French Is Alive and Well (and living in Africa)

Ah, mon petit blog mon pauvre petit blog français!  Comme je t'ai négligé! 

I see from my stats that this blog gets more views than either of my other two--though not a single one is coming from France.  Hmmm.  My negligence, I suppose, is the result of over-extending my blogging resources and trying to maintain and update three separate blogs regularly.  I shall see what I can do to make amends.

As I've mentioned before, French is the language I'm most confident with, though sadly I have lost some of the enthusiasm I had when I was a college student majoring in it.  Blame that on Italian.  Still, if there is one language (other than English, of course) with which I might consider carrying on a conversation with a native speaker, it would most definitely be French.  I know more vocabulary; I know the grammar reasonably well (even the simpler subjunctive mood tenses); and I'm more adept at the most difficult aspect of speaking in a foreign language: putting the words in the right order to form sentences that won't sound weird to a native.  

Too bad about French, isn't it?  There is considerable evidence that, though it is still a formidable player in the language game, according to this article, Top Ten Most Used Languages it no longer places in the top ten most used tongues of the world.  This is distressing news since, though the musical tones and nuances of Italian and the practicality of Spanish has distracted me lately, it is a lovely language with a long and distinguished history.  

Indeed, my French pen-pal says that almost all contemporary pop singers in France sing in English and struggle to get concert gigs in the United States.  Quel dommage!  French sounds very musical and one only needs to listen to Edith Piaf or Jacques Brel to appreciate its beauty and power.  

So, let's hope French can hold its own as Chinese, English, and Spanish all have their day in international dominance.  There are still plenty of people who insist that it's the most beautiful tongue in the world and it seems unlikely that it will decline precipitously.  Ce serait impensable.

Yet, there may be hope on the horizon. Check out this USA Today article about the future of French and how Africa plays a significant role in its promise for the future: The Future of French