English

Spanish

French

Swahili

Arabic

German

Albanian

Georgian

Turkish

Yoruba

Igbo

Wolof

Chinese

Greek

Persian

Malayalam

Bengali

Amharic

Portuguese

Russian

Italian

Serbian

Somali

Twi

Macedonian

Tagalog

Lithuanian

Lao

Kannada

Croatian

Sanskrit

Egyptian Arabic

Danish

Hindi

Tamil

Armenian

Filipino

Burmese

Vietnamese

Kikuyu

Pashto

Korean

Nepali

Malay

Bosnian

Kurdish

Telugu

Sinhala

Thai

Polish

Indonesian

Hungarian

Zulu

Jamaican Creole English

Urdu

Fiji Hindi

Shona

Cebuano

Romanian

Punjabi

Ukrainian

Southern Sotho

Japanese

Moroccan Arabic

Gujarati

Bulgarian

Afrikaans

Azerbaijani

Marathi

Algerian Arabic

Serbo-Croatian

Akan

Judeo-Arabic

Slovak

Oriya

Krio

Turkmen

Kinyarwanda

Translator

Facebook

Instagram

Coach

Google Search

Skype

Yoga Tutors

Food

Pinterest

Google Docs

Google Slides

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Word

Canva

Google Forms

Accounting

Algorithms

Animation

Arts

Author

Business analytics

Comedy

Computer Science

Counter Strike

Creative writing

Drawing

Economics

Entrepreneurship

Film and video

Gaming

Graphic design

Html

Literatur

Mediation

Photography

Programming

Swimming

Therapist

Video editing

Web Analytics

Web Development

Linkedin

Minecraft

Movies

Music

Sudoku

Finance

Lego

Java

Basketball

Chicago

Translation

History

Piano

Soccer

Tetris

Wordpress

Baseball

Resume

Budget

Fifa

Sports

Analytics

Astrology

Math

Yoga

Psychology

Guitar

Javascript

Kombucha

Philosophy

Python

Trello

Exercise

Spanish

Dentist

Russian Language

Croatian

Tamil

Chinese

Google Sheets

Windows

Games

Cricket

Real Estate

Community

Albanian

English Tutoring

Italian

English Grammar

English Punctuation

English Spelling

English Pleasure

Malay

Tumblr

Google Analytics

Football

Korean

Blackboard

Jokes

Vacation

Turkish

Dominoes

Manga

Poker

Square

World Of Warcraft

Bloodborne

Chess

Jigsaw Puzzles

Aliexpress

Bodybuilding

Debate

Tagalog

French

Arabic

Meditation

Knitting

English Proofreading

Business management

Portuguese

Java Developer

Android

Tutoring Children

Reading

Mathematics

Writing

English

Golf

Tv Watching

Business Management

Marketing Communications

Traveling

Environment

Volunteer

Hindi

Crossword Puzzles

Fishing

Fishkeeping

Physics

Motor Sports

Product Development

Mechanical Engineer

Project Management

Interviewer

Aquarium

Checkers

Asana

Public Speaking

Speech

Speech Writing

Essay Writing

Japanese

Gymnastics

Editorial Writing

Arabic Tutors

Geography

Marketing Strategy

Video Editing

Godaddy

Wix

Geocaching

Mailchimp

Chemistry

Science Communication

Hospitality

Biology

Organizer

Time Management

Grammar

Virtual Assistant

Bootstrap

Serbian

German

Running

Vietnamese

Photo Editing

Plc Programming

Plc &Amp; Scada

Romanian

Life

Creative Writing

Indonesian

Css

Dance

Communication Skills

Slovakian

Czech

Hootsuite

Transcription

Musical Instruments

Musician

Constant Contact

Investment Analyst

Puzzle

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Powerpoint

Microsoft Outlook

Statistics

Medical

Medical Translation

Scrabble

League Of Legends

Crafts

Arts &Amp; Crafts

Literature

Google Adwords

Environmental Engineer

Bioinformatics

C++

Chemical Engineering

English Billiards

Business Law

Law

Lawn Darts

Real Estate Law

Corporate Law

Nursing Supervisor

Soap Making

Urdu

Russian

Amazon Seller Central

Organic Chemistry

Cooking

Body Building

Leadership Development

Leadership Training

Algebra

Photographer

Greek

  • Find Tutors
Get Started
  • Find Tutors
  • Sign up
  • English
  • Danish
  • Spanish
  • German
  • Japanese
  • Portuguese
  • Arabic
  • Italian
  • Russian
  • Polish
  • About
  • Press
  • Contact us
German Vs. Spanish: Which Language Should You Learn?

German Vs. Spanish: Which Language Should You Learn?

justlearnj
Justlearn
10/15/2020
7 minute read

You finally found some spare time to learn a new language but the new issue came out.

You can’t decide which language you should learn, can you?

Is it German or Spanish?

Well, you are in trouble, indeed.

