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Hi, all. I have a foreign language requirement in college and am trying to decide if I should learn French or Italian.
*If I learn French, I have the possibility of doing a semester or an entire year in Paris. If I learn Italian, I could do a semester in Florence.
*I'm from Florida and not used to extremely cold weather.
*I'm a transgender guy. By the time I study abroad, I'll hopefully look undistinguishable from any other guy, but of course I'd prefer to study in a place where I can feel safe and comfortable admitting I'm trans if I so choose. (Although I'm not sure if Paris or Florence fits the bill?)
*I'm interested in traveling around Europe after I graduate.
*I'm Buddhist.
*Although I will absolutely make an effort to learn whichever language I choose, learning languages doesn't come easily to me and I'd prefer a place where most people speak English.
As far as I can tell so far, there's not a whole lot of advantages for one over the other, but I need to enroll in a class for next semester. Any thoughts?
Paris and French by far over Florence and Italian, unless you have a very particular interest in Italian history and culture and, especially in Florence, so-called renaissance art and architecture.
Both places will be cold and damp in winter, no way to get around that in Europe except the deepest southern rim, and mainly the Mediterranean islands at that, on the coast with southern exposure.
On the other hand, you seem to be saying that, while a foreign language is a requirement, studying abroad is not. So your other option is to stay in Florida, do the minimum to just satisfy the requirement (sort of like a driver's license test, isn't it?), and you could still travel around Europe after you graduate with mostly English and a smattering of scholastic French or Italian, it won't make a difference.
Hi, all. I have a foreign language requirement in college and am trying to decide if I should learn French or Italian.
*If I learn French, I have the possibility of doing a semester or an entire year in Paris. If I learn Italian, I could do a semester in Florence.
*I'm from Florida and not used to extremely cold weather.
*I'm a transgender guy. By the time I study abroad, I'll hopefully look undistinguishable from any other guy, but of course I'd prefer to study in a place where I can feel safe and comfortable admitting I'm trans if I so choose. (Although I'm not sure if Paris or Florence fits the bill?)
*I'm interested in traveling around Europe after I graduate.
*I'm Buddhist.
*Although I will absolutely make an effort to learn whichever language I choose, learning languages doesn't come easily to me and I'd prefer a place where most people speak English.
As far as I can tell so far, there's not a whole lot of advantages for one over the other, but I need to enroll in a class for next semester. Any thoughts?
Well, Paris is a world-class metropolis, while Florence is a large city by European standards but much smaller indeed. Both have their advantages and drawbacks. Where are you from in Florida ?
Neither city gets severe cold weather, Paris has a climate similar to Seattle while Florence is substantially sunnier with warmer and longer summers, but winters are still chilly and occasionaly cold. If you're from Miami this might be a shock, if you are from northern Florida, no big difference. Overall neither city is as cold in wiinteras, say, the North-Eastern quarter of the US
ABout the transgender thing i have no idea, there are transgender people where I live but Bologna is supposed to be a lot more advanced socially than the rest of Italy so i wouldn't know. If you decide on Florence make sure you come here. There even was a famous transgender (M to F) actor who ended up elected here at the city hall (not the mayor)
In both countries not everyone speaks English but I would bet Paris has more foreign people living there so obviously English should be more spread out overall
I think Italian is a bit easier to learn than French. If you learn French first, Italian should be easy for a second language.
In the end I would say both choices are valid, and it is easy to travel everywhere from either destination.
In terms of usefulness of the language, there's no doubt: French >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Italian.
And I'm an Italian native speaker (but I speak fluent French).
Obviously Italian is more beautiful and we beat them at football
Hi, all. I have a foreign language requirement in college and am trying to decide if I should learn French or Italian.
*If I learn French, I have the possibility of doing a semester or an entire year in Paris. If I learn Italian, I could do a semester in Florence.
*I'm from Florida and not used to extremely cold weather.
*I'm a transgender guy. By the time I study abroad, I'll hopefully look undistinguishable from any other guy, but of course I'd prefer to study in a place where I can feel safe and comfortable admitting I'm trans if I so choose. (Although I'm not sure if Paris or Florence fits the bill?)
