French Immersion, ya or nay?

[GreyGhost]

It’s never too late. It just takes longer when you’re older.

I used to have a small crowd of locals around me when I started speaking Spanish as they wondered how someone so obviously stupid that spoke without using verbs was able to care for themselves on a daily basis and travel to far away places. Along the lines of “hey, come and listen to this gringo mangle our language”. It’s a lot better now.

Hahaha. I was doing a job in QC and mangling my way through french to try to be respectful/practice. I went out for dinner and made it through the whole meal without the staff switching to english (normally they look at me and speak english, occasionally I get to order before they switch). After I had paid, they asked me if I spoke any other languages. I know I had been awake for a long time but damn. I must have been looking really rough if they thought that french was my primary language. I don't know how I would have survived if that was the best communication tool I had. I know my french is brutal. I just need it to work, I don't practice enough to clean it up.

My spanish is much worse. If I end up outside of the latin alphabet, I am basically reduced to order by pointing. Some languages I think sound really beautiful (such as Kiswahili), but they are quite useless the vast majority of the time in NA and I lose whatever I have picked up.

 

[Trials]

It’s never too late. It just takes longer when you’re older.

I used to have a small crowd of locals around me when I started speaking Spanish as they wondered how someone so obviously stupid that spoke without using verbs was able to care for themselves on a daily basis and travel to far away places. Along the lines of “hey, come and listen to this gringo mangle our language”. It’s a lot better now.

I've been trying to learn German by listening to Rammstein

 

[Matt Rain]

No.

I remember asking my grade 4 teacher "why do I need to learn French when I know Mandarin and there are more Mandarin people than French people?" She couldn't answer.

It would have been far more practical to teach everyone Mandarin; you'd learn to read 50% of Japanese, and can communicate with Cantonese speakers via writing then.

I was pity passed in grade 9 with a 50%; I told every teacher I'm not taking French seriously and it's a waste of time. Most understood why.

lol. 7.2 million of us across Canada, bud.

I took two Japanese classes in university, that was fun. Wish I stuck with it. Still have my Kanji dictionary.

 

[bitzz]

Definitely YES
Beyond the fact the kid is learning a different language, which is always a good thing, (doesn't have to be french, any language will do), but by being taught everything in a different language the little bugger has to THINK in a different language, which stretches his/her little brain in ways it normally wouldn't be.
Not only are they learning a language, but more importantly they're learning how to think differently.

 

[jc100]

I've been trying to learn German by listening to Rammstein

just raise your voice at the end of every word and spit the syllables

 

[Trials]

I had 5 consecutive years of grade one french, literally!
it never went past grade one french in 5 years, I've learned more just by hanging around french and bilingual speaking trials riders.
Had one teacher in grade 8 that claimed to know 12 languages, but I'm pretty sure she was mixing them up when she taught us french, grade 9 french was completely different

 

[Trials]

just raise your voice at the end of every word and spit the syllables

Till Lindemann has amazing elocution
I can understand a few fairly outlandish German phrases when I hear them now

 

[油井緋色]

You must've had the nicer Asian parents lol.
If I dared to mention something like that, I'd have gotten my ass whooped both at school and at home.
I had to learn ~5 other languages growing up but I only remember English, lmao.

Nah, I still got my ass beaten to death for that LOL

Doesn't mean my mind changed!

lol. 7.2 million of us across Canada, bud.

I went into software, so my audience is worldwide. I understand our education system had no way to predict what the internet would do to globalization...nor do they understand why learning the most popular languages would be most beneficial for our economy though lol

....honestly, I just wish I learned to read Chinese so I could read Japanese manga and hentai <_<

 

[sburns]

Like you said, having some skills in another language gave you some memorable life experiences. Why not transcend that onto your kiddo so they can also have great experiences later in life if they put the work in now. Plus the job angle is good to.

 

[shanekingsley]

Is it still relevant?

So what has your and/or your kids' experience been? Would you recommend it?

I say get the kids into it.

My wife took it all through school and did not have French speaking parents. She didn’t useit for work or anything much after school. However whenever we go travelling she always learns the languages quicker than me and her rudimentary knowledge of French has saved us in countless countries and that were French colonies at one point.

 

[nobbie48]

No.

I remember asking my grade 4 teacher "why do I need to learn French when I know Mandarin and there are more Mandarin people than French people?" She couldn't answer.

It would have been far more practical to teach everyone Mandarin; you'd learn to read 50% of Japanese, and can communicate with Cantonese speakers via writing then.

I was pity passed in grade 9 with a 50%; I told every teacher I'm not taking French seriously and it's a waste of time. Most understood why.

I knew a caucasian that grew up in Chinatown and learned to speak Chinese through his friends.

On the other side I also knew someone who was being pushed to learn a second language and it affected his English studies in grade school. I admire people that are multilingual but not everyone is up to it. Watch for the signs but French is a big asset in any government job to the point where anglos don't have a chance.

