Spanish or French?

[Meera]

I think it depends on you and which one you like better. However, I prefer French.

[rdearman]

I'd like to point out that you don't need a passport to visit a French speaking country. Montreal is right across the border and it doesn't mean hours of flights. You could probably go there at weekends from Ohio. It is only 4 hour flight from Columbus, or 8-10 hours driving. BTW if your motivation is external, e.g. to impress others, you're not going to get very far. Learning a language is hard.

[tomgosse]

I'd like to point out that you don't need a passport to visit a French speaking country. Montreal is right across the border and it doesn't mean hours of flights. You could probably go there at weekends from Ohio. It is only 4 hour flight from Columbus, or 8-10 hours driving. BTW if your motivation is external, e.g. to impress others, you're not going to get very far. Learning a language is hard.

Don't forget the French West Indies and St. Pierre and Miquelon.

Best regards,
Tom

[dgc1970]

Actually, you do need a passport to go to Canada. Anyways, learning French is not expensive. I just looked on Amazon and you can buy both workbooks and the textbook (used) for French In Action for a grand total of less than $10. The videos are free online and so is the audio needed for the course. If you are interested I will post the links (no, not torrents).
But you seem to have big dreams of going to France (who doesn't?). I'm an old man of 46 now but back when I graduated high school in 1988 (last millennium) two of my friends went on year long exchanges through our local Rotary Club. One went to Sweden and the other to Germany. We actually had a girl from Sweden who came to our school for grade 12 and stayed with a local host family. My friends went on their exchanges after they had already graduated high school so their marks in Europe meant nothing but they sure had a lot of fun and were like celebrities in their new schools. You could always go on an exchange in University but you will meet people far easier in high school. Can you tell that I regret not going on that exchange?

So I guess I'm telling you to take French. Watch an episode of French In Action and you will want to be in Paris, I guarantee it.

[whatiftheblog]

I'd like to point out that you don't need a passport to visit a French speaking country. Montreal is right across the border and it doesn't mean hours of flights. You could probably go there at weekends from Ohio. It is only 4 hour flight from Columbus, or 8-10 hours driving. BTW if your motivation is external, e.g. to impress others, you're not going to get very far. Learning a language is hard.

U.S. citizens still need a valid passport / passport card / NEXUS / Global Entry card to go to Canada (and Mexico) and return.

To the OP: follow your heart and learn French. I didn't quite get what you meant by needing to land in Europe at a specific time, though - most transatlantic flights originating along the eastern seaboard land in Europe in the morning, which makes the most sense for most travelers.

[caters]

I didn't mean to imply that I needed to land at that specific time. I was just giving an example of how both the time zone change and the length of the flight factor into the takeoff time.

[Carmody]

rdearman
Learning a language is hard.

Brilliant!

I never heard anyone say that, so thank you.

Everyone wants everything to be fast and easy.

Good things take time.

[smallwhite]

Unfortunately, taking more time than necessary doesn't make things better.

[sfuqua]

You should learn both.

But don't try to learn them at the same time.
I learned Spanish first and French second.
Get some sort of Internet radio and listen to the languages. Which one sounds nicer.
Is there some artist or musician or movie star who absolutely impresses you? Go that direction first.

You have to be hungry to learn a language. People you want to talk to, music you want to listen to, authors you want to read, those things will keep you going when you wonder why you chose something as impossible as learning a language.

To learn a language, you have to work at it frequently for many months, maybe years. Be sure you learn using a technique that is satisfying for you to use most days. If you hate how you study, you won't last.

It takes longer to learn a language than most people, especially monolingual people, think but it takes less time than you think it will the first time that you get discouraged and think about quitting. You will eventually learn the language if you don't quit. If you don't quit, you will succeed.

Oh, you will never be perfect in a second language. You'll always be working on your L2, if you're actually going to get good at it. That doesn't mean that you won't be great at the language, but the more you know, the more you will know that you don't everything.

I love learning languages, and with the Internet, and sites like this, if you don't quit, you will succeed.

[PeterMollenburg]

rdearman
Learning a language is hard.

Brilliant!

I never heard anyone say that, so thank you.

Everyone want everything fast and easy.

Good things take time.

Indeed, I agree Carmody, very true indeed rdearman.

Y If you don't quit, you will succeed.

Equally true on the true scale of all things true and truthful.


Why am I parroting? I really want to emphasize that, I've a background in attempting to learn multiple languages at once, one on it's own on a few occasions, then more than one at the same time again and back to one on it's own, but I didn't progress that far, because I didn't stay committed- not necessarily to one language, but I would have large breaks which would stretch for months and even many years on some occasions.

Therefore, the reason it's taken me two decades to finally progress well in one language, is not because I decided to focus on one language at a time, necessarily (but for me personally that has helped given other commitments and learning style), but because I have stayed focused and worked hard in these last few years alone.

So yes it is hard work, but if you do something in your chosen language every day or as close as possible to every day, you will indeed get there if you remain committed/focused and keep aiming for those goals and finding ways to improve along the way.

I'm an old man of 46 now

I'm a little younger, but still, you're making feel old!