French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d’oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France’s past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.

Around 80 million out of 300 million French speakers are native. As well as the 80 million native French speakers in the world, there are an estimated 220 million partial speakers, and these numbers are increasing. Owing to population growth in Africa, the total number of French speakers could rise to as much as 700 million by 2050, according to demographers.

Let us see the first few advantages of learning french. Later we can decide whether it’s worth learning it or not.? Here is the list of 11 amazing benefits:

11 Top Benefits of Learning French That May Surprise You!

1. Open yourself up to the world

With nearly 300M French speakers globally, you’ll turn left or right, and be able to spot a fellow French speaker. The French are frequent travelers so whether you’re on vacation in a non-French speaking country or even in your local city, you’ll thank us for speaking French.

Research shows that by 2025, French will surpass German as the most spoken language in Europe!

2. Date a French girl or guy

Wish you could date a French girl or guy? We get it, who doesn’t. The reality is, French people, love to speak their own language, and you’ll have a far better chance of dating them when you can speak to them in French. From inside jokes to meeting their French family members, these are all critical things that can be solved by learning French.

‍3. Travel to a French-speaking country with confidence

We all know how intimidating it is to visit a foreign country without any knowledge of the culture, language, or locations. However, speaking the language can resolve all 3 major doubts you may have.

When you speak French, and you’re visiting a French-speaking country, you already get a taste of the culture. Since you can ask around locals or know what to look up using your French skills, navigating your way through the country is also a breeze.

As we mentioned, you can now visit France, Quebec, Belgium, Madagascar, Lebanon, Switzerland, and more. You’ll instantly feel like a local there, and people will start to treat you like one too!

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4. Earn $75,000 more

French is one of the most useful languages to learn. Financially speaking. Studies show that speaking French alone can help you earn $75,000 in bonuses over your career. If those money signs don’t justify learning the language, we don’t know what will.

5. Open doors to international job opportunities

As the world goes global, companies and organizations everywhere are seeking bilingual speakers. Given the importance of the economies in French-speaking nations, it’s no wonder you’ll be more valuable as a French-speaking employee. Whether that’s to build relationships with other French clients or to go live in a French-speaking country for work.

6. Learn other Romance languages easily

With other Romance languages like Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian coming from the same roots, they share many similarities. These include cognates, vocabulary, sentence structures, and more. That means once you begin to learn French and its foundations, you can easily transfer that knowledge to other Romance languages. Kind of like killing 5 birds with 1 stone!

7. Become more interesting

Tell any person at your next party or event that you speak another language, and you’ll immediately grasp their attention. It’s without a doubt that our society values someone that can communicate in a second or third language. We think they’re most interesting, intelligent, and culturally aware versus someone who’s only spoken one language.

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8. Improve top education prospects

Some of the top university institutions are based in France, or in French provinces like Quebec. This includes institutions like HEC and McGill University. This opportunity could be open to you, or your children if you’d be willing to teach them your French skills.

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9. Appreciate the finest French movies and books

Give the French their credit, they’ve created some beautiful movies and written a lot of fine literature. No matter how experienced you are like a movie or book credit, you can’t fully appreciate the art unless you speak the language. There are just no other ways to go about it.

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10. Order with confidence at restaurants

Stop feeling shy or intimidated when you visit a French restaurant. If you’re tired of just pointing at a menu for what you want to eat or asking for the English menu, learning French will solve that issue for you. Better yet, surprise your next date by taking him or her to a French restaurant, and show her your skills. Like Bradley Cooper from Limitless.‍

With so many factors at play, it is almost meaningless to give a single figure.

However, we can at least look at a couple of possible answers.

According to the Alliance Française, it takes between 560 and 650 hours of lessons to reach a B2 level in French.

However, this estimate doesn’t take into account many of the possible variables. So in terms of months and years, this estimate could vary wildly depending on the intensity of study and other factors.

The US Foreign Service Institute (FSI) gives a more specific guideline, stating that 575-600 classroom hours are required to acquire enough French to “use it as a tool to get things done”, by which we can understand a level equating to B2/C1.

When it comes to independent study, for an experienced, motivated language learner studying for an hour a day, six days a week and able to find an environment in which to practice regularly, it would probably take more like a year and a half to two years to reach this level.

If you have less experience, less time to spend studying, and perhaps a little less dedication, the timescale could easily be longer.

It’s A Long Journey To French Fluency – But It’s Worth It

If you are thinking about learning French, the important thing is to be realistic. Learning any language takes time and perseverance.

After the first few weeks when you will learn rapidly, progress may seem to slow.

However, as long as you keep at it, you will reach your goal.

Whether you learn French fast or slow, just try to stay motivated and don’t give up. You’ll soon begin to realise just how much progress you’re making.

All the Best!!!