 

But nothing to worry about. 

We will help you decide which language you should choose.

In the following lines, we are going to compare these two languages, show you their similarities and differences. 

This way, this overview will make your decision much easier.

For additional tips and tricks, Justlearn German and Spanish tutors can show you.

Who knows, you might end up deciding to learn both of them.

And now, let’s dive in.

Number of Speakers

The number of people who speak the language can be one of the reasons to start learning it.

The more people speak the language, the better the chance for a language learner to practice.

With more than 415 speakers, Spanish is the second language in the world right after Chinese Mandarin.

Compared to Spanish, German, on the other hand, has only 130 million speakers.

It is a bit disappointing for German, mainly because Germany's population is more than 82 million.

Perhaps one reason is that there are 21 Spanish-speaking countries, while six countries speak German as their native.

Origin

Even though both German and Spanish belong to the Indo-European language family, they are members of different branches.

Spanish is part of the Romance languages and along with Italian, French, Catalonian, Portuguese, and Romanian, the descendant of the Vulgar Latin. It means that the Spanish language has many similarities with these languages.

German is a Germanic language. It belongs to the West Germanic branch along with Afrikaans, Dutch, English, and Yiddish. So, there is an explanation of why there are many German words in English.

Alphabet

Both languages use the Latin alphabet, which is something most of us are used to.

Spanish alphabet counts 27 letters, and the only letter characteristic for this language is worldwide-known ‘ñ,’ which sounds like ‘NY.’ 

As for the German alphabet, which counts 26 letters, there can be more than one strange letter. 

There is the ‘ß’ letter (not B), which sounds like the double S. Even though German students used to replace this letter by writing ‘ss,’ it isn’t recommended.

And let’s not forget the umlaut. There are three umlauts,  ‘Ä, ‘Ö,’ and ‘Ü.’ They make vowels sound a little bit different than the classic ones.

Pronunciation

When it comes to German vs. Spanish pronunciation, both languages use vocal cords for producing letters.

Every Spanish sound can be formed using English sounds, which means that you already know most of them. Some combinations that are a little different from English are:

  • Some Spanish-speaking countries pronounce the letter ‘c’ as ‘s,’ while others, like in Spain, insist on pronouncing ‘th.’

  • ‘B’ and ‘v’ sounds are almost the same. Many Spanish students struggle to find differences in pronunciation.

  • Double ‘l’ or ‘ll’ is the sound that becomes ‘y’ in some words. In Argentina, however, this sound is pronounced as ‘j’ or soft ‘sh.’ 

As for the German pronunciation, even though there are umlauts, the situation is pretty simple. 

  • The letter ‘z’ is pronounced as ‘tz.’

English Tutors
English Tutors
Spanish Tutors
Spanish Tutors
German Tutors
German Tutors
See More Tutors

  • Umlaut Ä is pronounced as ‘e’ or ‘ay’ depending on the short or long version; Ö is pronounced by placing the lips to say O. and you pronounce Ä; Ü sound is pronounced like you want to say ‘ee,’ but you say ‘oo.’

    Sentence Structure

    When looking at Spanish, they have a similar pattern to English. The ‘subject-verb-object’ structure is a rule in Spanish, too.

    As for German, the situation is a bit different. Even though German and English are language siblings since English is a Germanic language, the ‘subject-verb-object’ pattern isn’t something they share.

    For example, when it comes to the past tense, the past participle is placed at the end of a sentence, separated from the auxiliary verb and the subject. 

    Subjects can also be placed in different positions in the sentence.

    Even though the German sentence structure can give you a headache, you realize that it’s quite logical over time. You only have to dedicate yourself to that strange logic.

    Vocabulary

    As we’ve shown, Spanish and English belong to the same language family. Even though they are different, they have some similarities, such as the alphabet, sentence structure, even words.

    On the other hand, the German language belongs to the same language family as English and belongs to the same branch. It means that these two languages share around 60% of words.

    As you can see, English speakers have no difficulties in learning words and phrases in both languages. 

    But if we have to choose which vocabulary is more similar to English, we will vote in German’s favor.

    Grammar

    Do German and Spanish grammar differ much from each other? Or are they more similar than we think?

    Let’s compare them.

    Some similarities between German and Spanish:

    • Both languages have genders. While Spanish has only masculine and feminine, German has the neuter gender, too.

    • They use auxiliary verbs for tenses and reflexive verbs with the auxiliary pronoun: me, te and se in Spanish, and sich in German.

    • Both German and Spanish are written as they are pronounced. So, no weird spellings like in English or French.

    And the differences are:

    • All nouns in German are written with capital letters. Only specific nouns have capital letters in Spanish, such as cities' names, people's names, etc.

    • While German is the proud owner of four noun cases, Spanish doesn’t even know what that means.

    • All plurals in Spanish end with ‘s.’ In German, however, plurals end in several ways, such as  ‘n/en, ‘r/er,’ or ‘s.’

