French is the best language ! :P

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Anaël
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French is the best language ! :P

Post by Anaël »

Top 10 Reasons to Learn French

1) Knowing French will allow you not only to function but to compete effectively in the global economy of the future.
In many European countries, a second language is introduced in primary school and a third language, in middle school. International job applicants who are proficient in at least two languages will be at a distinct advantage in the global market. When you know French, you can be a part of communications and transactions occurring daily in French on every continent.

2) Speaking French will increase your job opportunities and salary potential.
Knowledge of a second language is essential in over 60 occupations. Canada, officially bilingual, is our most important trading partner and requires labeling in English and French on all imported products. More than 1,200 French companies have subsidiaries in the U.S., and France is the largest recipient of U.S. foreign investment. France is a world leader in the development of modern telecommunications, a market with explosive growth potential.
The European Union, the second largest trading bloc in the world, recognizes French as an official language. Think about the many job opportunities with the airlines, import-export companies, and other international businesses. French is also a very useful language if you are thinking of working at the United Nations (where French is the second most widely used language, after English) or for the United States Government in the foreign service. Here in the United States, when you know French, you could become a French teacher, an interpreter or a translator.

3) Studying French increases your appreciation of other people and their cultures.
French is the first or second language in more than 40 countries and is spoken by 125 million people around the world, on every continent. Because French is a foreign language of choice for so many people in the world, knowing French will also increase your chances of communication in a non-English speaking country. You can use French to develop international friendships, as well as to communicate via the Internet.

4) French opens up an entire world of sporting events to enthusiasts.
French is always an official language used to announce events, winners, and medals at the Olympic Games, including the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. If you live near the Quebec border, you can also follow hockey and baseball games in French. Automobile races (Le Mans and Monte Carlo), horse racing (Longchamps), tennis tournaments (French Open), and the Tour de France (long distance bicycle race) engage fans around the globe. when you know French, the international world of sports is open to you.

5) Knowing French will improve your vocabulary in English.
Some 40 to 50% of English vocabulary comes from French. The study of French will also enhance your grammar skills, and your increased proficiency in English will greatly improve your scores on the verbal section of the SAT and the ACT. As you develop greater skills in French, you also sharpen your skills in English.

6) Learning a new language, like French, develops your critical and creative thinking skills.
It will also increase your problem-solving skills and improve your memory, self-discipline, and self-esteem. Because progress is very easy to measure, you can quickly take pride in your new abilities. Knowing French can help you acquire a number of important life skills.

7) Proficiency in French will significantly improve your chances of being accepted to the university and to graduated school.
In many scientific fields at the graduate level, most American institutions require a reading knowledge of French or German in order for scholars to be able to conduct research. France continues to be a leader and innovator in science and technology. civil engineering (the "Chunnel" between England and France and the TGV-the world's fastest train), aeronautics (the Concorde, a Franco-British enterprise, and the Ariane Rocket, a Franco-European initiative), medical technologies (the isolation of the HIV virus), and telecommunications (the Minitel with more than 20,000 on-line services and micro-chip telephone cards) are just a few areas in which the French play a leadership role. Knowing French can open the doors to graduate school and to important research.

8 ) Using French enhances your travel abroad to Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, and Africa.
France is the most visited tourist destination in the world. Paris was recently named by Fortune Magazine as one of the top ten "global cities." When you speak French, you can be an educated tourist, ask for directions, get your own hotel room or tell a French friend about the United States.

9) French is the language of culture, opening your door to art, music, dance, fashion, cuisine, and cinema.
As you quickly realize when you look at the foreign film section of your local video store, France is one of the most prolific producers of International films. The Cannes International Film Festival annually attracts the attention of the world when the best films, directors and actors are named. When you understand French, you don't have to rely on subtitles to enjoy a French film.

10) French is the language of many great literary masterpieces.
People around the world are familiar with Les Misérables, The Three Musketeers, 200,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Little Prince, and The Stranger. In fact, France has won more Nobel Prizes for literature than any other country. The French are also admired for their great philosophers, such as Descartes and Pascal, Rousseau, Voltaire, Camus, and Sartre. When you read French, you can enjoy these works and authors in the original.



