Reasons to learn - French.

So I just arrived back from a night in the desert and I promised I would post today, so I will.

I am going to start a series called 'Reasons to learn', where I will try to think of interesting reasons to learn a language, and to hopefully motivate you to learn that language. It will run probably every two or three weeks.



A lot more people to talk to.

Some 300+ million people speak French throughout the world. If you do any traveling then chances are you will run into someone who speaks French. They aren't just in France either. Many people speak French throughout Africa and Canada (in fact, two of the largest French speaking cities are Montreal and Kinshasa in the DRC). French is also the third most used language on the internet.

It's easy.

If you speak english already then you will find French considerably easier than other languages. Some of the words are the same, and the grammar works in a familiar way. There are plenty of resources out there, both online and in bookstores, so learning French is an easily guided process. In fact, Tutorhunt.com lists 4,124 French tutors in the UK, all eager to help you learn French.

Door into Romantic Languages.




I've talked a lot about romantic languages before I think. All of the languages in the Romantic family are quite similar. So learning French will make picking up Spanish, Italian, Portuguese etc easier if you choose to do so. In fact, a few days ago I was told by a non-native French speaker that I should learn Italian, because French people would understand me and it is easier than French.

Parisians will talk to you.

I don't want to show any English bias, but there is a tendency for people in Paris to dislike speaking English. I can only back this up with personal experience and other peoples testimony, but it sure seems that way. So learning French could break down those linguistical barriers.

Explore a culture.



By not speaking French you are missing out on decades of literature, films, television shows, magazines, newspapers etc. You might discover your favorite artist, or novelist, or director, by picking up french and doing a little cultural exploration. Imagine the conversations you could have about the work of Andre Breton while sitting in a Parisian Absinthe bar, entirely in French! If that's not a cool image then I don't know what is.

The Duolingo Language Challenge.

I previously wrote a huge preamble for this blog entry, but decided to delete it and just keep it simple.

I asked a bunch of people to use Duolingo for a month for a target language they had no prior experience with.

At the end of the month I asked them to write a short paragraph in their target language to show how much they have progressed just by primarily (or only) using Duolingo.

I am trying to write as little as possible, because I want the paragraphs below to stand on their own.

If you are planning on learning French, German, Spanish, Italian or Portuguese, then I highly recommend Duolingo.

Lauryn Artis-Woodman - Portuguese

Eu falo Inglês e Espanhol, e eu tenho aprendido Português por um mês com Duolingo. Eu gosto de Duolingo porque é fácil. Eu tenho uma amiga Português do Duolingo. Ela fala Português e Inglês. Aprendo muitas palavras importantes. Minha frasa favorita é "A Saidera!", porque eu gosto de beber! Eu quero cozinhar e comer também. Eu quero visita Portugal. A comida, o vinho, e a praia são bom e bonito. Eu preciso aprender mais português antes eu vou. Eu quero aprender mais Português com Duolingo.

I speak English and Spanish, and I have been learning Portuguese for a month with Duolingo. I like Duolingo because it is easy. I have a Portuguese friend from Duolingo. She speaks Portuguese and English. I learn many important words. My favorite phrase is "The Nightcap!" because I like to drink! I like to cook and to eat too. I want to visit Portugal. The food, the wine, and the beach are good and beautiful. I need to learn more Portuguese before I go. I want to learn more Portuguese with Duolingo.

Monica - Spanish.

Me llamo Monica. Tengo diecinueve anos y soy alta. estudiante. Quiero hablo español y catalán. Yo tengo cinco hermanos pero no tengo hermanas. Mi hermano mayor tiene veintiuna anos y mi hermano menor tiene ocho anos. Mi familia tiene dos perros, dos gatos pequeños y un caballo pero quiero mi propio gran perro. La mañana, yo come pan o huevo y bebe leche o agua. Hoy mi familia come pescado pero mi madre no come pescado. Mi madre es maestra y mi padre es ministro – ella amo su trabajo pero él no gusta su profesión.

My name is Monica. I am 19 years old and I am tall. I am a student. I want to speak Spanish at Catalan. I have five brothers but I don’t have sisters. My eldest brother is 21 years old and my youngest brother is 8 years old. My family have dogs, small cats and a horse but I want my own big dog. In the morning, i eat bread or egg and I drink milk or water. My family eat fish but my mother doesn’t. My mother is a teacher and my father is a minister – she loves her job but he doesn’t like his profession.

Francisco Farias - French

Bonjour! Mon nom est Francisco et je suis brésilien. Il ya un mois j’ai commencé à apprendre la français par le site Duolingo, et j’ai dit que je voulais écrire un texte pour ce blog. Je suis heureux de ce que j’ai appris. Mon français n’est pas très bon, mais seulement passé um mois. Désolé pour les erreurs dans ce texte.

 

Hello! My name is Francisco and I'm Brazilian. A month ago I started learning french through the Duolingo site, and I said I would write a text for this blog. I am glad of what I have learned. My french isn't really good, but that was just one month. Sorry for any mistakes on this text.

