Is French useful?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
21

<p>fabrizio does make some excellent points. I agree that America does focus on key regions, and languages for them are very important. I think I have come to understand that Chinese and Arabic may be the top two most important foreign languages besides English. However, they don't offer it in my high school... </p>

<p>So my plan is just to take French for a year, since there is nothing else to fill the period with, and find some way to learn Chinese or Arabic...</p>

<p>Which language, Chinese or Arabic? And how should I go about learning any of these two languages? Do you think its at all possible to learn from a book, or from tapes/software? Is it absolutely necessary to have a teacher?</p>

22

<p>it depends. if you only want to understand and read the language, then self-study is a viable option. However, I'm pretty sure that if you really want to learn how to speak as well, taking a class would be worthwhile, or at least being in contact with a native speaker.</p>

23

<p>plus, if you have cable you might have a channel called MHZ; it shows broadcasts from foreign countries. This is another good way to expose yourself to native pronounciations. They have shows in Hindi, Polish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, German, French...</p>

24

<p>Yes, French is useful, especially in foreign relations and business.</p>

25

<p>Even though I truly like French and adore German, I incline more to learning Chinese as a language of near future.</p>

26

<p>Although I speak chinese mandarin, i suggest you to learn french though</p>

<p>since self-study of chinese or arabics can just be frustrating as hell</p>

27

<p>Depends on where you live. My question: why would you learn French when our country is overflowing with immigrants from Latin America? It doesn't make sense. Spanish.</p>

28

<p>nickdechile, I already know Spanish (taking it as well). I am looking for a third language though.</p>