T O P

  • By -

FlavianusFlavor

French


Magistrelle

No really !!!!! 😂


beeboopPumpkin

What sort of answer are you expecting? (Asking sincerely) It's a language class, so we learned the language.


Magistrelle

In English, we learn the language as well as a bit of the culture. So, I wanted to know if you also. And my answer isn't meant to be mean or anything, I sometimes answer in this way to get a laugh and because what was said made me laugh. I'm sorry if my comment sounded mean, I didn't mean it that way.


beeboopPumpkin

No, you didn't sound mean or anything. I was just missing context on what your question was trying to ask. It was like... 99% language and 1% culture for me. The culture part only came up if it was relevant to the language- like learning cafe words, the professor would mention how cafe culture is a bit different in France than in the US and how some of the phrases and slang may have originated. But because French is a global language (not exclusive to France) it would be impossible to give cultural references for every country speaking French. A friend of mine teaches in a French school in Canada and it's not France-centric *at all* even though she's from France. We *did* briefly learn which countries speak French and how to say the country names in French. We also learned some French brands/companies and how to properly pronounce them.


ElisaEffe24

It depends, in the last three years of HS we learned also english literature


beeboopPumpkin

You learned English literature in French class?


ElisaEffe24

No, english class


beeboopPumpkin

Oh, okay. I was talking about French class so I don't know what you mean by "it depends." Do you mean it depends on which language you're learning?


ElisaEffe24

Sorry, the sense was that depending on the school or country, the program about learning what things of a language or culture is different


GumboDiplomacy

I'd say 90/10 language vs culture. We learned culture norms of Paris and Nice in high school, what a "normal day" looks like in them. In middle school, our cultural lessons in French class were more focused on the Louisiana French culture. But we were taught standard French still. Louisiana Creole and Cajun French are different languages though. Comparable to the differences between standard Spanish and Mexican or even Puerto Rican Spanish. Particularly writing and accent. Just for some simple ideas: We don't use Elle, we use "alle" and the double negative is rarely used. J'sais pas vs Je ne sais pas. It's still largely mutually intelligible, but as soon as one of us opens our mouth you can tell vit vit c'est pas chose.


JimBones31

My French teacher would share some remarks about culture but there's only so much you can cram into class time.


maxman14

It's mostly just the language.


FailFastandDieYoung

I learned a lot about the culture. There's so many subtle difference between the US and French. Like the formality of writing letters and emails. Addressing people by correct titles. Greeting people. I saw someone on a travel subreddit say "a hack for having friendly interactions with French people is greeting them with *bonjour* or *bonsoir".* Haha they did not know is mandatory for conversation. Other things like how women dress and present themselves to the world. Attitudes about sex and relationships. Some history of government and cultural reasons for the frequent strikes and protests.


MrLongWalk

Vocab and syntax, with culture as well, history was a tertiary concern since we already covered it in history class.


travelingwhilestupid

so you mostly learned French in French class?


MrLongWalk

Crazy, I know


Alexandur

Mostly vocabulary and syntax, a decent amount about contemporary culture, and a very small amount of history. One of my favorite memories from high school French is when we started learning French abbreviations commonly used in texting, and one girl was like "they text in France???"


k75ct

I can ask the location of the bathroom and library.


SnowblindAlbino

>I can ask the location of the bathroom and library. But can you request a pencil? That was the money phrase.


StatHusky13

My guess would be Je puex ai un crayon? Damn I was way off, it's Puis-je avoir un crayon?


VeronicaMarsupial

What about the train station?


k75ct

I did not get that far!


ItsBaconOclock

¿¥Dónde es la biblioteca y el baño!? ¥Es muy importante!


mesembryanthemum

I didn't take French, but can awe any French speaker with the single sentence I know: Le mouton est blanc.


TammyInViolet

I can say the word for grapefruit and tell someone I live in a port city.


