French Language

[oneinam]

Many people including the French say that the French language is one of the most difficult to learn to converse, read and write. How difficult is it? Also compared to English, how much harder although some have said English is just as difficult? Is learning to speak French easier than playing the piano? French must be a 10,000 hour learning period to get beyond the European Framework level of C1. What do think?

[Khandro]

naomi; You were lucky to find French speakers in your 'far flung corners', as they number less than speakers of Wu and Telugu. Still any assertion I make on any topic wouldn't be complete without a contradiction from naomi :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers

[naomi24]

Khandro, //You were lucky to find French speakers in your 'far flung corners',//

Not at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_French_is_an_official_language

That aside, many people – like me - speak French even if it isn’t their official language. I’ve often been able to communicate with another whose native language was unknown to me simply because we both spoke French - so it’s rather short-sighted to claim that French is of no use outside France.

[naomi24]

Oh, and take note of the section in my link headed "Countries where French is commonly used but not official".

[Booldawg]

how hard is it to play the piano in French?

[Vivkins3]

I find french quite easy - I was taught up to O level at school in the days when "going to the Continent" was something only the very rich could aspire to. We've recently been going several times a year and as I gain confidence I find myself saying things to people and then thinking to myself "Oh, I didn't know I knew that word".

German is an altogether different kettle of fish - i find it's quite easy to read - lots of words are very similar to English (albeit sometimes run together) but pronouncing them requires a throatal strangulation not normally possessed by English people.

[Khandro]

n.; Well, I'll go to Geneva, and you can go to the Congo - good luck!

[naomi24]

Khandro, The Seychelles is good. ;o)

[craft1948]

One of my colleagues was appointed BT Engineering Manager for South America, so the company paid for him to have very expensive, intensive Spanish lessons.
They then sent him to Brazil :-(

[chakka35]

Surely the most hilarious news in the last week was that Merkel and Hollande had to converse in English when they met because neither could speak the other's language!

I don't know why we ever invented foreign languages. In the very important matter of communication between the peoples of the world foreign languages are a darned nuisance; they make difficult a process which would be easy if we had all stuck to English in the first place.

Fortunately the world is gradually correcting that mistake.

[Khandro]

The reason that the sainted Angela gets on so well with sourpuss Putin, and gets favourable energy supply deals etc. is that she also speaks fluent Russian, and they always seem at ease with one another.
I think there is a lesson here for some of our politicians.

[naomi24]

Chakka, //I don't know why we ever invented foreign languages.//

Tut! That God and his Tower of Babel, eh! What a troublemaker! ;o)

[chakka35]

I'm impressed, naomi, about the work you must have put in to become a francophone when you must have known that all you have to do to make Johnny Frenchman understand is shout loudly and wave your arms about.
If necessary you threaten him with violence whereupon he will capitulate and then collaberate by learning English: that wonderful language which is becoming - in that fine old English phrase - the lingua franca of the world.

[atalanta]

I found French the easiest and most compatible of all the languages I have learned. Then Latin, then Occitan, then Old French, then Russian, then Hebrew. But by far the most diffiicult for me was German. I don't include Modern and Ancient Greek because I didn't study them for as long.

[jno]

if you come here and don't fancy learning English, it seems Polish is your best bet

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/30/polish-becomes-englands-second-language?INTCMP=SRCH

Their burgers are to die for, too.

[beso]

Like Italian and Spanish, French varies the verbs according to six cases and fourteen tenses. Each verb is different depending on Present, Future, Past, Perfect, Imperfect, Pluperfect and some more I can't recall right now combined with Singular and Plural versions of First and Second tense plus a special one for addressing people more respectfully than the verbs one used to address friends and family.

Fortunately there is a pattern of the verb endings except for the irregular verbs which are unique constructs. In Italian and Spanish most verbs are regular. Unfortunately in French about a third are irregular. Even more unfortunately the irregular include the most common of them.

Now add that all nouns have a gender. For example a table is female (obviously) and the nouns require gender specific prepositions ("le" for male and "elle" for female.

Other than these minor issues it is a simple language. @@

[DTCwordfan]

beso - some adjectives come before the noun others after.....old French used to be simple with adjectives before!

At School I got my O but the teaching was awful, if I had sat it at 12 I could have sailed through as we were covering Future Subjunctives etc. The best way to learn is be there - actually I brought my verbal up in Belgium on a foreign assignment and then made the jump to Paris. That greatly improved my written French....

Back to my joke, I got it slightly wrong, the punch line should read "What's the term for someone who speaks one language" Answer - "American or English."

[oneinam]

Thank you everybody for your answers. I am now beginning my 8th year learning French. The last 2 years I focused on the oral. I have been to France 3 times this year, taught French students, socialised with French speakers, set my technology to interface in French and now will try and find a French speaking girl. I think the latter is one of the best methods.