Australia: French Cannot Survive

By Gerard Noonan, Education Editor, October 22 2002:

Tiffany Smith, 17, says she studies French "for the pleasure of it" but recognises many students do not choose languages because they are mainly concerned about selecting subjects that will help them get a job.
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"How can French survive when the students ... want to do information technology or software design?" she said.
This year, 1290 students will sit their French exams, 400 fewer than a decade ago.
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The fastest gainer is Chinese - 850 students who speak Chinese at home will sit the exam this year.
In the early 1990s, fewer than 300 speakers took the subject.