do french people learn english in school?

[SusanSocks]

as they very rarely seem too speak it when being interviewed for tv

One of my French friends needed their English as they went into medical research. They write peer reviewed medical research papers in English.

A lot of my other French friends don't really see the point in using English, they think, quite rightly, that if you are in their country, you should speak their language.

There's definitely been a shift in attitude towards the English in recent years.

I'm Dutch. The difference (as may have been pointed out already) is that Dutch is not a global language. It's very much a minority language, so the Dutch school system is heavily tailored to equip its students with a second language. French, Spanish and German on the other hand are major world languages.

I find it interesting that you choose French as the language to mention - you could also have gone with Russian. I would be willing to bet that Putin speaks pretty good English - he just chooses to speak through an interpreter. There's a comprehension element to that, because if he speaks English and makes a mistake, people will fixate on that rather than on the content of what is being said. But there's also a power play element there.

I always tell English people who mention this that they are allowed to speak on the subject when their French (as per your example) is as good as the other person's English.

Language is also not just language. Zelenskyy can speak good Engliah and Russian is his first langiage, but most of his public speeches are in Ukrainian.

thanks @pointythings
i have noticed it for many years and was reading about the French Revolution recently