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The future doesn’t speak French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| lengua Senior Member United States polyglottery.wordpre Joined 6481 days ago 549 posts - 595 votes  Studies: French, Italian, Spanish, German | Message 17 of 33 24 October 2006 at 5:20pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I don't think we can truly say any languages will or won't be big in the future, as we inevitably base such opinions on our personal and political prejudices. In the end, all we can do is learn what we're interested in, and take things as they come. None of us are more privy to the future than any other.
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| MissMelon Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6431 days ago 28 posts - 29 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 18 of 33 25 October 2006 at 4:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I dont see French going anywhere. French is a second language everywhere, and being taught as a second language in a lot of places. Most French learners do it out of love for the language, not as an investment. Chinese is very hard for an English speaker, so chances are most learners will quit if not interested in the language itself. To be honest, "investment languages" seem to turn me off... So keep learning French! C'est beau!
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| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6462 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 19 of 33 26 October 2006 at 3:41am | IP Logged | |||||
French actually is an investment language: it's a lingua franca in most of Northern Africa and it's one of the most widely used languages on earth for literature, science, cinema etc. And economy too, especially in Europe. Of course there are others, but French really is useful. I've been in many situations where I was happy to know French, because people hardly spoke English (in Italy and Spain for example)... Edited by Marc Frisch on 26 October 2006 at 3:41am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6462 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 20 of 33 26 October 2006 at 4:12am | IP Logged | |||||
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On the other hand, I couldn't possibly be more biased: I grew up in a country whose most important trade partner is France, in a town which is situated 20 minutes from the French and Luxemburgish borders, 1 hour from Belgium and 3 hours from Switzerland...
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| MissMelon Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6431 days ago 28 posts - 29 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 21 of 33 26 October 2006 at 6:09am | IP Logged | |||||
I mean only learning a language as an investment. Must have worded it wrong. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Andy_Liu Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong leibby.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6583 days ago 255 posts - 257 votes Speaks: Mandarin, Cantonese*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 22 of 33 26 October 2006 at 10:58am | IP Logged | |||||
What about German and Korean? China is having more trade with Germany than France; Korea is as a close neighbour as Japan. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 6953 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 23 of 33 26 October 2006 at 11:53am | IP Logged | |||||
I think that it's because, rightly or wrongly, a lot of things that are associated with the French are given a mystical aesthetic quality, almost to the point of French culture being overrated at the expense of other cultures. I find that a lot of outsiders (i.e. people who do not live in countries where French is spoken) study French for subjective reasons and are indicative of aestethic values. (e.g. "French sounds beautiful." "French language is associated with Paris and the Louvre". In my view, these reasons smack more of snobbery than anything else, but these reasons are sufficient for quite a few people to start learning French.) I definitely don't hear about as many people who want to study Russian, German, Cantonese, Arabic or Hindi because those languages "sound beautiful", or because of some cultural connection. French gets a lot of attention, and I have mixed feelings when I see or hear people going ga-ga over it when there are many other languages out there for us to learn and enjoy. Objectively, Korean or Japanese make a lot more sense for Chinese students to learn as a second foreign language becuase of the closer contact with Japan and Korea. But again I refer back to what I wrote that a lot of outsiders still have a strange and dare I say irrational affection for French things. It's to the point where you know people who pay thousands of dollars on clothing or bags from the collection of a French fashion designer, or not thinking twice about paying $150 for a 3-course meal at a French restaurant.) On the widespread nature of French: French in theory is very useful because it is still the language of administration in much of North and Central Africa. Honestly, a lot of us in the West don't make trips to those regions, nor we do we come in contact with a lot of people or visitors from that region to take advantage of this fact. (e.g. When was the last time any of you bumped into someone who comes from Mauritania or Gabon? There wouldn't be many of us, I suspect.) Thus I don't think that the advantage is as great as it first appears given the lack of contact. Edited by Chung on 26 October 2006 at 12:22pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| alcina Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6494 days ago 51 posts - 54 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Italian | Message 24 of 33 26 October 2006 at 4:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
Today...yesterday...the day before...Well...actually I can't be *certain* they came from those specific countries, but they were definitely French speaking Africans! :) I live in a cheap part of London, every other voice I hear in the street will *not* be speaking English. French is probably the second most common language I hear around me daily after English. Other languages heard daily are Russian, Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Greek, Cantonese, Mandarin, Indian (I have no knowledge of Indian languages, so I can't tell which ones I'm hearing), Arabic (again, I have no knowlege) and interestingly over the last year, German. I don't know why I'm suddenly hearing a lot of German. And in the Summer....Italian...Italy seems to expel her youth in the Summer and I swear 95% of them end up here! You should see how many different languages the local council has to translate its information into! :) I guess it depends on where you live, but certainly the ability to speak French is still valuable here because of French speaking Africans, rather than French speaking Europeans. Alcina Edited by alcina on 26 October 2006 at 4:15pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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