Upon taking some time to look into German (using the search feature of this forum), I find myself simultaneously attracted and terrified by the thought of learning a third language. I have so many questions. Will my French suffer? Should I double-down on my French instead of learning another language? And more importantly,
am I just using German to distract myself from the growing fear that I'm inherently terrible at French and will never be able to reach B2?I'm just not sure if I should go ahead and hunt this German trail (which, to be fair, is one of my more sane language whims, especially after considering Arabic and Swahili) or not. French will always be my true love, and I don't think I'll stop learning and using French if I start German, but I still need to consider the time and effort involved in learning a new language.
Learning German Pros:- I will have learned both a Germanic and a Romantic language, which will give me a solid base for moving on to even more European languages if that's what I decide to do.
- In general, I like German culture and German products.
- I can continue working on my family's genealogy, because there are lots of dead ends that end in Germany (and none, coincidentally, that end in France, boo-hoo).
- I will be able to read in yet another language! Yay, fun!
Learning German Cons:- I'll have to spread my study time between German and French.
- Learning German costs money (I know there are free resources, but I want Assimil and a grammar book).
- As with French, there aren't native German speakers in this area, and I'll have to go out of my way to find uses for this language.
- I might have to admit to Germans that I hate German food.
If I
do decide to go ahead and learn German, I've been looking Assimil's German books. I'm not sure if I should get the French version (L'allemand Sans Peine) and ladder the languages at this point, or if I should go ahead and get the English version. I'm not sure of my exact reading level in French, but I'm reading Harry Potter with ease, and Les Trois Mousquetaires with... substantially less ease. So I guess I'm somewhere in the B1 range.
I would be interested in hearing anyone's opinions.