As companies consolidate departments a multilingual can cover more bases and make a little more as well.

I wish I had studied harder in high school but that was before French was as engrained as it now is.

Old Joke:

A kid drowned in a federal swimming pool with a lifeguard. It turned out the lifeguard couldn't swim.

How did he get the job?

He was bilingual.

 

[crankcall]

Both kids did french immersion .
Reason was simple, in Halton at that time, kids allowed into the French immersion program were streamed at grade 1 and it meant you had to swim with the faster fishes. Less clever stayed in English ( or had very anti french parents, they existed) .
Son stayed with it, is bilingual (tri now, speaks Spanish) and it was helpful in his 1st job, he was a journalist and lives in a very French community.
Daughter bombed out in grade 9, discovered parties, booze and bad playmates . She has since done a 180 and is just fine, but speaks no French LOL

 

[nakkers]

Born and raised in London ON and didn’t see a need for French. I’ve worked the past 25 years in the financial sector where French would have been an asset to my career.

I currently work for a Quebec company where all strategic management correspondence and meetings are conducted in French. I definitely would have benefited from learning French.

However, I believe it’s helpful to have your environment support it’s use or you’ll lose it.

A lot of French only people know and speak a little bit of English mostly because of TV/media/radio all through their lives. Cartoons, news, shows, music etc.

Or so I’m told by my French colleagues.

That’s my experience.

I have 5 kids (two step sons) and encouraged everyone of them to take another language. None have bothered to do more than the minimum requirements. Say LaVee!!!! I know, bad joke.


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[Evoex]

Wish i had more seriously studied French when i had the chance.

The German i learned in high school is pretty much gone and the Swedish i spoke when i lived there is also almost toast since i have no one to converse with anymore. I have a good friend whose parents immigrated here from Italy when he was about 7 years old. They made it a requirement to speak Italian in the home growing up. Now he has 2 kids of his own and he's maintained the language in the house requirement. I envy him, it opens up so many more doors.

I say do it.

 

[油井緋色]

I knew a caucasian that grew up in Chinatown and learned to speak Chinese through his friends.

I've seen the inverse lol

When I went to Taiwan, I saw a black dude at the gym. I started speaking in English. Dude replied back "I don't understand" in Mandarin.

I was very bamboozled. We had good laughs after.

 

[mimico_polak]

LoL similar story to my sister in Poland about 20 years ago...

she saw a black guy at a club and went up to him and started speaking English. He looked at her and in perfect Polish told her he doesn’t know what the hell she’s saying.

her response, totally politically incorrect, was ‘you people speak Polish?!’

he found it hilarious and they partied all night but obviously this may not have been taken so well in more recent time.

 

[bigpoppa]

I wonder which is more convenient to learn in the GTA, french or mandarin?
if its about same in terms of learning and practice, id choose mandarin

 

[Scuba Steve]

My 4 year old can speak mandarin I cant hear the tones and it is just garble to me. He picked it up at his babysitters

 

[GreyGhost]

I wonder which is more convenient to learn in the GTA, french or mandarin?
if its about same in terms of learning and practice, id choose mandarin

Mandarin is hard. Well at least I find it really hard. You are working with a different alphabet, different sounds and very little passive exposure to it. I was trying to learn mandarin in Uni as I was annoyed at flocks of chinese students chatting and I had no idea what they were saying. I can't passively learn mandarin. I have to actively work at it and don't want to dedicate the time and focus required. French/German/Spanish/Italian I can have playing in the background and pick things up over time.

I once had an opportunity to work for an Italian company. The job would have been in Brantford but bootcamp was making me seriously consider it. They send you to Italy for a month to learn Italian, then put you through their employee culture indoctrination in Italian for three months after. The interviewer rode and was going to lend me a spare bike to boot around on while I was there. They couldn't pull the trigger in time and I went for a different opportunity.

 

[bigpoppa]

Mandarin is hard. Well at least I find it really hard. You are working with a different alphabet, different sounds and very little passive exposure to it. I was trying to learn mandarin in Uni as I was annoyed at flocks of chinese students chatting and I had no idea what they were saying. I can't passively learn mandarin. I have to actively work at it and don't want to dedicate the time and focus required. French/German/Spanish/Italian I can have playing in the background and pick things up over time.

I once had an opportunity to work for an Italian company. The job would have been in Brantford but bootcamp was making me seriously consider it. They send you to Italy for a month to learn Italian, then put you through their employee culture indoctrination in Italian for three months after. The interviewer rode and was going to lend me a spare bike to boot around on while I was there. They couldn't pull the trigger in time and I went for a different opportunity.

eh, I find it depends on your social circle, I was once a half decent russian speaker, I learned but I also had a group of friends with whom I could practice with, it also helped all the hotties were from the land of the volga and nothing motivates like pussy (see all the english teachers in asia)