I still have a long while before I need to figure this out, but~

Going to college (...guess it'd be called uni outside of America but aaaa?) in the fall, and I need to figure out what language course I'm going to take for my language requirement. Narrowed it down to German or Latin, but... I dunno. Has anyone here taken either subject? German would be a little more practical, since it's kind of not dead and all that, but they say that Latin is useful for improving your English skills, as well... And since I'm doing pre-law then that's even better I guess ahaha. Guess I just want to know what you all think!

(Context: Took ~4-5 years of Spanish, have no real desire to continue the language. I briefly took German lessons outside of school but never got beyond the very basics.)

For practical reason, German might also help you land a job in the future (multi-lingual is a plus in many job situations).

Latin is infinitely more useful for someone studying law, methinks, though German has its advantages in the business field.

German, I'm told, is ridiculously easy for English speakers to learn. Latin is fairly easy on English speakers because so much vocabulary is already familiar to you. You'd have an easier time in Latin than most because of your background in Spanish.

But you might want to make your choice on class structure, instead. In a German class you will likely be expected to participate a great deal, and speak at great length with your classmates. In Latin (which I have heard some schools teach in lecture halls), almost everything becomes reading, writing, and recitation.

Regardless, they're going to have you memorize tons of grammar tables and such without explaining obscure words like 'ablative' in advance. Good luck!

(someone who has taken too many different language courses.)

Oh yes, I definitely don't remember German being terribly difficult (though, again, having only taken the very basics I could be very wrong there lol); it was easy enough for me to jump into. Class structure would also be something to consider, for sure, but I committed to a small, liberal arts college whose largest class size is around 60 (even then, there are apparently very few classes that even approach that size)... Even the introductory classes there are said to be very small XD That said, speaking with classmates would be infinitely useful for me to practice, especially in another language, so a German class would still be a very good option.

Thanks so much for the advice, though, both of you~ c: Like I said, I still have a while to decide, but it is nice to get some input!

I actually attend a VERY small, private, liberal arts, college. Our classes are even smaller than that. I took German courses, and I enjoyed it a lot. I just wish I had more people to practice with! German is similar to English in many ways, so it could be easier, and German music is amazing in my opinion.

German is awesome to learn, but it will take time. I have never taken german, but I do have a German Grandmother. Im also going to Germany this summer. :3

When my mother was taking German in high school my grandmother would not help her. She told her it's too difficult to learn.

Here's a funny saying: Mark Twain.

My philological studies have satisfied me that a gifted person ought to

learn English (barring spelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, French

in thirty days, and German in thirty years.

I agree with him. It takes a long time time prefect German than other
languages. Despite that I would go with German because you can speak it
and Latin is dead. You can just really look up Latin terms.

Hmm, I really don't think German is all, that difficult. Learning any new language later in life will be difficult, but many people think English is one of the hardest. We have so many crazy rules that conflict and contradict each other. If you really practice you can easily learn German. :] However, getting down the grammatical rules will definitely take time!

I think German is more difficult than German grammar wise plus they combine a bunch words together which makes one big giant word that looks super scary pronounce.

Interesting note I looked up to see if German can be hard and some people noted that they find it difficult mostly because of der, die and das pronouncing words.

Now I can see why this can be difficult because I have watched German videos. Plus my mom recently took German and she commented that she had a hard time remembering it. It's hard for English speakers to learn this because in English we dont have genders for our nouns and our the and a.

I definitely agree with you there! At first, many German words are really scary looking! If you can master some grammar rules though, spelling and pronunciation are easy. I would also suggest a mobile app called "Mind Snacks". I have the German version, but they have Spanish, Italian, French, Chinese, and Portuguese. This app is full of games that make practicing/learning these languages fun, and really build vocabulary. ^_^ Wish they had a Japanese one >___>

Bottom line though, German is fun and scary sounding! XD I would say Latin is more useful for literary studies and perhaps scientific terms.

Just saw your newest post: Yes! That is/was the most difficult part of learning German for me! Learning the "gender" of nouns and when to put die, der, or das in sentences. My professor even told us you just have to memorize it. @_@

XD I will never understand why nouns need genders.

I went to a small liberal arts college where I took two semester of German. My class was very very small- maybe 10 people at the most. We barely had enough people to qualify for a class. But I really did enjoy it. Latin is useful if you are either going into Law or the Medical field. It can help you if you want to pursue linguistics, but beyond that, I don't see a lot of use for it. German isn't one of the core languages students learn anymore, I think for business and politics the suggested languages now are Arabic and Chinese, but German is still useful.

What a funny thread.  

If you're interested in becoming a doctor, you have to learn Latin, otherwise I wouldn't do that freely. 
I know a lot people who just hate Latin, because they have to learn it. 

So, if your choice is between Latin and German, I would pick German and if you need someone to talk with feel free to ask me. 

@Yamichan: No need? French also has genders, and i think other languages too. I can tell you, as a german its sometimes really hard not to add a "the" before every noun.