A self-claimed most beautiful language in the world. A soft pronouncing of “t” and an “r” sounded from the uvular. One of the most renowned inheritance of ancient Latin. Official language used in International Laws.
French is a lot of things. To the speakers of this language, it is a gem they take pride in possessing. To those who look at this language without attempting to use it on a daily basis, it is a charming myth of which they appreciate from a fair distance. However, to those who are stuck in the middle, namely, french learners—
French is a mixture of an exciting adventure and a terrible nightmare. While the language itself appeal to people with its euphonious way of pronunciation, the intricacy of its grammar, taken after that of ancient Latin and complicated it even more, combining with other factors, has made this language extremely hard to have a grasp of.
The decision to learn French as my third language was made mostly based on my fascination about that distinct personality of France. That particular elegance and gracefulness embodied in this country, embodied in each expression of its people and the overall atmosphere that permeates each corner of its cities and towns is enthralling. Those delicate desserts, tasteful wine and cheese, stylish clothes and their exquisite design, especially the way french people lead their lives, all of them express a charming feature of the nation’s culture.
It is such a subtle feature people can hardly think of a proper English word to describe—“This is so French,” people say that when they give up searching for words.
Its language, the “oh la la” or the “voilà” (which were the only words I knew prior to my bitter endeavor of learning French), together with a beautiful turn in the tone and particular body languages, is best at representing the characteristics of France.
It is hard not to be intrigued.
It was not until I jumped into this rabbit hole when I figured out that what formed the beauty of french is its extremely rigorous grammar and sophisticated rules of speaking. Behind this language are multiple tenses with the subtlest difference and nearly a hundred different conjugations of each verb/adjectives.
After weeks of weeping over pages of worksheets and vocabulary conjugation charts, I gradually went through the toughest period of learning a language at the beginner’s level. Building up a basic layer of knowledge to French, I gradually came to understand why French people themselves take pride in this language. It is truly a work of art.
That French has, though not the largest, the most accurate vocabulary to describe terms in life. “The French have a word for every thing.” So it is said.
That “Liaison”, a French term for a special rule of pronouncing words in a sentence, is in fact a more classy way of speaking. As my professor has told me: “Properly applying liaison while speaking shows that a person is well-educated.” It makes sense. Although makes recognizing words in a sentence even trickier, Liaisons soothes the perks of the , which helps with the coherency of speaking. That’s part of the reason why French sounds so beautiful.
That French categorize tenses in a more reasonable way than many of the other languages.
That French pronounces letters more softly than english. Words sound like a chant when whey are not so crisp in pronouncing.
And so forth.
This is a language that is made up with nearly the same letters as English but possesses an entirely different personality. I see the beauty of a nation and its culture with a well blend of romanticism and rigor.