I hope it'll convince you ! :)
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Evil Genie Jafar
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Post by Evil Genie Jafar »

I'm not saying French is not a great language also. But if you see in my other post I said Spanish is a great language, not the best.

PS

Well, it is for me. 8)
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Post by Swiss »

I speak both French & Spanish fluently. I love them both. Many of the elements your list pointed out can be said of many languages, including Spanish or Japanese for that matter.

Are you're trying to say French is better? :roll: The fact that you started a pretentious "competing" thread that "French is the best language" says alot. It's all relative, and many have a different perception on what is the best language. Many would argue it's their mother tongue. And others are simply fascinated by the culture behind the language that they've learned. :D
Last edited by Swiss on Thu Sep 23, 2004 6:44 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Post by 2099net »

English rather than "American English" is the best language.

After all, English is named after England!

So forget your Americanisms, using English the old fashioned way is the best.

It's best to spell words not as they sound like reversing the ER to RE

Theatre, Centre

It's best to spell words not as they sound by adding silent letters, like U

Favourite, colour

or a slient E

Axe

It's best to have nonsensical 'rules' to follow:

"I before E, except after C"
Every word must have a vowel, A, E, I, O or U, except for sometimes when Y can be a vowel too - as in Sky.

Having a language like this, where certain words have to be learnt and cannot be guessed with any sense of logic means the British, and other people who speak "proper Queen's English" all undertaken a long and harsh schooling and as a result have a "stiff upper lip"
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Post by Anaël »

French has missed its chance twice !
1) In 1066, William the Conqueror made of French the official language of Britain's court !

2) In 1776, the U.S.A became independant and voted the official language. English won with just a few votes more than French...

Top 10 :
1) Chinese, 885 millions (China)
2) English, 450 millions (USA, UK, Canada, Australia, India, etc.)
3) French, 285 millions (France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Africa, the Caribbean, South-East Asia, Oceania, etc.)
4) Spanish, 268 millions (Spain, Latin-America excepted Brazil, etc.)
5) Arabic, 200 millions (North Africa, Middle-East, etc.)
6) Bengali, 189 millions (Bangladesh, India, etc.)
7) Hindi, 182 millions (India, Pakistan)
8 ) Portugese, 175 millions (Portugal, Brazil, Angola, etc.)
9) Russian, 170 millions (Russia, ex-CIS)
10) Japonese, 126 millions (Japan)

Image
English-speaking world

Image
French-speaking world

Image
Spanish-speaking world
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Post by Lumiere »

this is ridiculous, fighting for which language is the best!
and anael you don't have to copy an article of a french magazine to tell us that the french language is the best, because it isn't! :roll:

the only thing that evil genie jafar say is that spanish is great (and it is) not that is the best, and that with spanish you get the bases of the other romances languages: french, italian, portuguese. he told us the advantages of spanish.

yes anael, there are also advantages in the french!!
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Post by Swiss »

Lumiere wrote:this is ridiculous, fighting for which language is the best!
and anael you don't have to copy an article of a french magazine to tell us that the french language is the best, because it isn't! :roll:

the only thing that evil genie jafar say is that spanish is great (and it is) not that is the best, and that with spanish you get the bases of the other romances languages: french, italian, portuguese. he told us the advantages of spanish.

yes anael, there are also advantages in the french!!
I agree here. Anyway I posted the information from Encarta, I really like that program! Hopefully that will settle the dispute. I still think it was pretentious to start another thread posting the same information and saying FR is the best language. :roll:
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Post by Ludwig Von Drake »

I wouldn't call it the best language mais le francais est one of the better languages
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Post by Anaël »

It was quite humouristic, I don't think French is the best language just one's of the best !
French is one's of the best cause it sounds so good, especially in songs.
and anael you don't have to copy an article of a french magazine to tell us that the french language is the best, because it isn't!
And the top 10 is extracted from an American magazine not French... so... :roll:

I've just to said an 11th reason to learn French :
11) You'll be able to find yourself a French fiancé , and French boys are cute. :D :D :D :P

If somedbody wants to have some lessons : http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/
....spanish you get the bases of the other romances languages: french, italian, portuguese. he told us the advantages of spanish.
Like every Latin languages ! French get you bases of other latin languages and don't forget that there are a lot of French words in English language : coup d'Etat, fiancé, croissant, café, cliché, résumé, and more and more.... :wink:
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Post by ThiagoPE »

Lumiere wrote:this is ridiculous, fighting for which language is the best!
I also agree.