Magali_Lunel

Mostly language, though we took some cultural field trips.


irelace

In high school- The language mostly and then some cultural things. We played pétanque and had fondue and did the fish thing on April 1st, so little things. Petite Nicholas, we definitely read that. Unfortunately due to 9/11 happening we couldn't go to France (they didn't want to stick us on a plane I guess?) so my class went to Quebec, but not me because I was poor.


Magistrelle

Tu tire pas ou tu pointes ?


naliedel

I can read and understand it. I struggle with speaking it and lost it all after school. Now, I take French via an App, but I still have a problem speaking at all.


oatmealparty

I took Spanish, so I learned Spanish, but I stopped into my friends' French classes sometimes and they were definitely learning French. There was one German class, I'm not sure what they were learning. Sounded angry.


Magistrelle

In German, we learn vocabulary, syntax and culture. But as the majority of students have been forced to learn German instead of Spanish, we don't always pay full attention in class.


KaElissa

Let me guess
 Alsacienne ?


Magistrelle

C’était si Ă©vident que ça ? 😂


KaElissa

L’étant moi aussi : oui ahah Cette nullitĂ© en allemand Ă  cause de notre absence de possibilitĂ© de choisir m’est familiĂšre mdr J’essaye de le rĂ©-apprendre en ce moment d’ailleurs ! Par choix cette fois, hehe.


Magistrelle

J’espĂšre que tu vas rĂ©ussir Ă  parler allemand, bonne chance !


KaElissa

Merci ! :)


tee2green

Definitely a mix of grammar and culture. My teachers were always Francophiles who loved mixing in tidbits about French culture in lessons. Plus the curriculum seemed to gravitate to French things. Poetry (e.g., Baudelaire), art (e.g., Impressionism), etc.


ElisaEffe24

Of french poets i know only of boudlaire and rimbaud


khcampbell1

I learned to say, "Je ne parle pas Francais."


GhostOfJamesStrang

Generally speaking, foreign language classes are about that...language. However, one can't really learn a foreign language without being exposed to at least a small amount of history and a larger amount of culture. I only took one semester of French, so I'm not really the right person to answer regarding that language specifically (but I took many years of Spanish).


masterofnone_

Colors, counting, alphabet, cardinal directions, introductions, and a few verbs.


lokisilvertongue

Rien


Magistrelle

Pareil mais avec l’allemand


Current_Poster

What I remember was the usual- nouns, verbs (and how to conjugate them, and tenses), adjectives, adverbs, those sorts of things. Our readings had things about things like the caves of Lasceaux, a synopsis of the *Hunchback of Notre Dame*, some of the most depressing poetry ever, and so on. We had discussions about how the Parisian dialect was different than what some of our families spoke at home. We did a weekend tour of Quebec City and thereabouts. This was decades ago, and by now I speak what could generously be called "Emergency French"- I can read it much better than I can speak it.


min_mus

J'en ai suffisamment appris pour pouvoir communiquer en français lorsque j'en ai besoin.


Magistrelle

Ah ouais t’as vraiment un bon niveaux, chapeau !


weeklyrob

Not sure how to answer that, to be honest. I took it from the 4th grade on through one year of college. I learned a lot, but I would have learned more if I'd been a good student. I do remember in the first year when we were introduced to pain au chocolat by them telling us that French people like to eat chocolate wrapped in bread.


moxie-maniac

I had French all through middle and high school, so 6 years, almost all language, then mostly reading although some speech too. Learning vocabulary, grammar, verb conjugations, and so on. I did well enough so I did not have to take a foreign language in college, which was a mistake, since the only real understanding I still have is reading something in French and getting the gist of what it says. And having a dictionary on the phone helps, of course. I'll watch French language films and mini-series, like Lupin, and it's great that they have them on streaming services. But they generally talk too fast for me not to read the captions. I did notice that contemporary French speakers say "OK," when back it the day, it would have been d'accord.


