The Fastest & Most Effective Way to Learn French, Hands Down!
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The Fastest & Most Effective Way to Learn French, Hands Down!
French is the official language of 29 countries including France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada and is the first language of close to 20% of the European population. According to Wikipedia, French has “about 76 million native speakers and about 235 million daily, fluent speakers and another 77 to 110 million secondary speakers who speak it as a second language...” In March 2014, Forbes reported that, according to a French corporate and investment bank, French could become the world’s most spoken language by 2050 owing to significant population growth in sub-Saharan Africa.
French is the fourth most-spoken language in the United States. It is one of the top three secondary languages taught in the New York school system.
French is the primary or secondary language of the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the World Trade Organization, the International Olympic Committee, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Mandarin.
France -- a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council – is a leader in Europe and the world. French is one of the United Nations’ two official languages and one of six in which simultaneous translation is offered in the General Assembly and the Security Council. The gradual economic rise of Africa leaves French well-placed to remain one of the world’s leading languages of commerce and finance.
Beyond the professional utility of French, there are the vast cultural riches that private and/or online French lessons enable you to access. French is the language of some of the greatest writers in world literature – Flaubert, Balzac, Corneille, Molière, de Maupassant, Pascal, Camus, Bernanos among a host of others. Delacroix, Ingres, Cézanne, Dégas, Monet and Matisse will live on in the pantheon of artistic greatness. And not to be forgotten are the great French couturiers – Chanel, Dior, Saint Laurent, Givenchy, etc., and the great actors and filmmakers whose achievements in-home and online French classes can open up for the student: Catherine Deneuve, Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Gabin, Jeanne Moreau, Jean Renoir, François Truffaut, Robert Bresson, Jean-Luc Godard among many others.
Elite French Tutoring is devoted not only to improving your mastery of French through private French lessons tailored to your needs, but to deepening your appreciation and understanding of one of the great fonts of world culture.
It is worth noting that native English-speakers have a certain advantage in acquiring fluent French. Although in its essence a Germanic language, English underwent Gallicization following the Norman conquest of Britain in 1066 AD. The Normans began construction of the Tower of London and Windsor Castle. The monarchy’s coat of arms bears the French words Dieu et mon droit (God and my right) to this day. William the Conqueror (Guillaume le Conquérant) is the 25th great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II.
More to the point, the plethora of English words ending in -ion – information, decision, conversation, reception – are French in origin. And many French words and expressions are used in contemporary English: esprit de corps, haute couture, cliché, pièce de résistance, cuisine, nouveaux riches, voila, nom de plume, comme ci comme ca, avant garde, carte blanche, crème de la crème, film noir, déjà vu, faux pas, cul-de-sac, prêt-a-porter, among many others. Diplomacy conducted in English makes extensive use of French words: detente, entente cordiale, rapprochement, cordon sanitaire, coup d’état, etc.
Thus, native English speakers have an advantage when it comes to learning French that others may not possess. Private French classes, in addition to helping you acquire a new, very useful and beautiful language, can deepen your appreciation and knowledge of your own while opening vast new cultural horizons.
Elite French Tutoring hopes you will join us in a great cultural and intellectual adventure through our private French lessons for individuals, groups and companies, both in person and online.
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