Like everybody in France under 45 is fluent in English, and who the fuck wants to talk to an older European. Every single French colony without exception is phasing out or has phased out the use of French as France was such an awful colonial power. Did you know that Eclair is pronounced aey-clare? This does nothing for me. I guess some people want to read Les Miserables in the original Foot Mold Language, just like random people enjoy reading Ovid or Cicero in Catholic script.. And just like Latin, fuck that everything has genders and complicated conjugation.

I swear, the French teachers in school were trying to impart the vibe that if we know the French language, French women would have sex with us.

I refuse to defend any facts that I asserted in this essay.

  • 2Password2Remember [he/him]
    ·
    7 months ago

    Like everybody in France under 45 is fluent in English

    this isn't even remotely correct lmao

    Death to America

    • kristina [she/her]
      ·
      7 months ago

      for real. their accent is so thick they may as well be speaking french

    • jizzong [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      OP clearly never met a French person. Even if they can speak English, that doesn't mean they will do it just to conviniance a foreigner.

        • Jenniferrr [she/her, comrade/them]
          ·
          7 months ago

          Problem is that they are assholes even if you try speaking but have an accent or aren't amazing. I also got yelled at in brussels, in a QUEER COMMUNITY SPACE, in the bathroom because I didn't speak french. Like this dude was yelling at me "In brussels we speak French not english" I just like put my head down and left. Just what the hell

          • kristina [she/her]
            ·
            7 months ago

            That's when you pull out the "French must be eradicated" louverture-shining

  • HauntedBySpectacle [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    7 months ago

    Just cause they know English doesn't mean they want to use it while you're in their country.

    Learning a second language is a gateway to living anywhere that's not anglo-burn

    • ButtBidet [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      7 months ago

      Don't visit France (unless you're a refugee from Burgerland)

        • ButtBidet [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          7 months ago

          BTW, do you get that brand of Anglo expat that doesn't learn the language after living their for years and talks to everyone like a kindergartner in English? Or is that just a global south thing?

          • huf [he/him]
            ·
            7 months ago

            we get them here in hungary, which is not global south but not western europe either. i've always assumed anglo immigrants are just like this everywhere.

        • ButtBidet [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          7 months ago

          It must be rad to tell everyone in perfect French how absolutely terrible Amerika is. Do the lord's work!

  • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    I do not understand why French is put on the same level as actually useful languages. We've got a continent and a half that speaks Spanish right next door, and >40 million Spanish speakers in the country. There's a billion people who speak mandarin. 400 million who speak Arabic (kinda). Hell there's more indigenous language speakers than French speakers here.

    Actually I do understand (it's racism).

    • Erika3sis [she/her, xe/xem]
      ·
      7 months ago

      Don't forget that ASL is the third most used language in the United States! No point in focusing exclusively on spoken languages, right?

      In any case, I find it questionable to talk about languages in terms of "usefulness" like that, trying to measure "usefulness" based on an objective "number of speakers minus percentage who speak a language I already speak": there are plenty of reasons why a language can be personally useful to somebody, plenty of reasons to want to learn a language aside from how many new people one can talk to; and heck, learning one seemingly useless language can be great for building the skills and knowledge for taking on another language, or for becoming more flexible in using one's own first language.

      That being said, you're not wrong to call the pedestal that French is put on compared to other languages a product of racism... Actually, I'd argue that a lot of foreign language education isn't even meant to get you proficient in that language, but rather more for the sake of, like, standardized school tests. Thus the languages that are put on the highest pedestal are just going to be the ones where the infrastructure already exists for getting butts in seats and tests on desks.

    • xavier_berthiaume@jlai.lu
      ·
      7 months ago

      Hey, viens t'en au Québec! On a de la poutine, de la bière, des manifestations comme en France, du hockey, et de la neige en crisse!

      • quilter@lemmy.ml
        ·
        edit-2
        7 months ago

        The beer is good. Demos are on another level.

        But there are the laws against wearing hijabs and turbans. . . . and all the other racism.

  • CloutAtlas [he/him]
    ·
    7 months ago

    Counterpoints:

    1: the instruction manual for my guillotine is in French. How am I supposed to figure out where to put a king's neck and where to place his body if I can't read le manuel d'utilisation??

    2: Debout, les damnés de la terre

    Debout, les forçats de la faim

  • kot
    ·
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    deleted by creator

  • lil_tank@lemmygrad.ml
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    Like everybody in France under 45 is fluent in English

    Bro I can tell you the ability of French people to speak any other language is a complete disaster. I came across people who went to study English at uni (my uni's language dept being considered one of the best btw) and still struggled with fluency

    • Fishroot [none/use name]
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      Tbh, acquiring language fluency via the academia is a myth. Without Immersion, you can never be fluent.

  • waluigiblunts [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    English vocabulary is 50% French so you're basically speaking 50% French anyways owned

  • hotcouchguy [he/him]
    ·
    7 months ago

    Learning French gets you many points towards Canadian permanent residency

      • Fishroot [none/use name]
        ·
        edit-2
        7 months ago

        For affordability compared to the other provinces, and also better family welfare. Plus, it used to be easier to immigrate to compare to other provinces

          • Fishroot [none/use name]
            ·
            edit-2
            7 months ago

            It did change a lot, I came to QC almost 20 years ago where the province is considered the best place to be for immigrants with kids. I think Quebec is catching up to the rest of Canada in terms of privatization and liquidating the public services.

            Now, they want tech workers and low-skilled (mainly seasonal) workers. I know a lot of French who come to Canada because it is still affordable compare to Paris and they don't really land on long term jobs.

        • Hestia [she/her, love/loves]
          ·
          7 months ago

          Why would I leave America? I have a front row seat where I can watch the downfalls of the western world <3

      • Erika3sis [she/her, xe/xem]
        ·
        edit-2
        7 months ago

        I mean, I'm not even joking when I say this... Well, I don't have plans to learn French necessarily, but one of the big reasons why I want to build my Norwegian skills is for the sake of the older folks who don't speak or aren't comfortable with speaking English. Older folks are by all means a mixed bag — trust me — but I still just like being around and hearing from them generally, and I wish them well, I don't want them to feel lonely or forgotten.

  • Umechan [he/him]
    ·
    7 months ago

    who the fuck wants to talk to an older European.

    Me. I love French daddies.

  • Dolores [love/loves]
    ·
    7 months ago

    I swear, the French teachers in school were trying to impart the vibe that if we know the French language, French women would have sex with us.

    stop already i can only be so unmotivated

  • oscardejarjayes [comrade/them]
    ·
    7 months ago

    Well yeah, but that's not really a bad thing. I think learning a language is good, regardless of whether you actually have a use for it.

    • kot
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      deleted by creator