If my opinion is valid: I think all the freench speaking peolpe needs to acept the fact that french is just another language that the world have.

If you look carefully, most of the "international" words, (i will get this example: donwload) the french speaking people insists to chage it for a french version of the word (telecharger) just for not use the word "Download".

Im not telling that the french speaking people must not be proud of your language, but im telling that they dont aceppt this fact of english being the most popular language in the world. let me get another example: when my father traveled to paris, in it airport, when he was asking for informations about the city (in english) the guide just aswered him in french (how portuguese and french are latin laguages, he perceived that the guide was really repling its asks, but repling in french)

I for example, Like a lot my language (portuguese) but i know that it will not become popular in the world never because it don't have any atractive for the foreign people learn it (is hard to understand, too many gramatical rules, etc...) so i will never force no one leran my language.

I don[t want to make a mess with this posting, but some true stories must be told.

Thiago
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Post by Lumiere »

Spanish is the most complicated romance laguage, so with the base of spanish you can easily learn french, italian and portuguese!!!
and don't forget that there are a lot of French words in English language : coup d'Etat, fiancé, croissant, café, cliché, résumé, and more and more....
sooo :roll:

just because there are words in french that are equal than some english words doesn't means that there are from french(coup d'etat, croissant, fiancee and other okay) but resume, cliche, and cafe are the same in spanish

Oh so english also uses mexican spanish words: tortilla, tacos, chocolate, chile and others!!!
Last edited by Lumiere on Thu Sep 23, 2004 8:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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We'll prepare and serve with flair
A culinary cabaret!!!!
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Post by AwallaceUNC »

French is my 2nd favorite language (after English)! Hebrew is #3.

Maybe someone can help me with a bit of french:

Mes amis aime...

or

Mes amis aiment... ?

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Lumiere
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Post by Lumiere »

Maybe someone can help me with a bit of french:

Mes amis aime...

or

Mes amis aiment... ?
:) mes amis aiment
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Post by Lumiere »

I've just to said an 11th reason to learn French :
11) You'll be able to find yourself a French fiancé , and French boys are cute.
yeah sure.... um I have heard a lot the comment that french people only take shower ONCE a week, is it true?
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Post by Starion »

Bonjour! I started learning French in 1996. Incidently, my French I and II teacher showed us Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King in French.
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Lumiere
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Post by Lumiere »

starion:
it was better the sarabi avatar! :)

well its your choice
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Post by Anaël »

Lumiere wrote:
I've just to said an 11th reason to learn French :
11) You'll be able to find yourself a French fiancé , and French boys are cute.
yeah sure.... um I have heard a lot the comment that french people only take shower ONCE a week, is it true?
Are you stupid ? It's only a cliché ! It's like i say that I've heard that Brazilian are all gay or it's always raining in London !
Do you think it'll be possible ? Excuse me... but we are the 1st nation of the world which consums cosmetics... L'Oréal, Garnier, etc...
If you look carefully, most of the "international" words, (i will get this example: donwload) the french speaking people insists to chage it for a french version of the word (telecharger) just for not use the word "Download".

Im not telling that the french speaking people must not be proud of your language, but im telling that they dont aceppt this fact of english being the most popular language in the world. let me get another example: when my father traveled to paris, in it airport, when he was asking for informations about the city (in english) the guide just aswered him in french (how portuguese and french are latin laguages, he perceived that the guide was really repling its asks, but repling in french)
I agree with you, but it's not because English is used all around the world that we have to learn it and stop to speak our native language. And French people doesn't want to speak English because they don't see any good thing in it. They think that they're already got a lot of English words in their language (fast-food, Parking, hamburger, etc.)....
...he guide just aswered him in french...
It's normal. If I go the the USA, the guide will answer to me in English even if I don't understand any words of this language. If I go to Spain, the guide will answer to me in Spanish.... Quite logical ! :)
If you look carefully, most of the "international" words, (i will get this example: donwload) the french speaking people insists to chage it for a french version of the word (telecharger) just for not use the word "Download".
Yes, it's true but it's only because we have the equivalence of this word ! We havn't translate : parking, etc. :wink:
Spanish is the most complicated romance laguage, so with the base of spanish you can easily learn french, italian and portuguese!!!
Spanish as French, Italian and less Portuguese is a Latin-language. They have the same basis so it's normal that you could have the same words into these languages !
For example : Spanish (phonetical alphabet) ==> tchocolaté ; French : chocola ; and for English language which is a Germanic language it gives : tchocolaïte !
So with the basis of every Latin language you'll have some basis in another Latin language, it's available for Spanish but French and Italian too !
Exactly the same thing between Germanic languages :
"Hand" is the same word in English and German like "Beast"..