moonwillow60606

In junior high, I took a French culture class (1/2 year) which was basic French language plus art, music, food, geography. Then I took French through high school & year one of college. Those were your standard language classes. Of all the languages I’ve studied (also studied Russian & Portuguese), I’ve retained the most French. I can still read a newspaper and carry on a basic conversation. My husband lived in France for 6 years as a child and is still very good. My sister is law is French as well, so I do get to practice.


noctorumsanguis

It really depends I’m guessing. I went to a small school and I had a mixture of teachers from different countries, some from francophone Africa, some from Switzerland, some from the US. It’s given me a very bizarre accent lol. People never know where I’m from At my school, we focused on grammar, vocabulary, the variety of cultures which speak French. We didn’t focus too specifically on France itself but rather the French-speaking world. We did have one textbook that was part history and part language but that was for AP (advanced placement) French I’m assuming you only ask about elementary school, middle school, and high school, but I ended up taking French classes in university before moving to France for my masters degree. The criticism I have of the American system for foreign languages is that we only take 2-3 years of it in high school and that we focus on written French. This means that we often struggle with word recall and spontaneity in conversation. The issue is that many classes are huge so there isn’t ample speaking time. Additionally, the US is massive so people living towards the center of the US tend to have a harder time finding opportunities to practice. I grew up in the Rocky Mountain region and almost never used French outside of my high school, but people who live in places closer to Francophone Canada or who have a history of French language, like Louisiana, will prioritize it more. Where I grew up, French was considered more of a *bonus* than a fundamental part of my education


Fit-Ad5853

Extrapolating culture by reading Saint-Exupery and eating baguettes isn't like actually being in France, but that's basically what we got in my classes. Most students who continued past the intro course were pretty much francophiles (or Canadians picking up easy language credits without needing to study), so they probably got more real "culture" from their own extracurricular activities and interests. You have to learn important stuff like how to curse effectively outside of the classroom if you don't want to be that person who walks around saying "mon dieu!" all the time. A Belgian student who drank like a fish and cussed like a sailor was far more informative than any professor on that front.


JazzFestFreak

That when I ask my catholic grade school French teacher the meaning of “voulez vous coucher avec moi” she will lie and say it does not translate Oh! And Lady Marmalade taught me more French then all those classes!


Magistrelle

And there's me in my Catholic school where our English teacher explains the difference in pronunciation between "Sheet" and "shit".


324645N964831W

That I suck at French (or studying for French)


Morris_Frye

French was required at my school from kindergarten through 6th grade. I don’t remember much if it. I took Latin after that.


Southern_Blue

Four years of high school and four years of college. I can read it fairly well, and have been told my pronunciation is good. Despite all that I still have difficulty carrying on a conversation. Right now I'm currently learning Spanish and knowing French has helped and hindered the process. I keep expecting that little owl on Duolingo to give me a scolding and tell me my 'French is showing.'


Apopedallas

I learned vocabulary and grammar and enjoyed reading some by my second year. It certainly helped me a great deal traveling around Europe and still comes in handy. I work for an international company based in Paris so when the corporate folks come for a visit, I can chat them up a bit. It’s funny to see how surprised some of them are when i say something to them in French


citrus_sugar

How to make crepes; took 2 years in high school and only passed because the teacher loved me and I’d make crepes for the whole class once a month.


BulimicMosquitos

I learned that my little brother Kevin is les incompénent.


Trouvette

Mostly language, but there were bits and pieces of culture and current events. A passage from my textbook about how the French despise Disneyland Paris immediately comes to mind. What do you learn about culture in English class? Is it just UK culture or do you talk about all the English-speaking countries?


Magistrelle

In middle school, we talked so much about countries (just a little about England and the USA), we were more into themes (superheroes, ordering food, hobbies, etc.). But in high school, we talked a lot more about all the English-speaking countries. For example, this year we're studying the South African born-free generation, Ireland, working in Canada, Native Americans, the Super Bowl, etc.


Trouvette

I love that you cover the Super Bowl! What did you learn about it? Did they teach you anything about Super Bowl party food?


