French has always been known as the "romantic", "beautiful" language of Europe, its golden, crispy croissants, its astonishing Eiffel Tower; or whatever the Quebecois say on the East. Whether you like it or not, French has been ingrained in our lives and our culture — through bilingual cereal boxes. Come to think of it, its president is a giant Macaron! Also the one and only president who is married to his teacher that is 25 years older than him. I do not see any grooming going around here.

French is not a serious language!  You cover the last half of the words, squint your eyes, and pronounce whatever you think you see.

Water in French is "eau". A very accurate depiction of choking on water.

Gendering is not a big issue in French, though it might be for incompetent English learners who have never learnt another European language. German has 3. Be grateful that you have 2. Be grateful that you don't have 20 ways of saying "the". Dativ bro kms With that said, English and French do share huge similarities even though they are in different language families, meaning they branched off quite early in the timeline (not as early as the dinosaurs, however). England and France have always been warring neighbours and in 1066, the Normans conquered — you know it — England. They spilled boatloads (literally) of French language, structures, and even better, Feudalism into England, leading to the similarity the two languages have to this day. Therefore, be grateful to the Normans when you learn French.

French is still a terrible language. The pronunciations need a while to know which letters to pronounce or not, and the exceptions are just as thick as the rules. In a country with French as one of the national languages, I wish you good luck. I don't take French anymore, but I do hope I get to learn it someday so I don't get dissed as an anglophone.