When I first started my college career (20 years after I graduated High School), I decided to take French. So many people asked me, Why French? Why not Spanish? The answer is because I had dreams of becoming a UN translator one day, and I knew French is the official language of the United Nations.

French also serves as the one of the official languages for many more organizations and businesses. Some of them are:

-FIFA - Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the governing body of soccer (football) all over the world.

-NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement (Accord de libre-échange nord-américain)

-IOC - International Olympic Committee (Comité International Olympique)

-International Red Cross - (Mouvement international de la Croix-Rouge)

-WTO - World Trade Organization - (Organisation Mondiale du Commerce)

So, if you do business with or are planning to work for any of these organizations, French is the language to know.

Also, there are many French phrases used in English. Knowing what they mean allows you to use them correctly, know their meaning and know what someone else is saying when they say the phrase. Such phrases are:

-au contraire - on the contrary

-bon appétit - literally "good appetite"; enjoy your meal

-bon voyage - "have a nice trip" (as in, 'I wish you a pleasant trip')

-c'est la vie - "that's life"

-déjà vu - "already seen"; seeing something you have seen again, probably in similar settings

-encore - more, still, yet; encore une fois: once more, again

-fait accompli - the thing is done, it is too late discuss whether to do it

-hors d'oeuvre - appetizer (starter) ; literally "outside of the work" (of the main meal)

-joie de vivre - "joy of life", "joy of living"

-pied-à-terre - "foot-on-the-ground" or "foothold"; a place to stay

-rendez-vous - appointment, meeting place

-RSVP - abbreviation of répondez, s'il vous plaît, which politely requests the recipient to reply to an invitation ("please respond")

-tête-à-tête - "head to head"; an intimate get-together or private conversation between two people

-vis-à-vis - "face-to-face"; opposed to, compared with, in relation to

French is also the one of the official languages of many countries, other than France. These countries include: Haiti, Senegal, Belgium, Canada, Vietnam and many others. If you do business with any of these countries, want to travel there, or even know someone from them, French would be extremely helpful.

Knowing French can also improve your English vocabulary, since many words in English come from French or French roots. Examples are: accoutrement, banquet, casserole, découpage, ensemble, fiance, gourmet, liaison, massage, naive, pâté, quiche, résumé, séance and voyeur.

Well, I still haven't become that UN translator, maybe one day! My career has stayed in the languages though. French has enriched my life so much. My hope is that if you decide to learn it, you find it as much as a pleasure as I have. French is a beautiful language, with many benefits and well worth taking the trouble to learn.

Nancy Sorkowitz is a life long learner of foreign languages (self-taught and educated). Nancy is a tutor of Spanish, French and Italian for 9 years in NYC. She also has an online store at http://www.ncslearnalanguageresources.com.

[Edited by Administrator (admin) Wed, 06 Jul 2011, 05:42 PM]