Which language is more important, French or Spanish?

"Spaniards are lying when they say that don’t understand them"

No, no mentimos. Yo vivo cerca de la frontera con Portugal y cojo los canales portugueses y no tengo ni repajolera idea de lo que dicen. De vez en cuando comprendes una palabra suelta aqui o alla pero no te haces una idea de lo que están diciendo.

Aparte de eso, me gusta leer cada mañana el "Correio de Amana".
Una cosa es la fonetica y otra la grafía.

Being a bilingual Catalan-Spanish speaker I found I could understand the Portuguese after only a few days of practice.

I think the same would happen if other monolingual Spaniards would train their ears. Living near the Portuguese border could very well be a good reason and they should be able to also watch Portuguese television from an early age.

That would be enough since the written languages are already quite close.

Suposo que això deu ser així i que no costa gaire entendre altres llengües llatines quan hi ha una vertadera voluntat i desig de fer-ho.

spanish more people speak it.

I agree with Montserrat. It just takes a tiny little bit of practice for a Spanish speaker to get their ears attuned to Portuguese. The will has to be there though. I am a Canadian of Portuguese descent, and I managed to become fluent in both of these languages. Trust me...these two languages are very, very closely related. Generally speaking, the pronunciation of Spanish is clearer than Portuguese. Yet, I know some Portuguese speakers who speak so clearly and melodiously (even from Portugal), and some Spanish speakers who are difficult to understand. A person's level of education also often determines how well a person speaks a given language. I personally like way Brazilian Portuguese sounds. My father often comments that Brazilians speak Portuguese with a Spanish accent, and that in Portugal, Portuguese is spoken with a French accent. Quite true in my opinion. In the final analysis, I know one thing for sure: for someone who is a fluent speaker of Portuguese, Spanish is a gift. Not surprising when you consider that the vocabularies of these two languages are 89% similar. The sentence structure of these two languages are also very similiar. Best. George.

French is more useful unless you have a specific reason for learning a language. In the business world, French is used more. It also increases vocabulary (English vocab) more resulting in higher SATs. I grew up in the North but live in the South now. I grew up near French Canada. There were no Spanish speaking people. People in Texas seem to think there is no one else in this world but Texans and the Spanish-speaking Mexicans living in Texas. Ironically, while I have family members who originated from Mexico, they all speak English. I have met a few people who are from China or Russia and live in Texas and have a hard time speaking English. I think many people have greatly overestimated the use of speaking and/or learning Spanish. If you are interested in Missionary work, I would not recommend Spanish as so many people are already flent in Spanish that the rest of the non-English and non-Spanish speaking world is not being reached. Therefore, a language other than those would be good. If you want to work for government, hate to say this but true, our welfare departments require fluency in Spanish. But, due to the large population of people who are American but grew up in Spanish speaking homes, those jobs are taken by people who are more fluent in it, who grew up with it. SO, unless you just like a language over another, then I would suggest picking something other than Spanish. If you want to increase your qualifications for the business world, consider Russian, Chinese, or French. French is easier to learn and will help the SATs more but Chinese or Russian would do more for the resume.

I am a Galizan speaker and you can truly believe spaniards can't understand "my" language, it's true that our politic staff speaks some kind of portunhol (more spanish than portuguese, actually) and so... many spaniards believe Galizan is an easy one for them, but it is not if you have to deal whit fluently speakers (who try to avoid castellanism and to speak properly)... Galizan is (as you know) a variety of portuguese that has been influenced by spanish colonization, but still remains alive and quite similar to north-portuguese...

You can compare:

CASTRO LABORDEIRO (PORTUGAL):
MINHO/BRAGA (PORTUGAL):
http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som1.html

MINHO/BRAGA (PORTUGAL):
http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som14.html

TRÁS OS MONTES (PORTUGAL):
http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som6.html

BEIRA (PORTUGAL):
http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/cvc/hlp/geografia/som9.html

LOBIOS (GALIZA):
http://www.culturagalega.org/pruebas/anosafala/etnotexto.php?bloque=Central&cod_etntxts=45

RIBEIRA (GALIZA):
http://www.culturagalega.org/pruebas/anosafala/etnotexto.php?bloque=Occidental&cod_etntxts=8

O ROSAL (GALIZA):
http://www.culturagalega.org/pruebas/anosafala/etnotexto.php?bloque=Occidental&cod_etntxts=17

Different oral varieties, same language, american english or quebec french are far away from queen's english and continental French than Galizan speakers from so-called "portuguese" (of Portugal, I mean)

Well, of course portuguese (galizan included) and spanish are quite similar languages, and most of Portuguese people can understand spanish without difficulty (here arise the "portunhol")... spaniards can't do the same, usually 'cause they seem to dislike all languages (specially the ones spoken in “Spain”)… except their own, of course! they don't see a fuckin movie in its original language but all translated to an awful standard spanish... I hate this, Portugal make these things right and so Portuguese kids learn easily English, Spanish and even another languages
My opinion, Spanish is useless, I would prefer to being colonized by frenchies or british

acho que não são línguas tão parecidas, há semelhanças como há diferenças e sempre há que falar de níveis de uso, não é o mesmo bater um papo informalmente que escrever um romance em português ou em espanhol, a aprendizagem correcta da língua leva anos de esforço e o parecido até que pode dificultar isso

Saudações portugalegas!

Sou de Brasil e eu penso que espanhol é mais importante.

Sou Canadense, filho de pais portugueses, e eu sei que espanhol e mais importante.

