French and other foreign langauge skills

[Jammer]

Like many, I speak English and some Spanish.


Can I expect this to be a sufficient set of language skills for the major cruising areas? Is it worthwhile to undertake the substantial effort involved in learning other languages? Is French the right one to learn?

[StuM]

Define major "cruising areas" In most of the Pacific and some of SE Asia, French is far more useful that Spanish.

[Nicholson58]

In the Caribbean French is useful, but not essential. Most of the Caribbean is English speaking, sort-of.

[denverd0n]

French and Spanish are both Latin languages, meaning that there are a LOT of similarities between them. I learned French first, and then found Spanish relatively easy to pick up. If you speak some Spanish already, I don't think that learning French will be the "substantial effort" that you expect.

[jamescharles]

I think that your skills should be enough for cruise.


But if you have a desire to learn new languages ​​- act!

[psk125]

French was the official language in England for about 300 years, starting in 1066. (William the Conqueror, the King, didn't speak English. He was from Normandy, in France. Warring between cousins in France and England went on for a long time.) The result is that about 60% of English nouns end up being derived from the French. A bunch of verbs, too. So between that and what you already know about latin languages from Spanish, French should not be too difficult. The best part is that the French give visitors huge credit for even trying to speak it, so it's a great way to break the ice and then let them show you how good their English might be.