Bonjour,

Finally my first blog. I decided to write about the top 5 reasons why French is such a good language to learn, besides the fact that I teach it. I have been asked the same questions by several students and people in general. Tracey Gayner from @askgadgetgirlnz was wondering the same question. Why do students want to learn French? 

Tip #1: For travel. You will have a much more pleasant trip if you can manage to learn simple greetings when you travel to a French speaking country such as France or Canada specifically in Quebec or even New Caledonia.

Tip #2: Delay dementia. Learning a language stimulates the cognitive parts of your brain and may delay the onset of dementia.  

Tip #3: Learn about another culture. When you learn French you don't only learn the language but you also get to develop a greater understanding of the culture. You learn which words to use in a particular context. Believe me I have heard many funny stories over the years from my students when they were travelling abroad and at times some of their gestures or phrases got misinterpreted. 

Tips #4: Develop great friendships. When you decide to learn a language you get to meet like minded people with the same love of language. I particularly enjoy my group lessons where I see people coming from different backgrounds and walk of life learning and developing great friendships.

Tip #5: Help learn English and other languages. Learning a language such as French you will find it easier to learn other languages. In fact there are so many words (about 70%) derived from the French language. Learning a language includes learning the structure of the phrase which helps when learning another language .

Finally in learning to speak French you will be able to understand those lovely French songs and French films with a greater understanding of the language and a deeper insight into the culture and context.

"Learning a foreign language has benefits beyond just learning the language" ~Shawn Schofield

Let's Speak French Brisbane!