I hope it's quite clear ! lol
Spanish is the most complicated romance language
Have you ever tried to learn French language ?
I study French, Spanish and English and I think French is the most difficult language. See what people write on this forum : "But anyway I think English is far more simpler than French with its dreadful complexity of grammar." etc.

I think a reason that english is used more, and learned more then french, is because english is so much easier then french... the verbs, the adjectives... etc...

But don't forget these facts : French is the 2nd language tought all around the world after English. And French is the only language, with English, to be spoken on the five continents ! :)
Just see the maps i've posted yesterday, you'll see the difference ! :wink:
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Post by Anaël »

The English language has been shaped by a number of other languages over the centuries, and many English speakers know that Latin and German were two of the most important. What many people don't realize is how much the French language has influenced English.

Without going into too much detail, I want to give a little bit of background about the other languages which shaped English. It was born out of the dialects of three German tribes (Angles, Jutes, and Saxons) who settled in Britain in about 450 A.D. This group of dialects forms what linguists refer to as Anglo-Saxon, and at some point this language developed into what we know as Old English. This Germanic base was influenced in varying degrees by Celtic, Latin, and Scandinavian (Old Norse) - the languages spoken by invading armies.

Bill Bryson calls the Norman conquest of 1066 the "final cataclysm [which] awaited the English language." When William the Conqueror became king of England, French took over as the language of the court, administration, and culture - and stayed there for 300 years. Meanwhile, English was "demoted" to everyday, unprestigious uses. These two languages existed side by side in England with no noticeable difficulties; in fact, since English was essentially ignored by grammarians during this time, it took advantage of its lowly status to become a grammatically simpler language and, after only 70 or 80 years existing side-by-side with French, Old English segued into Middle English.

Vocabulary

During the Norman occupation, about 10,000 French words were adopted into English, some three-fourths of which are still in use today. This French vocabulary is found in every domain, from government and law to art and literature - learn some.

Pronunciation

English pronunciation owes a lot to French as well. Whereas Old English had the unvoiced fricative sounds (as in thin) and (shin), French influence helped to distinguish their voiced counterparts (the) and (mirage) and also contributed the dipthong (boy).

Grammar

Another rare but interesting remnant of French influence is in the word order of expressions like secretary general and surgeon general, where English has retained the noun + adjective word order typical in French, rather than the usual adjective + noun used in English.

French terms used in English :
http://french.about.com/library/bl-fren ... h-list.htm
;)
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Post by Lumiere »

Have you ever tried to learn French language ?
I study French, Spanish and English and I think French is the most difficult language. See what people write on this forum : "But anyway I think English is far more simpler than French with its dreadful complexity of grammar." etc
I am studying french and its very easy
the only "difficult part" are the accents, you are saying that its the best language yeah sure: they have more exceptions than rules!! :roll:

oui le francois c'est tres facile!!
8)
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Cheese souffle
Pie and pudding "en flambe"

We'll prepare and serve with flair
A culinary cabaret!!!!
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Post by Starion »

Lumiere wrote:starion:
it was better the sarabi avatar! :)

well its your choice
Ah, you want me to switch my Avatar from Final Fantasy to Nala? D'accord. :)

In England, the royal family, courts and government used French for about 300 years after the Battle of Hastings.

I'm trying to picture French speaking vikings called Normans. Most of the vikings I'm familiar with are from Scandinavia. :)

I gotta run. Thanks for posting an interesting topic Anaël. You and I should trade notes. lol! I'm learning comparitive linguistics for fun.
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