Ask a frenchman

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how do french view the "erbfeind" (the germans) nowadays.

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There's still a vague sense of rivalry/conflict when we think about germans, but no real hostility. I think our people are going to be friends for a while.

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why don't french people (in general) speak other languages, -especially english?

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Public schools don't start teaching foreign languages until the student is 9 or 10. In many countries the learning process for another language in public schools starts much earlier, at like 5-6 years old. Also, French is still a widely used language and everything is usually translated into French. People don't really need to learn any english unless they want to get out of the country.

It's changing fast though, with globalization and the Internet french people get in contact with English a lot more often.