Why Learn French?

There are many reasons to learn French:


1.       It will increase your employability
2.       It’ll  change your travel outlook
3.       To gain a deeper understanding of French culture
4.       It’ll be fun!


Employability


Yet In the UK 49% of employers rated French as useful for their organisation. Not only will you be of value to these companies, but you’re likely to be the only candidate for the position who could offer them this skill.
It also gives you a great talking point during the interview. In the UK we tend either to not learn a language at all or to only learn at university level. If you can say that you were self-motivated enough to teach yourself a foreign language on your gap year, whilst doing an unrelated course at university, you won't struggle to find a good job.


Travel


We all love to travel. And there are plenty of French speaking holiday destinations. Whether it's a two week trip to Guadeloupe, a weekend away in Paris or a sixth month volunteering stint in Madagascar, being able to speak French will make your trip a lot smoother, a lot easier and a lot more fun.
But it's not only in French speaking countries that your newly learnt language will come into use. A recent study found France to be the lowest rated European country in terms of English proficiency levels.
You will encounter French people all over the world, from America to Zambia, and many of them won't be able to speak English well at all. I can tell you from experience that it is a pleasure to be sat around drinking with your new found hostel friends, acting as a translator for the pretty French girls who don't zzpeaaak ingleesh.




Culture


It's easy to stereotype the French; they love cheese, wine and garlic. The women never shave their armpits and the men are slimy creeps. Oh, and art. These are funny observations, and there’s some degree of truth to all of them, but French culture is much more diverse than any one stereotype could describe.
 Learning French will expose you to the full range of French culture; from the highbrow Cézanne and Hugo, to the very low brow Nabilla and Booba.


Fun


Learning a language can be fun! But put down your exercise books and throw away your verb tables. You're going to be learning from speaking, watching and from listening.


You'll spend hours laughing over your muddling of coup (hit) and cul (ass). The amount of times I told someone that I'd caught an ass of sun is phenomenal. Your mistakes and mistranslations will have you all in stitches, it won't feel like learning at all, you'll just be having fun with friends and getting on with your life. 






A lot of trade is done with French speaking countries, and us Brits are notoriously bad for speaking foreign languages. English native speakers who can speak conversational French are few and far between.