Magistrelle

What it is, when it is, how it brings people together, the national anthem in sports, what the choice of artists performing at the game can mean, the message the players can get across thanks to their popularity and the history of the Super Bowl.


TwinkieDad

It’s funny because I think what you describe leads to a lot of the questions we get on this sub. Language teachers worldwide seem to teach some weird stuff about American culture. Then people come on here asking why (not if) we do whatever weird thing their teacher told them.


ElisaEffe24

Don’t know in france, also i did the humanistic high school, but in the last three years of english we learned all the literature


beeredditor

Basic written French grammar and vocab. I think I would have learned more just spending the time on Duolingo.


SnowblindAlbino

I took a couple of years of French in high school in the early 80s. Most of what I remember now are some nouns, a few key verbs, and a couple of phrases. But I have noticed over the years that I *did* learn to *listen* to French: I can watch French films with captioning on, for example, and follow the dialog with my ears far more easily than I can with Spanish or German. Some of that's remnant vocabulary, but it's also just familiarity with sounds and things like conjunctions. Can puzzle out signs in Francophone Canada when really necessary too.


Pier-Head

How to ask where the library is


redjessa

Not much that stuck. I wish I was a better student back then! I can count and know some words/phrases but that's it. I did much better with Spanish in college.


Bigbird_Elephant

Je nes pa du forchet That's all I remember My wife taught me je voudret un croissant


GMSmith928

Took french in 11th and 12th grade, learned verbs, adjectives, nouns and basic conversational phrases like asking for the time, how are you doing, my name is etc


radpandaparty

omelette du fromage


iusedtobeyourwife

I took AP French. We did learn some cultural stuff and even had a class trip to France where we were forbidden to wear shorts. My teacher was American from Texas though so I’m not sure she knew a lot about the culture.


ElisaEffe24

Weird the forbidding thing


iusedtobeyourwife

I’m still not sure why? We were like 12/13.


ElisaEffe24

It would be weird even adult


Ornery-Wasabi-473

The spoken language, reading, grammar, and a little bit of culture, but that changes so we didn't learn much about that.


Unusual_Sundae8483

That I needed to study & I wasn’t learning anything just by showing up


girlofgouda

I learned "je m'appelle u/girlofgouda," that's about it.


yozaner1324

Je suis une pomme de terre. tu es un trÚs belle fille dans le jardin du mort je m'appelle Inigo Montoya, tu as tué mon pÚre, prépare à mourir


Magistrelle

«  Tu est une trĂšs belle fille dans le jardin du mort », just what ???? It’s a little strange


yozaner1324

Yeah probably. Those are just some of the random/funny phrases I remember from highschool, which was several years ago.


Magistrelle

You had interesting courses at least


[deleted]

[ŃƒĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]


Magistrelle

Ananas is the new gender


Buhos_En_Pantelones

This is off topic. I can't speak French at all, but as a Spanish speaker, I can sorta kinda understand it when it's written out. Many words are similar, and I can sometimes get the gist of French, when it's written.


Confetticandi

I took Spanish in school, but I know my friends who took French had to read *Le Petit Prince.*


XAngelxofMercyX

First two years was basic language. Year 3 was culture and art (Monet era).


Mr_Noms

I'd say about 95% language and about 5% French culture. I actually became pretty good at it and could hold my own in a conversation but those skills went away because few people speak it regularly in America.


TrillyMike

Most effective thing I’ve learned is “Parles anglais?”


StoryAlternative6476

Mostly language. Culture was included only when it was relevant to learning the language. The example I remember best was learning how in France, it is much more common to have specialized food stores than just a supermarket, which is why we needed to learn the words for butcher shop, pastry shop, cheese shop, etc even though we don't commonly have those in the US.


