French Language in The United States - Language Study

Language Study

French has traditionally been the foreign language of choice for English-speakers across the globe. While remaining so in Canada, Great Britain and Ireland, the distinction has since been claimed by Spanish in the United States – probably a consequence of heavy immigration from, and increased general interest in, Latin America. French is currently the second-most studied foreign language in the US, behind Spanish and ahead of German. Most U.S. high schools and universities offer French-language courses, and degree programs in the language are common. As a rule, the French taught in American classrooms is that of France, as opposed to Canadian French, despite the geographic proximity of Canada to the United States. This can cause confusion when U.S. students attempt to speak French in Canada, as there are significant dialectal differences between the two; although the differences are fortunately minimized if formal French is used, informal conversational Quebec French can be challenging for Americans and other non-Canadians to understand. However, the written form of French in Quebec is the same as in France and other parts of Europe.

In the fall of 2009, 216,419 American university students were enrolled in French courses, the second-highest total of any language (behind Spanish).