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Sure they do. French will always be an important language. Don't dismiss it as being a hobby. Asians consider French or English among the leading second languages to learn.
With large economies like China and Brazil, Mandarin and Portuguese have grown in popularity. Of course, Arabic has grown too. There are helluva lot more bilingual or multi-lingual Americans than decades past. I have a half-sister who speak Spanish and Mandarin.
French is the language of the diplomatic core, and covers you in eastern Europe, parts of Africa, and even Vietnam.
Spanish covers an amazing number of countries.
English covers the rest.
My son and most of his schoolmates speak, and WRITE on an adult level, at least two languages.
UH,...........the world is getting smaller, if anyone is noticing?
It's good to teach foreign languages, but it no longer makes any sense for large numbers of people in the United States to study French. It's been decades since it's had the important role in the world that it once did. In terms of utility, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic are far more useful to American students.
I am so very glad I took Spanish in high school, (late 60s). Took it my junior year, and in my senior year, the counselor told me that I should take French for that year. I lasted one week! Begged her to put me back in Spanish. French was just so 'weird' compared to Spanish. So, two years of high school Spanish, then one year in college, (which is equivalent to two years of high school Spanish).
Looking back on it, I wished the counselor had forced me to stay in French. Mind you, the Spanish has come in very handy, (living in SoCal and work trips to southern Mexico and an ex who is Uruguayan). The Spanish even came in handy in Italy. On one visit, I went into a little shop to purchase something or other. The proprietor didn't understand English and my Italian is not very good yet. On instinct, I spoke to him in Spanish. He understood perfectly, (but was unable to speak Spanish back to me).
The past few years, I have been trying to learn French. Every educated person knows French, right? I'm having a devil of a time. It really is true that the younger you are, the easier it is to learn a foreign language. I will not give up though. Next year when I retire, I'll have a lot more time to devote to learning French. Might even move over there for a few months to immerse myself.
I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, met and married a Latin woman and my Spanish (what I remember after 40 years) has been a huge help. French, Spanish and German were taught in my school, don't remember why I took Spanish (probably was easier to pronounce). When I finished my 4 years I thought I was hot stuff and we went on a family trip and I thought I can handle this (Ha, they spoke so fast I didn't understand anything). To this day I still have trouble understanding because they speak so fast.
I can't speak for all high schools but the one I went to in Mid-Michigan used to offer Spanish, French, German and some semesters Mandarin; but now only Spanish and in MI 2 years of foreign language study are required to graduate.
French is still useful, but if you aren't dealing with Africans, Quebucois, Haitians or the French themselves then its basically only handy if you are watching the Olympics or artsy flims :-)
Spanish rules the roost here in the USA. Learning to speak Spanish will allow you be understood by Italians, Brazilians and the Portuguese.
I would argue that Mandarin Chinese is probably more useful these days than French, but your mileage may vary.
Unless you think Mandarin should be the international language of business, continue to conduct business in English. The Chinese understand this.
The main reasons for the Anglophone to study foreign languages is social and cultural, not practical.
If you want to socialize with the Chinese, by all means learn Mandarin. But if you want an advantage in business, take business courses.
Even if you actually conduct business in English, knowing Chinese will make you better at it, because it will bring you closer to the way the real world works outside of the anglophone bubble.
Becoming fluent in Mandarin or just about any other language (especially something that isn't European) opens the world up and gives people better perspective. It allows people not to make the kinds of bone-headed blunders that so often insult foreigners and make Americans look like rubes. It also opens up a world of new cultural riches to explore, from mountains of untranslated literature to poetry that anglophones just aren't going to understand in translation.
Some don't view that as practical, but it really is. Those who want to be taken more seriously can start by knowing more than their competition. Living in a larger pond can actually help make you a bigger fish.
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