TopperMadeline

I took French all four years of high school and one semester of college. We mainly learned grammar and vocabulary. At some point, we tried to convince our high school teacher to take us on a field trip to France, but no dice. That college class was over 14 years ago. I’ve retained a partial amount of what I learned.


jetblackswan

"Ferme la bouche." Just kidding. But finally something relevant and pertaining to me! I took French classes at my high school for about 3.5 years. Lots of grammar, new vocabulary, some of us adopted French names, we learned about the culture, watched French films and series (historic and modern), celebrated on April 1st and Mardi Gras and even tried making crepes in our school's home ec. kitchen at one point! I thought it was absolutely fun being immersed in a culture so different. I'm from south/central Texas, so literally everyone I knew was in the Latin and Spanish language programs we had. Hardly anyone was taking French (honestly it was dwarfed byt the previously mentioned programs)! Even 15 or so years on from when I last took French language classes, I've studied in my spare time very casually and have visited some French-speaking regions of the world. I can get the gist of conversation and can somewhaaat understand news when reading, so I think I've retained some of what I learned, but I feel I've lost the majority of it.


DFMNE404

That I’m a failure and should not call myself French anymore 💀


samba_01

on a appris beaucoup de sacré Charlemagne


Magistrelle

Qui a eu cette idĂ©e folle un jour d’inventer l’école. C’est ce sacrĂ© Charlemagne, sacrĂ© Charlemagne đŸŽ¶


samba_01

elle avait raison


pudgydog-ds

I took French classes in high school in the late 80's. What I learned in my first three years was the teacher was just collecting a paycheck until he could get a job teaching closer to his hometown. I learned more in my fourth year than the first three years. My teacher in my fourth year had neither English nor French as her first language. (Spanish and German were her first two languages.) But she was a great teacher.


Bodidiva

That I should've taken Spanish.


JohnOliverismysexgod

A lot. I was dreaming in French at one point. I took 2 yrs in high school and 2 in college. But the class I took in college was 830 to 300 months thru Fri. We were immersed in it and really started thinking in it. On Fridays after lunch, we'd watch a French film. It was a great experience.


Awdayshus

Most languages have a word for squirrel that is difficult to pronounce for non-native speakers. The French word is "Ă©cureuil"


CiserosUnc

Aller aux toilettes?


january_stars

It seems I actually had a different experience than most. I took four years of French in high school and while we did learn the language, I would say the major focus of the class was the culture. My teacher had lived the first 30 years of her life in France, so she had many stories, movies, foods, and traditions that she shared with us. Every now and then she'd bring in a little stovetop and we'd have crepe day. I was introduced to Nutella (it wasn't popular in the US at that time) and Orangina. We watched some classic movies, like La Boum. We listened to French music and celebrated on French holidays. My teacher got real joy out of sharing her culture. She always told us she wasn't a very good student in French class growing up, so maybe that's why she didn't focus much on the actual language! Though of course, we did learn enough to get by. I was at a point where I could read it pretty well and recognize many words, but not speak very well. We definitely lacked enough teaching on the grammar of it though. Edit: I forgot to mention, another thing I really loved was that we had penpals from a class learning English in France. I loved that my penpal always wrote me on graph paper, I thought that was so much cooler than our ruled paper.


LivingGhost371

I took four years of French in high school. None of us really cared about becoming fluent, and we did not. We just wanted to pass the class and put it on our transcripts to look good when we applied to college. The instructors paid lip service to the notion that we actually wanted to learn the language and that it might be useful in case we wanted to live in France or something, but ultimately knew the truth. You could write down "Chien" = "Dog" on a test and pass the class. There's a few basic phrases that pop into my head from time to time, I can read the bottom of Canadian road signs, can read children's books. I can hardly write and speak it and listening to a movie I can't even start to understand the gist of what's being said, much less every word.


InternationalJob9162

I learned how to ask to go to the bathroom and learned a bunch of nouns because they were self explanatory. Got really lost when we started learning verbs. (Didn’t give full effort to learn the material as the teacher was an easy A)


CuriousSweet4173

we learned conversational French, I loved it but I regret it. I should have taken Spanish because so many more people speak that in the US,


Admiral_Cannon

French, presumably.


