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this post was submitted on 16 May 2024
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chapotraphouse
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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).
You can sing songs written by Sankara.
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.
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!
The beer is good. Demos are on another level.
But there are the laws against wearing hijabs and turbans. . . . and all the other racism.
bUT YOU COULD VISIT QUEBEK!
ON EST AU QUÉBEC ICITTTE!!!
Or rural Louisiana, mon ami
Actual French speakers in rural Louisiana are few and far between. It was official govt. policy until the 80s to prevent Cajun and Creole kids from speaking French in school.
Don't forget Saint Pierre and Miquelon is right there!!!
Le Croibecois speak English too! Hell you might as well teach Newfinlandish.
Understanding Newfie idioms is unironically more useful if you ever work the rigs.