    German or Spanish: Which Language is Easier to Learn?

    To determine which language is easier to learn, many categories have to be considered, such as grammar, speaking, and writing.

    According to these categories, Spanish is one of the easiest languages to learn. Its pronunciation, vocabulary, alphabet, grammar, all these parts of the language are relatively easy to learn.

     

    On the other hand, we can't say that German is hard to learn, but it certainly isn't one of the world's hardest languages. It has its difficulties, but its perfect logic makes German irresistible to learn once you get the language.

    If we look at hours spent learning the language, to achieve some decent conversational level to learn Spanish, it takes you around 600 hours. 

    For German, you have to spend more than 1.800 hours.

    Final Thoughts

    Every language is beautiful in its own way. 

    And every language has its easy and challenging parts. The point is to overcome challenges and move forward.

    Even though two different languages, German and Spanish, have similarities, too.

    Just like ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover,’ the same way you can’t judge a language by its reputation.

    Justlearn German and Spanish tutors can show you the magnificence of both of them, and help you with some tips and tricks to master both German and Spanish.

    If you find both languages fascinating, why not give both of them a chance?

  • German or Spanish: Which Language is Easier to Learn?

    To determine which language is easier to learn, many categories have to be considered, such as grammar, speaking, and writing. According to these categories, Spanish is one of the easiest languages to learn. Its pronunciation, vocabulary, alphabet, grammar, all these parts of the language are relatively easy to learn. On the other hand, we can't say that German is hard to learn, but it certainly isn't one of the world's hardest languages. It has its difficulties, but its perfect logic makes German irresistible to learn once you get the language.

    Do German and Spanish have the same origin?

    Even though both German and Spanish belong to the Indo-European language family, they are members of different branches. Spanish is part of the Romance languages and along with Italian, French, Catalonian, Portuguese, and Romanian, the descendant of the Vulgar Latin. It means that the Spanish language has many similarities with these languages. German is a Germanic language. It belongs to the West Germanic branch along with Afrikaans, Dutch, English, and Yiddish. So, there is an explanation of why there are many German words in English.

    How many people speak German and Spanish?

    The number of people who speak the language can be one of the reasons to start learning it. The more people speak the language, the better the chance for a language learner to practice. With more than 415 speakers, Spanish is the second language in the world right after Chinese Mandarin. Compared to Spanish, German, on the other hand, has only 130 million speakers. It is a bit disappointing for German, mainly because Germany's population is more than 82 million. Perhaps one reason is that there are 21 Spanish-speaking countries, while six countries speak German as their native.

    Learn Any Language Faster with your Personal Tutor

    Get Started

    11 Best Translation Apps for Android in 2021

    If you are planning a trip to another country, whether it be for business or travel, one of the first things you need to do to prepare is to try to le

    justlearnj
    Justlearn
    2/25/2021
    9 minute read

    50 English Words With Meanings and Sentences (+Free PDF)

    One of the best and most efficient ways to learn new words quickly and build up your vocabulary is to see how they are used in a sentence.

    justlearnj
    Justlearn
    2/25/2021
    13 minute read

    How to Memorize Vocabulary in Another Language

    If you are learning another language, then a good chunk of your learning is going to be dedicated to vocabulary. So, how do you learn vocabulary?

    justlearnj
    Justlearn
    2/25/2021
    3 minute read

    Is Bulgarian a Difficult Language to Learn?

    Taking a ride on the language learning journey is quite a challenge. Think of it as learning a whole new way to think and see the world.

    justlearnj
    Justlearn
    2/25/2021
    3 minute read

    Top 9 Social Benefits of Learning a Second Language

    We are social human beings. Social interaction plays one of the major roles in our lives.

    justlearnj
    Justlearn
    2/25/2021
    6 minute read

    How Many Time Zones Are There in China?

    Wondering how many time zones are there in China? The quick and easy answer is one. There is only one time zone in China.

    justlearnj
    Justlearn
    2/24/2021
    3 minute read

    Just Share Justlearn with Friends ♥

    English Tutors
    English Tutors
    Spanish Tutors
    Spanish Tutors
    German Tutors
    German Tutors
    1. You are here:
    2. Home
    3. Blog
    4. German Vs. Spanish: Which Language Should You Learn?
    • Justlearn

    • About
    • Press
    • Blog
    • Contact
    • Teach
    • Languages

    • English Tutors
    • Spanish Tutors
    • French Tutors
    • German Tutors
    • All Tutors
    • Learn

    • Learn English
    • Learn Spanish
    • Learn French
    • Learn German
    • Learn Italian
    • Resources

    • Watch Video
    • Upload Video
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter

    "Just bring your friends to Justlearn and let's create the world's largest social network."

    Philip Rossen, CEO & Founder

    © 2021 JustlearnSupportPrivacyTermsSitemaps

    Cross
    justlearn
    Notification
    Message:
    message