French language "do not enter" sign, Montreal (Photo credit: mechanikat)
We’ll never know how important it is to learn French language until we get caught up in a situation where French speaking seems to be the only option to take. Yes, in general, we’ll really never know the importance of foreign language until opportunity will bring us in a situation where we get caught up with it.
And as far as experiences are concerned, such had already happened to various people. One that I could name is the person named Nam Sang-so, an ordinary South Korean who happened to get challenged to North Korean soldiers in a situation inside the plane. Of course, being Korean, he wants to show to the French people that he has something to brag about his knowledge concerning their language.
However, the North Korean people seem to speak French well and fluently as well. Nam Sang-so find this fact pretty challenging to him. We won’t tackle so much about their situation, but making the long story short, Nam Sang-so was caught up in a situation indeed that compelled him to really improve hi French. He even said this statement, quote: “I swore that I would improve my French as quickly as possible. I can’t lose to the North Koreans even in a French competition. English alone was not enough on this continent.” And he is correct.
Nam Sang-so is not just the only person who has experiences that get caught up to foreign language challenge. Perhaps you have your personal experience as well. Have you been laughed at in a coffee shop or restaurant because you tried to impress your companions by ordering something using a foreign language—but got wrong grammar instead? Pretty embarrassing, is it not? Or, you must have had an unforgettable experience asking directions to the place you were supposed to go but you got lost because you have no idea about the place’s language. Frustrating, isn’t it?
That is why, as we have been repeatedly saying to you readers and to all the language learners around the world, learning a foreign language is really very important. So important that people are even encouraged to learn English in language school—a simply common and most familiar global language.
I personally respect the challenging experience Nam Sang-so had with French. For the record, French school in Montpellier can provide him the learning that will not just help him improve French but master it as well.
