I hate it when people ask me “Why you majoring in French”. It frustrates me to say the least. I simply respond with a simple phrase “I love it and it important to know a language”. Again, they ask “why”.

Well, here’s why…

I love the French language. Speaking it, hearing it, and practicing it is one of my precious joys in life. I love the way the language’s elegant tone falls off your tongue and the romantic sound that comes out of your mouth. I get excited when I practice French grammar; I can manipulate the verbs to put them in the past tense, future anterior, and the imperfect. I love the challenges the language brings; learning interrogative pronouns is not an easy task. Most of all, the French culture is so invigorating. I would love to walk up to the Eifel Tower, lounge on the lawn, and eat a baguette with Nutella.

Learning a language, whether its French, German, Spanish, et cetera, opens a world full of opportunities. Since I started learning French in seventh grade and German in eleventh grade, I have become more culturally aware. I respect people from different cultures and religions, I understand different lifestyles, and I understand different culture’s social norms. In high school, I got to experience the French and German culture face to face. I had a wonderful opportunity to visit France and Germany on a home-stay exchange trip for two weeks, thanks to my wonderful parents and my high school German and French teachers. Although I had different cultural experience in both places, just being there, taking pictures at Versailles and eating currywurst while looking up at the Berlin T.V. Tower was incredible. Few people at my age can say they had the chance to go out there and see the world.

In French and German cultures, English is taught at a very young age; about Kindergarten age level. It starts out with simple sentences and by the eleventh grade, most students are fluent in English – now that is truly fascinating. I wished in the United States that we could have had this opportunity. I feel it is important for everyone to learn any second language. Not only can knowing and understanding a second language can bring traveling opportunities, but being bilingual can make a person stand out in the job market.

As a French major and German minor, my goal is to teach students the language. That’s right, I want to a foreign language educator. A lot of people may cringe at this saying “why do you want to teach languages – there’s no money it?”. It’s true that there is not much money in being a teacher but there is so much reward. Helping future scientists, authors, policemen, teachers, and military soldiers learn another language besides English would make me happy and put a smile on my face.

So, you asked me why I am a majoring in French? This is why.

Just remember, it is never too late to learn a second language, no matter how old you are. If you want to “parlez français” or “Deutsch sprechen”, go to a store, buy a book, and start practicing.

Watch this video that I made in 2015 for my Media Literacy class. It describes the importance of the German language at BMHS, Billerica Memorial High School.