Vicki Howell - Spanish

Hola, guapo. Ya nos conocemos? Como te llamas? Mi nombre es Vicki. Yo hablo inglés . Yo no hablo español. Hablas tú inglés? Disculpe, lo siento, eres modelo? Quieres bailar conmigo? Yo bebo vino. Mucho gusto! Adios.

Hello handsome, have we met before? What is your name? My name is Vicki. I speak English. I do not speak Spanish. Do you speak English? Excuse me, I’m sorry are you a model? Do you want to dance with me? I drink wine. It is a pleasure to meet you. Goodbye.

My first few days in Cairo.

So I am finally here. My degree is over, and I am currently sitting amidst the whirling mass of Egyptians that people call Cairo. My first impressions were that Cairo isn't nearly as hot as people were making it out to be. I was told countless times not to visit Cairo in the summer because it's so hot you can't function, especially if you're white. But the heat is actually quite manageable, and I have done a lot of walking around the city with no trouble at all (except the time I got lost down some side streets and was stopped by a traffic jam of goats).

But enough about that, this is a language blog.

Egyptians speak quickly. That is a problem for me. I have to really concentrate to work out what people are saying, and so when they speak at half the speed of light I really only have the option of nodding and agreeing regardless of what they are saying. BUT! I have been able to understand a lot of what taxi drivers etc have been saying. I had a short conversation with some kids who stopped me to practice their English but I only spoke Arabic to them, which was nice because I understood everything they were saying.

I have been keeping count of every random stranger on the street that I have talked to, who didn't end up trying to sell me something. The count stands at two people, in three days.

Sorry if this post seems a bit muddled and poorly written, but I need to go out to buy a phone and I am very aware that places close for prayers around 12. Or maybe that is just on Fridays. I really don't know.

I have begun to keep a new word dictionary. It's a little notepad, and I write down every word I don't understand and look it up later. I went to watch football yesterday, so the words in there at the moment include 'Foul!', 'Off-side', and 'Penalty!'

I have had a lot of compliments about my Arabic, which is nice considering that before arriving in Cairo I had only managed to talk to three Arabic speakers. Can't wait for my Arabic classes to start tomorrow.

Alternative places to learn languages.

For some reason I used to be very interested by minority languages in other countries. It interested me that there were these little enclaves and pockets of culture hidden away within otherwise relatively homogenous societies.

The idea of learning Italian in Poland, or Hebrew in Brazil, was incredibly interesting to me for some reason. Anyway, here is a list of some alternative places where you can learn an interesting language.

Italian in Toronto.


Italian is the 3rd most spoken language in the largest city in Canada, with over 160,000 L1 speakers. Many of these Italian speakers reside in Torontos' Little Italy and Corso Italia districts. Canada even has its own Italian language channel, based in Toronto, called Telelatino.

Kurdish in Istanbul.


There are 2-3 million ethnic Kurds living in Istanbul, more than any other city in the world. This is mainly due to the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, and the push for an autonomous Kurdish state within Turkey and Iraq. In 2006 the Turkish government allowed the broadcasting of shows in the Kurdish language, as long as they weren't aimed at children or the teaching of the language. With a change of heart in 2009, a state-controlled Kurdish language TV channel was started. If you leave Istanbul and start heading towards cities such as Diyarbakir, then you will see signs in both Turkish and Kurdish, due to the large Kurdish populations.

Japanese in Sao Paulo.


Want to learn Japanese but Japan is too expensive? There are apparently some 1.5 million Japanese speakers in Brazil, and many of them reside in the city of Sao Paulo. If you venture in the Liberdade district then you will find it a bastion of Japanese speakers, with the McDonalds sign famously being written in Japanese. The Japanese language newspaper 'Sao Paulo Shinbun' has been in circulation in Sao Paulo since 1946.

Arabic in Paris.


While it is hard to get exact numbers, it is well known that many Arabs and North Africans have made their way to cities in France, mainly Paris. Along with them came their particular dialects of Arabic. Most are from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.

Indonesian in Amsterdam.


Dutch-Indonesians make up the largest minority ethnic group in the Netherlands, with estimates reaching 2 million. There is a large population of Indonesians living in the east of Amsterdam, almost certainly due to the historical proliferation of the Dutch East India Trading company. They are credited with being the ethnic minority with the lowest crime rate in the Netherlands.

The similarities between Dutch and Indonesian are hard to miss, with some 10,000 Dutch loanwords in the Indonesian language!

Urdu in London.


London is one of the most linguistically diverse cities in the world, and one of the few places you could find a native speaker of almost any language still spoken today. So the fact I chose Urdu is fairly arbitrary. The top 10 immigrant languages spoken in London are (in descending order of popularity) Polish, Bengali, Gujarati, French, Urdu, Portuguese, Turkish, Spanish, Arabic and Tamil. Take your pick.

It is also worth mentioning that with 38,000+ native Iranians living in London, it wouldn't be hard to find a Farsi teacher either.