Well, I didn't know that brazilians were lining up to learn Spanish either until I found some articles about it on the net. It's true that Brazil has a huge population but according to one article 50 millions of Brazilians are students (i deduce from this that this is the population below 16 years).

These are the articles that made me start this thread. Two of them are in Spanish and the other is in Portuguese.
Do you think the statements they wrote hear are true? I was doubting for a while.


El acento español conquista EE UU y Brasil:
---> http://www.txemaweb.com/idioma/idioma35.htm


"...En el año 2050, un 6% de la población mundial se entenderá en castellano, un 3% más que actualmente. Los grandes mercados son Estados Unidos y Brasil, donde hoy el número de hablantes de español asciende a 37 y 5,5 millones, respectivamente, y donde los crecimientos en el número de alumnos se sitúan en el 4,3% y el 16,5%, en cada caso.

En el plazo de 48 años, serán 100 los millones de hispanohablantes en Estados Unidos y los brasileños serán bilingües."


¿EL ESPAÑOL CONQUISTA BRASIL?
---> http://www.txemaweb.com/idioma/idioma33.htm


"...Pero el plato fuerte en este momento es Brasil. Con sus 165 millones de habitantes, de los cuales 50 millones son estudiantes, con su amplia red universitaria, con su importante industria editorial, cinematográfica y musical, este país va a servir como trampolín para conseguir una buena parte de los planes de expansión del español.

En primer lugar, la incorporación del español como lengua obligatoria sólo en los dos últimos cursos de la enseñanza primaria, afecta a 6 millones de niños. Para atenderlos se calcula que será necesario formar alrededor de 200 mil profesores. También será necesario constituir toda una infraestructura editorial para atender a las necesidades de material de enseñanza."


Ten Reasons Why Brazilians Should Learn Spanish
--> http://home.yawl.com.br/hp/sedycias/porqueesp.htm

"A situação atual do espanhol não é muito diferente da do inglês. A posição que a língua espanhola ocupa no mundo hoje é de tal importância que quem decidir ignorá-la não poderá fazê-lo sem correr o risco de perder muitas oportunidades de cunho comercial, econômico, cultural, acadêmico ou pessoal."

Hi guest. It might surprise you to know that Spanish speakers are lining up to learn Portuguese. Yes it's true. In several Spanish speaking countries, Portuguese is now the 2nd language of instruction i.e., Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay etc. It's part of the 'Mercosur' initiative. It's a win, win situation for Spanish and Portuguese speakers. They have the real advantage of learning the other's respective language with relative ease. It is getting to the point where being a speaker of Portuguese is synonymous with being a speaker of Spanish, and vice-versa. There are approx. 400 million Spanish speakers, and 200 million Portuguese speakers in the world today. That's 600 million speakers combined - and most of them will eventually be bi-lingual in these two languages. There is power in numbers. Jorge.

Jorge: You're all right...!

I am tired of hearing poeple say that Spanish is easier than than the above metioned european laguages! Stop spreading this urban legend! It is not true. These statements are based on ignorance and some bizzare and stupid misconception that exist in the united states against spanish and the people who speak it!! I am a linguist and believe me there is nothing simple about spanish.

Portuguese is more important than French

1.Portuguese is a world language spoken by more than 220 million people in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America.

2.Portuguese is the 6th language of the world; the 2nd most spoken Romance language after Spanish; one of the official languages of the EU; and the 2nd most spoken language in South America.

3.Portuguese is the 2nd most geographic European language after English. More people speak Portuguese worldwide than French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Korean.

4.Portuguese is the working language for the following international organizations:

• ACP – Países Africanos, Caraíbas e Pacífico
• Mercosul – Mercado Comum do Sul
• OEI – Organização dos Estados Ibero-americanos
• OUA – Organização de Unidade Africana
• SADC – Comunidade para o Desenvolvimento da África Austral
• UE – União Europeia
• UL – União Latina
• UEMOA – União Económica e Monetária da África Ocidental
5.Portuguese is the language of Brazil (180 million population), a country occupying half of the South American territory. Brazil, the 8th world economy, is a leading Mercosul member and the 2nd industrial power of the Americas.

6.Portuguese is the official language of the African republics of Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and St. Thomas and Prince. These Portuguese-speaking countries are an increasing force in the global economy. In Asia, Portuguese is spoken in East Timor, Macau, and Goa.

7.Portuguese is widely spoken in the USA, where over 1.3 million people are of Portuguese Heritage. In Massachusetts, Portuguese is the third most spoken language after English and Spanish. In Rhode Island, Portuguese is the 2nd most spoken language after English. Portuguese is also widely spoken in California, Connecticut, Florida, and New Jersey.

8.Portuguese is widely spoken in many vibrant Portuguese-speaking communities around the world, including Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Namibia, Paraguay, Rhodesia, South Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom, and Venezuela.

9.The Portuguese language is the language of many cultures, each one with its unique History, Literature, Arts and Traditions.

10. Portuguese is close to Spanish and has similarities to French and Italian. Speakers of Spanish and other Romance languages will learn Portuguese fairly easy.

11.There are many more reasons for learning Portuguese. The most obvious reason is that knowing a new language can open up job opportunities. Other important reason for leaning a new language includes cognitive benefits for both the young and the aging.

12.Portuguese speakers can find a variety of career options in education, diplomacy, national security, military, international relations, media, finance, trade, business, tourism, social work, sales, and services.

portuguese is useles in europe

Portuguese is as useless in Europe as French, German, and Italian,

Yet Portuguese is more spoken by peoplel around the worlds than French, German and Italian combined!! Fact!