Salut! Ça va?
In this video we're going to look at
nine reasons to learn French.
Wait, wait! Maybe you're thinking
"This already exists! why are you doing this?"
Well, I wanted to revisit some of those first embarrassing videos
and do some new nine reasons for those languages,
and the first is French.
But arrête!
Before we go any further,
if you are learning French or you want to get started,
I have a free French starter pack for you.
Click the link in the description below to get your hands on it.
[9 Reasons to learn French revisited]
Reason number Un:
French is spoken by over 300 million worldwide,
either as a native language or a second language.
Oh, that's a big number!
This not only means there's quite a few people to speak with,
but also French speakers are spread across every continent except Antartica
because, you know, penguins don't speak French.
This high number of speakers makes it the world's fifth most-spoken language
when you include not just native speakers but everyone who speaks the language.
Wow.
Reason number deux:
What's interesting about French compared to other languages on that list,
something that boosts it up to fifth,
is the high number of second-language French speakers.
What does that mean?
People who either live bilingually or multilingually with French
alongside other languages in their life, or people who have learnt the language,
like toi et moi.
Not only that, but
as French is a Romance language, if you know another Romance language,
something like Spanish, Italian, Portuguese or more regional varieties,
then this gives you a heads up.
There's a lot of vocabulary that is kind of similar,
the idea of verb conjugations, the idea of gender:
all of that stuff you'll be familiar with already.
Boom, leg up.
But fear not if you only know English:
Thanks to the French taking over England for a bit way back when,
there's quite a bit of shared vocabulary between English and French as well.
Some will help you make links to French words.
For example, "dentist": the French word for "tooth" is "dent".
Others are a little more curious at first,
but easy to get the hang of when you know the patterns.
For example, that French hat accent, aka a circumflex,
actually indicates there used to be an "S" where that letter was.
Not always, but a lot of the time.
For example, the word "hôtel":
Little hat on the "O", hostel!
Ah!
"hôpital", hospital, c'est magique!
Reason number trois: speaking of magique,
there's plenty of magic moments to be found when it comes to French grammar.
I'm talking about little knowledge nuggets to help piece together the bigger picture.
Here's a simple one to get you started:
Nouns in French are either masculine or feminine.
It's not a hard and fast rule because you know, grammar,
but words that end in "E" tend to be feminine.
So that's something that you can at least use as a starting point
to figure out the gender of new nouns that you encounter.
Reason number quatre:
the French are well-known internationally for their food and drink.
I'm talking wine, all the cheese, all the bread,
coq monsieur, basically a cheese and ham toastie
but really glamorous because it's in French.
In fact, France is one of the countries in the world
with the highest number of Michelin-star restaurants.
Probably not surprising seeing as the company is French, but...
But hey! Those 300 million French speakers?
Not all in France.
So if French cuisine isn't your thing, pas de problème!
To give you a few foodie options of places to practice your French
just next door you've got Belgium, famous for Belgian waffles, Belgian beer,
Belgian chocolate, Belgian moules frites...
they don't usually say "Belgian" there, but you get the picture.
Oh and of course, dare I say it, Belgium?
French fries!
Oui, it's disputed whether the French or the Belgians invented the French fry,
but the Canadians went one step further,
threw on some cheese curds, threw on some gravy
and called it "poutine".
If warmer weather is more your climate,
French Guyana in South America has a whole host of
totally different foods waiting for you:
rice and beans, Creole dishes, cassava, smoked fish...
Okay, enough about food already, I'm starving now.
Reason number cinq: la musique!
At first glance, French music may seem all black and white Parisian café vibes,
But non, non, non!
You've got modern European options like Stromae, Angèle, Yelle,
a whole host of musicians from Quebec like Coeur de Pirate, Arcade Fire--
yeah, I know they mostly sing in English-- and Celine Dion.
But most excitingly, you've got plenty of music to discover
from African French-speaking countries.
Okay, I'll give you some to get you started:
Tiken Jah Fakoly from Côte D'Ivoire, Rokia Traoré and Amdou & Mariam from Mali.
And then there's plenty of artists who've spent lots of time in France
but have African roots such as Aya Nakamura, originally from Mali,
and Jim, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo,
which, incidentally, is the country with the biggest French-speaking population,
although there are plenty of national languages there alongside French
such as Kituba, Lingala, Tsiluba and Swahili.
Reason number six:
If all this talk of music and food from across the French-speaking globe
has you dreaming of visiting some of these places,
then you're in luck.
Being spoken across such diverse parts of the planet means
there's something for every traveller in the French-speaking world,
and we haven't even mentioned the islands yet.
Tucked away in the South Pacific, French-speakers can be found in
Vanuatu, New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna.
Across in the Caribbean,
French is spoken in even more island nations including Haiti,
where French is an official language despite the fact that
only 42% of the population are estimated to speak French.
The more widely-spoken language? Haitian Creole,
which is actually a French-based Creole, giving you even more to discover.
Coming back to France, how could we ignore the country that
frequently tops the list of most-visited countries and places
in the world every single year?
There's a lot there too.
Firstly, there's Paris... ah.
The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the history, the romance, the cafés...
Paris is always a good idea.
Beyond Paris you've got sights aplenty: Côte D'Azur, Brittany, Provence,
Loire Valley, Mont St. Michel, The Alps... Beaucoup!
Reason number sept:
and while you're busy planning your escape to all those lovely places,
there's plenty to keep you busy at home too.
There's lots of good stuff to watch in French,
not only to keep you entertained but to give you some extra French exposure too.
Très bien.
You've got old-school French new wave like Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless" and
François Truffaut's "Jules & Jim".
You've got modern classics like "Amélie" and "Girlhood".
There's plenty of inspiring animated films like "My Life as a Courgette",
"Belleville Rendez-Vous" and "Persepolis".
When it comes to Netflix shows to stream, prepare to add some things to your list.
"Marseille", "Call My Agent", "The Hook Up Plan", "The Forest",
"The Chalet"... beaucoup again!
Reason number huit:
French is a language that exists alongside many other languages across the world
including a number of French-based creoles.
We've already mentioned Haitian Creole,
a language I even saw on street signs in New York.
But if it's France that's caught your heart,
there are plenty of other languages to explore there too.
Breton in the North, Catalan, Basque and Occitan in the South,
among others.
In Francophone Africa there are plenty of other languages to get curious about.
Lingala, Malagasy, Wolof... So many languages to discover
that French might help to spark that little interest for.
Reason number neuf:
when you learn French you get to learn about fun traditions,
like what April Fool's Day has to do with a fish.
Do you know this one already? Let me know in the comments down below.
Oh, bonus reason: reason number dix!
and onze, and douze, and treize and... these are your reasons!
I asked over on Instagram what your reasons are for learning French
and here are some of the answers you gave:
to visit Paris and sing along with Zaz,
exploring the culture,
visiting Rwanda and the DRC soon,
living in France with my French husband,
I live in a French-speaking country,
it's fun to learn about French culture and cuisine,
so I can have a conversation in French with my husband because
he already speaks it and I'm jealous,
my best friend is French,
to talk with my friends in France,
French-speaking Africa will become very influential in the future
due to the large population,
I love French films,
it's a beautiful language,
I would like to live in France someday.
So there we have it.
That's my nine reasons and your many reasons to learn French.
But what about you? What are your own reasons to learn?
Let me know in the comments below
and remember if you're just getting started
I have a free French starter pack for you,
You can get it at that link down in the description
and I will see you very soon!
Remember to subscribe and tap the bell
so you can get regular language-learning videos
straight on your YouTube feed and I will see you very soon.
Merci, à bientôt!
Subtitles by the Amara.org community