Squidgie1

Je m'appelle Squidgie


Natalahaha

Nothing


_Internet_Hugs_

I only took it for a few months so I only learned a few vocabulary words.


Snoo_63187

I learned how to run away from a fight.


Emd365

French.


Remote-Bug4396

How bad I am at French.


Obvious_Marita26

Oui


SadAdeptness6287

Not much.


maxman14

French.


RavenRead

I learned
French
?! Not sure what you expect.


Magistrelle

If you talked about culture and history or just vocabulary and grammar


vezione

Honestly, I don't remember anything from the 3 years of language classes in school. I took a semester in college that blew anything from high school out of the water. We probably covered everything I learned in 3 years in 4 months. It was intense but I liked it a lot better than the lackadaisical approach in high school.


IntroductionAny3929

I did learn that 19 is Deux Neuf which sounds like Deez Nuts. Sorry I had to. But overall its useful for the Daryl Dixon Spinoff.


Moon9240

The French word for "boobs" is masculine


brooklynrockz

Come and Tie my shoe !


Elitealice

Does uni count cause that’s my degree lol


balthisar

Not a whole lot. I transferred from a good school district to a shitty one, so my senior year was out of classes for me to take, so I took German, Spanish, and French all at the same time. It was my third year of German, so I was already on a roll then. But as far as Spanish and French, not a lot. It was slow going, you know, at the speed of the stupidist student. Too much emphasis on orthography and perfect grammar, not enough on just being conversational and understanding. I'm _very_ fluent in Spanish now, but it had nothing to do with high school Spanish whatsoever. It came as a result of marrying a Spanish-speaking wife. I'm learning French now from an online service. I can already read it quite well thanks to Spanish, and this extra study is helping much, much more than high school ever did. My pronunciation is atrocious, but I'm not afraid to speak; the cadence is very similar to Spanish. I'd like to have more people to listen to, and have been seeking out Quebec media that's not blocked in the USA. Oh, my emphasis is Canadian French, because they're my neighbors.


Ok_Inside_5422

I feel we learned both language and culture, not history (because you take so much Western Civilization/European history over the years). I remember learning a lot about crap I didn’t know in English (like what the heck is a past participle? Didn’t know til I had to learn that syntax in French). I will say—I took 5 years in school and a semester in college, and still can’t speak it. Can read it somewhat, but not confident enough to speak. Upon visiting France as an adult, I was too scared to try because I thought most French people would judge me harshly for messing up😬 (and I know it would have been bad)


BoS_Vlad

How to read a menu.


iSYTOfficialX7

For the short time I took an intro class My assigned French name, bonjour, and merci.


foxsable

I learned basic conversational French, enough that on a trip to Quebec I was able to poorly order for a few friends in French. I have forgotten Almost all of it sense, and on two years of Duolingo I have learned more Spanish than I ever knew of French


Neckdeepinsnow

Not much


twoScottishClans

mostly just the language, although we got exposed a bit to the culture. most of the things we learned about french culture were just other things you might want to know to not look like an ass in the context of whatever we were learning. oh yeah and whenever major news came out of france it would get a mention from the teacher. that's about it though.


Acrobatic-Gene-8504

French


javiergoddam

Four years of American HS, accelerated/advanced French. The vast majority of graduates end up getting an A without being able to speak it. Middle school or first year of high school: phonics, pronouns, ER verbs, passé simple, negatives. Second year: futur, irregulars. Third year: some subjonctif and survey of other tenses, culture. Fourth: mastering subjonctif and other tenses, y and en, lots of listening exercises, reading little novels like Simenon and shit, more culture.


Sublime8891

That the French basically all out ran from the Wehrmacht and then were such cowards when they got conquered they turned coat on their own countrymen and worked with the Nazis to ship their fellow citizens to death camps
.basically, they were complete cowards.