What is the point in French if you never intend to go to France? - Page 2

October 13, 2007, 6:00 AM

I pretty much had to learn French....my parents are from Quebec, so I didn't want to constantly be left out when they would speak in French so that I wouldn't understand what they were saying :(

I never liked how French was so freaking picky. It's so *particular* and if *one* word is left out of a sentence, it's a national emergency. Feh! I'm taking Japanese now and I must say, I far prefer their grammatical system. It's much more concise and rational x_x

October 13, 2007, 6:44 AM

I want to learn all the languages that I can. Right now I only know a little bit of French and a little more Spanish. I had to take a class for the French. The Spanish I kinda just picked up by living in this city all my life.

You NEVER know when you're gonna need to use a language. The hardest thing that anyone can do in life is to accurately predict the future. You might never need to know French or you might get a job at McDonalds. You start out flippin burgers and a promotion here and there and before you know it, you're the friggin CEO of McDonalds overlooking the foriegn operations of a worldwide hamburger chain. They might send you to France to start a McDonalds in Paris. (good luck with that, though. The French HATE McDonalds)

October 14, 2007, 3:47 AM

As said above, yes learning French is rather important. It's used in more countries other than France.

I could understand if your complaining about Italian. The language is only used in Italy and some parts of central Europe.

Other than that I would like to learn a few different languages. I still need to brush up on my Spanish.

October 14, 2007, 6:24 AM

Actually Italian is pretty important, IMO.

Loads of people travel there, so it might be wise to pick up a couple or so phrases or at least learn the basics of the language. And since it's basically Latin, it helps knowing that to decipher...school mottoes or something.

Well, actually with that argument, I present my counter-argument:
"I don't think we need to learn Japanese and that we should be frustrated when they make us learn it in school because you never use it outside of Japan anyway"

Bah, I don't care, I'll learn what I can get. Here's my top list:

1.) Spanish
2.) French
3.) German
4.) Italian
5.) Japanese
6.) Chinese (Mandarin)
7.) Korean
8.) Polish
9.) Russian
10.) Portuguese (Brazil ftw!)

October 14, 2007, 6:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeremiah

Actually Italian is pretty important, IMO.

Loads of people travel there, so it might be wise to pick up a couple or so phrases or at least learn the basics of the language. And since it's basically Latin, it helps knowing that to decipher...school mottoes or something.

It is Latin but so is Spanish, and Spanish is a lot more important than Italian. Sure Italian can be used to travel there and if you want to live there. Italian isn't as useful as Spanish and Japanese. We all know that Spanish is pretty useful. I would say Japanese is more useful because it is one of the top economies. It's better to learn for business, world trade, and government than Italian. Goes for Germany as well, since it's one of the top countries.

October 14, 2007, 6:36 AM

Add Chinese in the mix, 'cause they've been getting pretty big. Korean is on the rise as well.

But yeah, sure, Italian isn't as important in those aspects, but it appeals to me so much for some reason.

October 14, 2007, 6:40 AM

Heh, don't forget to mention Arabic. I heard it's good to learn for the War right now but how long will it be useful for anyways.

Yeah, Chinese is tough since the tone of your voice means different things from what I heard. Well the way you say a certain letter.

October 14, 2007, 6:42 AM

Since Arabic is spoken in a huge part of the world, it's really good to learn. It's not just confined to the war-torn areas right now right, and includes the economic powerhouse of Kuwait and the UAE. So business is what I'd classify it under reasons to learn it. Great travel spot too.

October 14, 2007, 8:25 AM

I just learn it because I have to...
An hour of german before going home is NOT my idea of a good time though....

October 18, 2007, 1:45 PM

What I found more daft was taking the time to learn the lingo, then go to the country and they end up speaking English at you!! That annoys me. So I dont bother now.