Learning French for an English speaker: why and how?

[jrineakter]

Good reasons to learn French are a bit like French cheeses: there are so many that it's hard to choose... Here are three facts that, as an English speaker, will surely convince you to try your hand at the language of Molière:



The French language is present in all four corners of the world

In the ranking drawn up in 2020 by the prestigious Geo magazine of the 10 most spoken languages ​​in the world, French rose to 5th position ; English, for its part, took 1st place. But the language of Molière has a choice asset to oppose to Mandarin and Hindi, occupying respectively the 2nd and 3rd places of this top: it is practiced on each of the five continents !

Examples? Let's mention:


The French language is used to better appreciate specific areas

In the early 2010s, English speaker Robert Lane Greene published an article in More Intelligent Life , a magazine of The Economist , dedicated to languages ​​to learn when English is your first language.

mother tongue. The author put forward a very interesting argument: for him, mastering French also allows you to “ better appreciate art, history, literature, gastronomy , while providing you with an important tool for business or diplomacy .”

In fact, French has been the language of Western diplomacy for almost 200 years. France is the country with the most Nobel Prize winners in literature – ahead of… the United States and the United Kingdom. As for the culinary lexicon, French words trickle down into English gastronomy , from à la carte to apéritif to vinaigrette and even cuisine !

The French language is spoken in the most visited country in the world

Despite what Spain and the United States, respectively silver and bronze medalists for the most visited countries in the world, it is France that, in this regard, takes home the gold taiwan whatsapp number data year after year. France occupies 4th place among the countries with the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage sites , from the Palace of Versailles to the Canal du Midi, including the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel and the Loire Valley.

Now, you may know the image that sticks to the skin of the French: froggies are said to be little inclined to speak English on their soil, even when faced with speakers who do not speak a word of their language... To fully enjoy your trip (and get a smile from the baker or the waiter), learn to speak French!

What are the similarities and differences between English and French?

Although English is a Germanic language and French is a Romance language, both belong to the great family of Indo-European languages. This genealogy has necessarily created points of convergence… as much as divergence. Let us review the similarities and, conversely , the major distinctions at the level of.