to their similarities, these in the aspect of grammar, both languages might have a complex grammar, HOWEVER there is an structure for it, there are rules for as it well and both make actually make sense (unlike English lmfao) so they would have a complex grammar at first but once you get familiar with the structure then you're pretty much good to go

on the phonetics Spanish would be similar to German, because it is very straight forward, every letter has its own sound and that is it, it does stay the same for 99% of the time (unlike English, again, lol)

so, for an English speaker... I want to think that the "easier to learn" would be based on your location, for example... if you are located in the USA and then you have a whole lot more other Spanish speakers nearby then you would have it way more easier to practice the language as you learn, and it would be much quicker to get familiar with all of the details... but the same could be say from English speakers that are located in Europe and then, they might be surrounded by German speakers so that would become easier for them, although Spain is right there, lol

so... I guess it really depends on the individual trying to learn either, and their particular circumstances

[WonderBell99]

@NathanDavis Thanks so much for the detailed response, Nathan! I appreciate it a lot

I don't speak Spanish, so I wasn't sure and thought you'd have a more informed opinion than me. :)

[NathanDavis]

any time... oh and one more thing I forgot to add and mention about both languages sharing similar challenges

for both German and Spanish, words (nouns) do have genders (feminine, masculine and neuter/neutral) so that is also going to be new to native English speakers

[WonderBell99]

@NathanDavis yeah. German has all three and when I first started learning, i was like: “what? this is so confusing😭” lmao..

[NathanDavis]

lol, well... if you did well enough with learning German, then I definitely think you could learn Spanish as well because it is a very similar path and I know you can be a very dedicated person so, again... it really depends on the individual

[DryGermanGuy]

They are pretty much on the same level. German has the advantage of having no special pronunciation rules - it’s „plain“ as Latin.

[WonderBell99]

German grammar was sorta difficult for me tbh

[DryGermanGuy]

@WonderBell99
And Spanish grammar wasn't?

[WonderBell99]

I don't speak Spanish, so can't vouch for that. I was not comparing Spanish and German though. "German grammar was sort of difficult" was just a statement.

[DryGermanGuy]

@WonderBell99
I speak all three languages in question, so I can compare from the asker's point of view. The details that are more complicated in German grammar stand against the more complicated pronunciation rules in Spanish (and English).

[WonderBell99]

Ah, I see. Thanks for the info! :)

[HippieVeganJewslim]

@WonderBell99 German grammar is sort of the opposite of English grammar.

[nolabels]

My understanding is that German is more difficult to learn.

[HippieVeganJewslim]

English is my second language (first is Russian), and I'd say German is easier. It's in the same subfamily as English, and has less verb forms than Spanish. I've studied German since October/September 2021 on Duolingo, and now I'm more than halfway there to learn all!

[Cubus]

Depends. German has more similar vocabulary, and Spanish has more complex grammar.

[Anonymous]

I say German is harder.

[HippieVeganJewslim]

Warum?