No, I don't know the French language, but I wish I did. Both our children are fluently bilingual in English and French because we put them into French immersion from grade 1 all the way through secondary school. I wish I'd had that opportunity 50 years ago, but at my age I think the language-learning part of my brain is probably fossilized now. I can read cereal box French, and just barely grasp the gist of the play by play commentary on Canadiens' games ( which I watch in preference to Leafs games) on French language tv, that's about it. I can't read it or speak it or really understand anyone else speaking it.
A second language is always useful, if only because it seems to make it easier to learn a third, and a fourth... My wife and I felt fully justified in making that decision on behalf of our children. Children don't know what's good for them, that's why they have parents to make certain choices for them. And having the second language has been a boon to both of them, personally and professionally, though neither of them works for the federal government. We're grateful for that too. This country has two official languages, and I'm sure there'll come a time (unless Quebec separates, which I don't think will happen) when you won't be considered educated unless you know them both. The best-educated Europeans are multilingual, and we should be too. In fact, where I live I'd find English, French, German, Ukrainian, and Cree, useful. But alas, English, and French at about the level of a 3-year old, is all I've got.
