Numerous times in the past, people have asked me why I love languages, and more specifically, why I love French to the extent which I do. I speak French, watch their cheesy movies, listen to their less than satisfying music, and even read their generally mind-numbing or eccentric literature. To answer their questions, I always find myself asking them a question in return: Why do you love the subject(s) you love?
I think the number one reason that I love languages is because I'm good at them. Like most Canadian students, I began learning French in grade four, and have continued to through the years with my latest French course being in grade ten. When did I become fluent? Probably about grade seven or in the begining of grade eight, yet surprisingly enough, as a student in elementary school, "slacker" was an underestimation of my poor work habits. Honestly, French was a joke. Sheet after sheet our French teacher would toss at me, and after a short glance, I would toss those sheets out and apply the words and grammar to anything I could. I made mistakes at first, forgot to conjugate the verbs, ta....l....k..ed.... lik..e....uh.................this * questioning voice * ? fo..r.... a....whi...le.., and not to mention, my accent sounded like a hippopotamus being strangled. With time, patience, and A LOT of practise, I improved and soon became really good at it -- and when you're good at something, of course you're going to like it.
Some people love Math, but me on the other hand, if my life depended on a calculation, you might as well shoot me with a y and throw a couple of x's over my eyes (y on an angle looks like a gun and the x's meaning dead). However, for me, the numbers don't always work-out, don't click in my brain, don't subject to my reasoning nor adhere to my creativity, and certainly don't make any sense. For others, math might as well be their native tongue because it just comes to them, just flows, and just works.
Another reason I love French is because I was born with a never ending adulation, strong predilection, and over-the-top enthusiasm for it. I remember when I first heard french words, I counted from one to four en Francais for hours and hours, so intrigued and amazed at how foreign they were. In a way, they offered me a whole new world, one which kicked my boring little world into the depths of outer space.
Now as I said earlier, I hate Math, so fair enough to say, not everyone is going to love French. I have friends that wish French was never created, think it pointless and dumb, think it useless and unnecessary, and as much as it hurts me to say it, for a lot of people, that is exactly what it is. Math on the other hand, you actually need. Now sure there are a lot of great aspects to speaking another language, like if you travel, want a bigger pay cheque or perhaps like the idea of being more employable, but then again, if you don't want to go to France, don't plan on ever living in a French speaking town, don't plan on a job in French, and are plenty good at your area of expertise, then it'd be like your buddy trying to get into an art school with a submission resembling a grade two equivalent of "Starry Night" and handing in a little essay in French on van Gogh's life, while you submit an original so amazing that Van Gogh himself would've put down the gun to see -- no way in hell is French going to give your friend any advantage here.
All in all, I'm just saying that I don't think that kids should have to learn French, especially not past elementary school. For those who do, that's awesome, but my opinion isn't the only one that counts, what do you think?
