French

Not sure how useful French is these days. It's still widely spoken across the world, but I suppose it's good to have if you want a baguette discount or something.

They should have at least taught me what a "crepe" was when I took french in middle school so I would be ready if I ordered at IHOP and know what a French pancake was. And for the record, yes I eat "freedom fries" no french fries!

I learned to French in 7th grade... oh, you mean talk French..... Nevermind.

I liked French in elementary school, where we still basically took English and it was more an overview of the language and of France. I still feel a little bit intimidated when I think back to my high school French. Once you got to French II the teacher wouldn't allow English spoken in the class and she was fiesty.

I was always pretty good at learning French, but I've never had a decent opportunity to speak it. I've been to France twice (both times were Nice, but still...) and it turned out everyone there spoke English! (Note: the driving there is very similar to Rome)

Took French from the seventh grade and eventually took AP courses. Guess that makes me fluent. It's lovely on the ears, although the peculiar final consonants and vowel clusters may be a few monkey-wrenches one might encounter.

my family speaks it but i dont

I don't remember a lick of it, I do however remember who sat directly behind me making fun of Mr. Lyons the whole time...love you Bill, even if you did make me have to stand in the hall for talking that one time!!!

The french language is more of a hearing language and isn't as cool sounding as German.

It wasn't too hard for me to learn French, except for the strange pronunciation of the "r". But I loved the language and became totally fluent in it. Of course, it's origin from the Latin has helped me a lot since I was speaking another Latin origin language, Romanian. One of the most significant help in becoming fluent was purchasing and reading French books. even if the literary French is more sophisticated than the ordinary spoken one, I have learned volumes about the intricacies and nuances of the language. To a point, I am sorry for neglecting continuing to speak it, but the life circumstances have kept me somewhat out of reach. Although I know what has been imbued in the brain never goes away, I cannot say that I am fluent in the language anymore. Yet, several months of practice and contact with the language could recover the lost terrain. A very elegant language.

did not do.

negative

ummm i dont speak french! nvr had that class..

I took French class back in junior high school and my early years of high school. The experience was pretty good. Speaking French is so fun, yet the grammar and conjugations prove a tough spot for me. French has enjoyed a de facto status in many countries for a long time. Although this status is on the decline, the language still has a great deal amount of influence.Lastly, French cinema is one of the best in the world. I have watched some amazing French films, and I would have given anything to be able to watch them without subtitles. French cinema alone is a good reason to learn this elegant and useful Romance language.

Don't like french much..

Took it for 4 years - loved it!

i hate those french people

If you're going to take a foreign language, take one you can use...take Spanish.

c'est tres enneyeur (boring), as we only do tenses that half the class dont get but were set 2, WTF????

HAHAHA, our teacher was hilarious! Not a very good teacher though. The guy didn't even like The Simpsons, he was always bitching about it. "that show is crap. It must be an American thing cuz I don't like it!" He was a good laugh though

Wish I had taken it in school but learned what little I do know from living in France awhile. I think it is a great idea to take a foreign language while even younger than high school. In Europe languages are started in grade school.

I enjoyed French class, but looking back, I'm not sure why understand why French is given such high visibility in American High Schools. Why not Dutch? Why not Portuguese? Why not German? French sounds pretty, but isn't particularly useful - at least compared to some other languages.

Well this taught me a valuable lesson.I could have got an easy A to bring up my gpa senior year had I taken spanish being that  Icould already speak it.but nooo,French sounded so cool..

Fun and beautiful language, but with only 4 other students in my class by the third year, I felt like the idiot of the classroom because I didn't enjoy practicing it in my spare time.

Nothing against French, but it just seems that with the changing demographics in most parts of our country that Spanish is a much more useful class to take than French.

I took French and you should also. It was the language of science, culture and diplomacy for centuries, and you can learn much by having a little knowledge of the language.

We had for like one week before our teacher had to leave.

I took French not out of choice, had too!!! I have also used it and although the French want you to speak it, all they do is ridicule you for trying. As for me I'm now one of those ENGLISH who would rather say: Foreign Idiots, why can't you understand English!!!! Not a hater of the Country, just very disgruntled with the people.  Maybe I just need to meet a nice one!!!!!  or maybe it is just a love hate relationship we have!

I never took it, I took Spanish in high school. I don't see a glaring need for it to be taught, but it's fine if kids take it. Estimated time it'll probably take for some ignorant jackass to write a review saying, in effect, if you take this you'll become a rude, sniveling chain-smoking beret wearing mime performing craven with cheese pouring out of your ears- 1.5 minutes.

The language of love or so they say. Being a person who had to learn new language every 2-3 years in the past 15 years, makes you very open to other languages. I've taken French classes in High School and College and it came very smoothly to me. As a matter of fact, people didn't believe me when I told them I wasn't French.Je ne francais pas.

