Talk Polish

4 Responses to “Which language is more similar to Polish – French or German?”

1. Latinlady Says:
   June 22nd, 2010 at 11:34 am

   I’d recommend German !
   Viel Spass!

2. Meli Says:
   June 22nd, 2010 at 11:34 am

   I study German (in fact, I’m studying abroad in Germany right now!) and I absolutely love it. It was the best decision I made in high school. I would say Polish is definitely closer to German, since it is a Slavic language (not Romance like French, Spanish, and Italian), and Slavic languages are more similar to Germanic languages than Romance languages. French is a very nasal language, and is quite different from Polish, although I must admit you would roll r’s a lot more often in French than in German.

   German is certainly more difficult to learn than French–among my group of German-learning European friends, it is unanimous that German is one of the most difficult languages to learn (up there with Russian and Japanese). This is mostly because the grammar is very specific and meticulous. But if you like grammar and learning patterns, you would like learning German.

   All I can say is that I am a huge supporter of learning German! Also, I’ve been to France and Germany now, and I would much rather visit Germany instead of France–the culture feels so warm and inviting here.

   Good luck on your choice!!

3. pe~wa Says:
   June 22nd, 2010 at 11:34 am

   i agree with meli in most parts. i just wanted to say that the similarities between slavic and germanic languages, if there are even any, are more than small. i doubt your knowledge of polish would be an advantage for learning german. same goes for french of course.
   but that shouldn´t keep you away from learning either of them. when you already lean towards german you should give it a try. i can´t say which one is easier, i´m german and i only have a very basic knowledge of french.
   i think both have their difficulties in grammar. french has 2 genders, german has 3 (and 4 different cases). but one thing i´m sure about is that the french and the german r´s are equal. you don´t roll it in either of the 2 languages.

4. Gym 101 Says:
   June 22nd, 2010 at 11:34 am

   There really arent any similarites, but in terms of learning a useful language, unless you want to work for the European Commission or in France it’s nowhere near as useful as German.