PeterMollenburg wrote:English pronunciation is much more irregular and difficult to ascertain how to pronounce from it's written form than French. French spelling, seemingly a minefield from afar, is in fact full of predictable patterns. That's more objective than subjective.
I don't think this is true at all. Most languages (if not all) end up with very predictable patterns simply due to shared usage and the familiarity arising from that. It's how phrases, sayings, idioms etc are even born and exist. If it wasn't like this people would have to put way more effort into daily communication.
The French themselves like to repeat learned factoids about French being highly logical (seemingly more so than other languages) and blessed with clarity, but this is drivel. There are lots of things in French that seem to be very unpredictable, illogical, long-winded and unfathomable for L2 learners. It is in fact the number one complaint at the language cafe I go to. That and pronunciation, which cannot be reasonably said to be more difficult than English pronunciation, regardless of the irregularities of written/spoken English. Everyone from Spaniards to Germans to Italians to English people cite French pronunciation as a complete pain-in-the-neck. Like any language there are no real reasons for certain preposition choices considered 'correct grammar', they are just habit and tradition.
There's a reason foreign students gravitate towards English as the language for study and why French/German options have plummeted in Europe: it's easier.
I wouldn't care a jot if French took English's place because it won't affect me, I can manage perfectly well However, considering the absolute avalanche of effort and money poured into French by the French government to promote it, there is a real reason it doesn't have as much uptake and traction and it isn't just wicked Anglo-Saxon imperialism. The French are imperialists too and got French to where it is in Africa and elsewhere by the exact same means.