Bastille Day Celebrations?

[lucha54]

French was the lingua franca (hence why lingua franca is called lingua franca) but it's English all the way, (un/)fortunately! That or Mandarin. Or Arabic. Or Spanish. Ahh who the hell knows...

 

[estebandepraga]

VIVE LA FRANCOPHONIE!

I speak 7 languages fluently! French was my third one which I began as a young kid and ending up getting a university degree in French literarture of the 19th century as a specialty(nice for cocktail party talk but in the real world, RIEN!NADA!NOTHING)

The only place I though found French to be indispensable was on travels through Africa.
I did a backpacking trip from Senegal to Benin traveling through The Gambia and Ghana(English- speaking), Guinea Bissau(Portuguese-speaking) then Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire(Ivory Coast), and Togo.
As cited before, many of these countries' citizens speak French as a 2nd or even 3rd language and often not soooo well.This was also the case with Guinea Bissau where only 20% speak Portuguese; that being said, still French is the Lingua Franca.Without it, my travels would have been even harder than they were and one sees VERY VERY few non French-speaking travelers there.
When I was in Algeria a few years, I found SO FEW PEOPLE who could speak French, especially outside of Algiers and Oran.In Tunisia and Morocco, not so!
The former Indochina countries(Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos) now have English as the second language although Russian is rapidly(and reluctantly by the natives)gaining ground.
France is also monolingual where as the other French-speaking countries in Europe are officially AT LEAST bilingual so other linguistic options are possible.

I find it sad that the vast majority of Latin Americans are unilingual as are native English-speaking peoples of USA,Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand. In Ireland at least you must have a knowledge of Irish(Gaelic) although not a handy tool for foreign travel except to gossip amongst fellow speakers.
Educational "experts" must learn that bi or multi-lingualism is very important in today's world and that kids are like sponges who absorb one or two foreign languges at a young age without problems and later speak them like natives without accents.
Thoses my my 2 cents worth, for whtever it's worth!
JOYEUX 14 DE JUILLET!
Esteban

 

[French jurist]

France has made poor choices since the 1950s. The French culture is losing ground and that's a shame.
Even in Argentina, the French language used to be learned by the elites (very interesting radio broadcast from the Académie Française = http://www.canalacademie.com/emissions/sav201.mp3

From the mid 17th century until 1950, France was the country of culture (in many aspects). For instance, back in 1950, an auctionneer like Antoine Ader was generating revenues higher than those of Christie's or Sothebys. 50 years later, you would need to add the revenues of the 400 French auction houses to reach the ones of Christie's or Sothebys (and attracting wealthy buyers/collectors has an effect on fashion, hotels, restaurants, museums, etc.).

 

[French jurist]

VIVE LA FRANCOPHONIE!

I speak 7 languages fluently!

Congrats, I hardly reach 4 languages (French, English, Spanish quite fluently + I'm bad at speaking German while I learned it for 6 years in school).
Next language I'll learn = Chinese or eventually Qom

 

[estebandepraga]

Hardest one I speak so far is Cestina Czech
grammar is a BITCH! and that comes from someone who speaks and spoke Polish before!
I dont know about you, but I can only learn a language when I am interested in the place, culture, people .etc
That's why my attempt at Chinese has been never higher than a 101 level

 

[nlaruccia]

Hebrew is quite difficult. They don't even write the vowels so it's nearly impossible to read.

 

[Matiasba]

Carlos V said:

the english for bussiness
the german for the war
the italian for love
the french for diplomacy
and the spanish to pray

French used to be the number one foreign language all the XIX th century and the beginning of XXth here in Argentina, and in lots of other parts too. One thing that amazes me is how especially proud are the french with their culture and language, its like they dont assimilate that english is the most spoken language today, I found them extremely proud. Good for them.

 

[Rich One]

Vive La France .....! Liberte Egalite Fraternite (Bust Frei)
​

 

[Noruega]

VIVE LA FRANCOPHONIE!
I speak 7 languages fluently! French was my third one which I began as a young kid and ending up getting a university degree in French literarture of the 19th century as a specialty (nice for cocktail party talk but in the real world, RIEN!NADA!NOTHING)

Hehe, I found this very amusing! At least you are well prepared for the cocktail parties, then! (Oh and good job on the seven languages, kudos!!)

 

[French jurist]

http://www.lucullus.com.ar/noticias/cuisine-et-liberte-festejos-de-la-revolucion-francesa/