The true Mother Language of English, as 65% of our vocabulary comes from this Gallic tongue. A somewhat formal language that relies on roundabout syntactical constructs, and as such, is resistent to change. Like English, it is highly idiomatic, and hence, provides plenty of expressive color. It's relatively grammar-free in relation to several other modern Western languages (German, Russian, Portuguese), and possesses a music and inflection that is quite euphonious if spoken correctly: English, although more supple, practical and expressive, is extremely ugly-sounding in comparison. It is a language that supported one of the greatest literatures of the world and is still one of the most important languages in contemporary philosophy. UPDATE (6/26/06): Sorry to burst the bubble of the ignorant clowns on this board who believe that English derives directly from Latin and not French, but anyone who has studied linguistics knows that French is much more of a precursor of English than ... Read more

Why? This is America.

I always had a knack for foreign languages, this was the quickest "A", I ever earned. The class allows you to learn the language, as well as get to know the culture of the country. My teacher had even studied in Paris, so she had excellent stories of living there, with some pictures that she shared of some of the museums and attractions that some of the biger cities had to offer. Because of this class; I want to someday travel to France just to see it for myself...

When we think of French cuisine the stereotypical meal consisting of rich sauces, escargot, and dishes laden with heavy cream and butter come to mind. These elegantly prepared and elaborately presented dishes known as haute cuisine prepared by trained chefs have given way to more of a nouvelle cuisine of simpler fare with sauces made from reductions and smaller portions found mostly in the more upscale French restaurants. The diverse flavors of France are actually as diverse as those we find in the different regions of the US. In fact, we owe a lot to the French for their influences on our American diet, the basis of our sauces come from the French mother sauces. Bechamel or white sauce is essential in the making of cheese sauce for macaroni and cheese or creamy gravy served over fried chicken and the traditional biscuits and gravy. Mayonnaise an emulsified sauce that is used almost everyday and hollandaise severed over eggs Benedict or steamed asparagus. Simple to complicated blends o... Read more

I'M GOING TO QUOTE NASGARD: And also English doesnt come from french....god IGNORANT PEOPLE... LATIN formed part of the english language thanks to the romans that ruled the countries for years and years. --------- English comes from latin THROUGH French, because a long time ago a french king took over england and he introduced some of the french language. anyway, i don't like the language

With all the respect to any French speakers out there -- I hate this language. I took it in high school with a dictator of a teacher. I can read French newspapers pretty well, but I could never really master the pronunciation. And it doesn't sound too pretty either.

If you try even a few words of somebody else's language it opens up a new and refreshing way of looking at life and conversations become warmer and friendlier. It is a lovely language when spoken eloquently. The Belgians and Swiss use 'nonante' for quatre-vingt douze which, modernistically, makes sense.

Tried it. Wasn't great.

hate how it sounds. sorry.

first of all french is a latin language like italian and spanish.. but its for sure the worst i've never liked it, i had the chance to study it, but i prefered german. And also English doesnt come from french....god IGNORANT PEOPLE... LATIN formed part of the english language thanks to the romans that ruled the countries for years and years.

I can't believe that someone thinks that 65% of English comes from French (a Gallic language?). Perhaps the other reviewer has French confused with Latin, which is of course the basis for French. Fench is somewhat of an effeminate language, at least to my ear. Also very often too nasal. It's grammar is, if you wish to speak it correctly, fairly complicated (no simple, as others may suggest). Also, I have often wondered about the overall sense of a language where, in order to count past a certain number, you have to engage in multiplacation and addition (i.e., the number 92 is quattre vingt douze, or four times twenty plus twelve'). French is just a badly spoken Romance language.

During the age of Louis XIV (the Sun King), French was the accepted language of art, science, diplomacy and philosophy. Today, after years of French resistence to change, the tongue may be dying and retains its sole hold as the language of diplomacy (and perhaps romance). Probably the most pleasing to the ear (at least to mine), but French still has those irritating gendered nouns (as all Romance languages seem to have).

At its best, the finest food in the world, and worth every penny of the price. It is NOT easy to make and I have certainly messed up a good many recipes in my own kitchen.

Well, it can sound ok, but I don't like it. cool laugh tough.

Ugh.....My grandfather was French. Needless to say French is a very ugly-sounding and hard to learn language. It's almost impossible to learn it in even a month. I mean, even Arabic is easier than this!

Almost irrelevant in the 21st Century.

Quite good, but a bit too finicky for my taste.

The French language is really beautiful, and they have good food, but other than that I don't like their culture, and the language is very hard to learn.

Bonjour! Je m'appelle Snoopy. Comment allez-vous? I liked French class. I found it very easy to remember the French words that we learned. I was great at reading and writing French, but I never did too well with spoken French and conversing with someone, but that's probably because I'm hearing-impaired and had trouble hearing the correct sounds.

French suck they are total losers no one likes them anymore. All they do is turn their backs on us. They didn't help us and they are cowards.