Pourquoi? Pourquoi? Pourquoi?

I found the 'My 7 Top...' picture on Google Images and decided I'd try to build today's post around it.  I approach this endeavor cautiously, because I'm not sure I can come up with 7; on the other hand, who knows, once I get warmed up maybe 7 won't be enough.

I suppose I have what has been traditionally described as a love/hate relationship to French.  There are some things I like about it, many of which I'll mention in my list, but other things which I'm either tepid toward or just plain don't care for.  A lot of those puckered up 'pew' sounds sort of grate on my ears at times, as do so many guttural or throaty sounds that sound like one is clearing her throat or has something lodged under his adam's apple and is trying to eject it.  But this is supposed to be about the things I like about it and why I choose to try to learn, if not master, French.  So, here goes:

********************************************************************************

1. For the most part, in spite of the negatives about its distinct audio peculiarities mentioned above, it's a pretty tongue.  French differs from most of the other Romance languages in its paucity of words ending with vowels.  This is somewhat deceptive, though, in the fact that so many final letters are not pronounced that often words end with vowel-like sounds, especially those nasal and guttural sounds.  There are also some very pleasant sounding words--papillon (butterfly) comes to mind.
2. In spite of its habitual use of the subjunctive mood and its unpredictable use of prepositions, I think French is a fairly easy language for English speakers to pick up.  Since modern English owes a great deal of its development to Normal French, there are thousands of English words that either look exactly like French words or a bear an easily recognized resemblance.  Practically all of the words ending in 'tion,' for example, derive from French.  Also the sentence structure, though bearing some significant differences, follows English pretty closely. 
3. French was the first foreign language I was introduced to.  I grew up in a small, rural Mississippi town and it happened to be the only language class offered.  Had I had a choice, I might just as easily have chosen Spanish (at that time not as proliferate in the U.S. as it is now), German, or Italian.  Because the idea of being able to speak in a second language always seemed glamorous and special for me, I transported my enthusiasm to college and majored in French, even getting a B.A. in it.  Thus, I have the advantage of experience (I've studied French off and on informally for decades since then) and trying to master something other than French at this point would be starting back at square one.  In other words, I guess my third reason for learning French is convenience.
4. Wow, I've already made it to four.  Definitely on a roll (en français: dans une bonne passe).  Though not as practical (at least in America) as learning Spanish, French is still widely spoken in various parts of the world.  Quebec is to our north; Haiti's not that far away; and there's French Guyana in South America.  And a dialect 'Cajun' French is spoken in a city I've loved and lived in for several years, New Orleans (Nouvelle-Orléans) and other parts of the state of Louisiana.  I'd find it much easier to locate a French speaker without going to Europe (expensive) than I would be able to conjure up an Italian speaker.
5. Because of its universal popularity as a second language, there is a bounty of learning materials for French.  When I was dabbling in Italian, one problem was that in the U. S. the pickings are slim for books, CDs, online sites, etc., for that language.  And novels and other fiction in Italian?  For get about it; most of them have to be directly imported from Italy, so the shipping costs are astronomical. 
6. French makes you popular.  I'm not completely sure why, but most English speakers swoon over someone of the opposite sex (and sometimes the same sex) chatting away in French.  I suppose it has something to do with English being so akin to French, from the Norman invasion and all.  And it does have some very beautiful rhythms and tones.
7. And finally, there's literature and culture.  French literature has a long and distinguished history.  Some of what are considered the greatest novelists of all time, Proust comes to mind, are French.  And there's philosophy, music, and those zany impressionists painters :).  

Voilà.  Now that wasn't so hard after all.  I'm reasonably confident that I could come up with more, but that will do for now.  French is thriving with no signs of letting up.  What are your reasons for learning French?

A la prochaine...