Heh. Precisely why it’s the one language I refuse to learn. Like literally, refuse. I don’t care if it’s a Romance language, and I already know a Romance language. (I’d sooner learn Portuguese or Romanian, thanks.) I don’t care if it’s an important language in my field because it’s spoken in so much of Africa. (I’d rather learn Swahili or Afrikaans or something actually useful in the field.) And as far as global usefulness goes, I see Arabic or Mandarin as much better potential uses of my remaining brain cells.

But the one thing I have to give the French credit for is that their “spelling bees” are much more interesting (and useful!) than ours. Mostly because spelling is only a tiny part of what’s covered–it mostly tests grammar and dictation. I’m not sure that being able to diagram a sentence or distinguish between the subjunctive imperfect and the subjunctive conditional are ever useful skills to have, but at least you can get some real world use from them. Knowing how to spell serrefine (which, hilariously, my spell checker doesn’t recognize)–not so much.

Great post.