Why French teachers have the blues

Expatica ^ | Feb 2005 | François Buglet

[ClaudiusI]

I remember when I took a visit to the local high school when
I was in junior high. They had all the foreign language
teachers and their toadies trying to recruit people. I looked
at the Spanish guys in their ponchos and sombreros, and the
French guys in their striped shirts and lame berets, and made
my decision... I took Latin.

[econ_grad]

That is above the payscale of most mathematicians.

[Calif4Bush]

What wonderful news!
I'm going to sleep really good and happy tonight!
Will Canada drop French as well?

"There's good news tonight"

[RockAgainsttheLeft04]

I've said it before and I'll say it again:
The only modern-day Frenchmen worth a tinkers damn are Sabine Herod, Jean Reno and the chick who played Nikita.

[Monterrosa-24]

Depends what one means by "recent". I spend so much time deep in history that I consider anything after Columbus to be modern times and anything after the invention of the flintlock to be ultra-modern.

One of the more spectacular French achievements was flight. They were first with a man aloft in a balloon.

But the greatest thing for Americans will always be the support they gave for our revolution--guns, men, ships, and recognition.

[this_ol_patriot]

You own some French? Why, and how can you afford them?:

Easy, I feed them beans and Franks.

[Monterrosa-24]

And as for syphilis, it was arguably an American Indian gift to Europe because as you point out it was unknown in Europe before the early voyages.

[SAJ]

Good point!

Or, should I say, ''You're on quite a roll.''

:^)

[SAJ]

ROFLin' my A O!!!

(wiping tears...)

[Atlantic Bridge]

The real reason, why French is disappearing from our European classrooms is, that it is much more difficult to learn than the quite simple English. It is just the most convienient way with the lowest expenditure for pupils. BTW - like it or hate it - French and Italian are probably the most popular language in Europe because of their wonderful sound. Just like music. Not to compare with the heavy German or the harsh Slavic languages.

Of course it is nothing new that English has overtaken French or German as the world language since a long time. Contemporary kids need it as "the" communicationplatform in this world. Since all kids in Germany i.E. have to learn Engish from 6 years on it is normal to take French as a second language. But - O tempora! O mores! -The real looser in languages is Latin... Nobody wants to learn it anymore. :-(

[Cronos]

you mean Je ne sais pas

[Cronos]

Simple -- France lost a lot of her manpower during the Napoleonic wars and the wars in the first half of the 19th century.

[DeFault User]

Or, should I say, ''You're on quite a roll.''

Maybe we're both in Seine. ;o)

[ladylib]

Some people want to learn it or at least their parents want them to learn it:

http://www.stratfordcca.org/why_latin.php

[twinself]

Hi again Atlantic Bridge! So many references of yours to Latin that I'm starting to think you're a Latin lover? ;) Forgive me - just kiddin'... As for cross-references it just crossed my mind that you might find interesting a book I've read sometime ago. It's by Polish author who happens to be a University professor teaching Latin and it's about pre-war German Breslau. Nice mixture, isn't it? It's available in German, too:

"Tod in Breslau" by Marek Krajewski

Nice book if you like krimis.

[GSlob]

"And as for syphilis, it was arguably an American Indian gift to Europe "
Girolamo Fracastoro was a learned physician who had to treat it (in Europe, in Italy). He was a man of so profound insight as to propose microbial theory of contagious diseases way before anyone had any clue what he was talking about. Thus I could do worse than humbly defer to his judgment. If he wrote it up as French Disease, then the French Disease it must have been, for he surely had weighty reasons for writing so.

[GSlob]

the French Disease is preserved in the annals.
No, that's the Greek disease.
Nah, you got it all backwards: Aristotle in his "Problemata", I, 50, recommended sexual excess as beneficial for the diseases caused by phlegm. The French Disease, on another hand, is caused by sexual excess, not cured or alleviated by it.

[RavenATB]

"french kissing? hmmm?"

Yes, but I believe the original "french kiss" didn't involved a female...

[RavenATB]

"What wonderful news!
I'm going to sleep really good and happy tonight!
Will Canada drop French as well?"

I'd prefer that Canada drop "Canadians," instead...

[patton]

uuuuh...no.

LOL. You would be SURPRISED at what mathematicians are worth.

How about $80k at 24 years old?

And they are employed to explain exactly why wars go the way they do.