*I'm interested in traveling around Europe after I graduate.
*I'm Buddhist.
*Although I will absolutely make an effort to learn whichever language I choose, learning languages doesn't come easily to me and I'd prefer a place where most people speak English.
As far as I can tell so far, there's not a whole lot of advantages for one over the other, but I need to enroll in a class for next semester. Any thoughts?
First of all French should be more useful ax it is spoken all around the world. If you were employed in other fields I would tell you to pick Italy but this is a no brainer. If you learn one it will not be hard to learn the other anyway
As for the climate, Paris is akin to the Pacific Northwest while Florence is somewhat similar to Charlotte when it comes to climate.
As for you being transgender, keep in mind that Italy was the second country where a transgender became MP (Vladimir Luxuria). Florence is also a city who's known for being quite left wing socially, not as much as Bologna but still a really tolerant city.
You are lucky that both cities have a large population of Buddhists. Chinese make up almost 10% of Florentino abd are a sizable minority in Paris too.
Paris is a metropolis, Florence is a small city.
In 15 minutes by bus from the center, you're still in the very center of Paris, while you're on the hills out of town in Florence (yes, Florence is that small!)
In 1 and half hour by train from Paris, you're in Bruxelles, in 2 and half hour you're in central London , with 45 minutes more you'll be in Amsterdam or Cologne i.e. 4 great cities in 4 different countries.
From Florence you'd be still in Italy, though somewhat near the border.
French is way more useful than Italian, and Italian is so much easier to learn once you know French.
In my mind, it really is a no-brainer, though as an Italian I must say that food in Florence is just great.
I was leaning toward French anyway, and your responses have sealed the deal!
The only concern of mine that remains is what I've read/heard about French people not really liking visiting Americans and being too reserved and serious.
Of course I know not everyone is like that, but I'm a friendly, outgoing type that likes to make friends with everyone from the guy who pours my coffee to the cashier I see regularly at the supermarket. I've heard Italians are much more like me personality-wise.
I don't know, I would say the French are more reserved overall because it is something that is taught at a young age, not disturbing people, not taking too much space, not being too loud, always use some specific words when you meet people, etc. There are different levels of communication, depending if you hang out with workmates, family, friends, or if you deal with people in a store, etc. When you get to know the people it does not take too long to break the ice, but it all depends on people / social groups / age / regions.
In Italy it is a bit more straightforward, people are much more used to say what they mean and act individually without thinking about what is around them and yet are more social, it is a bit strange to me sometimes. I would say social interactions are a lot more mixed up in Italy, for instance between work / friends / family, everyone is a bit on the same level.
I would not say that either country is more similar to the US, they're all similar in some ways and different in others.
I would say that if you spend five minutes to speak to everyone in France, even for instance to the cashier, it might be considered intrusive / annoying after a while, while in Italy it is much more normal. However something I found rude over there (North America) was someone chatting for 5 minutes with me in an elevator and completely ignoring me the next time. I was like "so this guy went all the way to say all this stuff to me the last time and now has forgotten about all of that ? what a prick". I learnt that it is normal to do a lot of chit-chat in your culture while in France it is very impolite to not say "hello / thanks / goodbye" but can be equally as bad to just spend too much time chatting with people who will never meet you again, it might appear as "fake".
In Italy people are overall more social but I find that they are also more individualistic and rude sometimes, but that's probably because of my cultural filter. What is considered normal / neutral in a country is considered rude or strange in another.
^Very interesting! Thanks for the reply. I guess I'm somewhere between France and Italy when it comes to that stuff.
I make a point of greeting people and asking them how they're doing and making some funny/friendly chit-chat if we have a good rapport, and people remember me or even consider me a regular at places even if I've only been there twice.
On the other hand, I'm not the type to talk to an acquaintance like that for a truly extended amount of time. I usually do want to get on with what I have planned for the day and not be detained by a long idle conversation.
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