Misperception #1:  Spanish is easier than French.

It is true that Spanish spelling is a bit easier, there are fewer accents, and the pronunciation generally follows the simpler spelling.

In comparison, French, with its twelve different commonly used accented letters, could seem complicated.  You might consider, though, that Czech has 17 accented letters, and Welsh, 29.  Also, at least one of the accents French uses denotes where an “s” once stood.  Take the French words for island, “île,” or hospital, “hôpital,” or even party, “fête.”  See?

Also, French verb tenses keep the same basic paradigm, unlike Spanish.  French uses a stem + ending pattern whose spelling varies only slightly for its many regular verbs.  Spanish conjugations involve spelling changes for different subjects (I, you, he/she), even in regular verbs.

Misperception #2: French is for wealthy people who think only about wine, cheese, and touring castles on their bicycles.

 This is true!  (Kidding.)  France rightly draws more tourists than any other country because of its legendary tradition of fine dining, good wines at good prices, and architectural gems.  Let’s keep in mind, however, that every castle is the work of a great architect.  In every castle, people lived, loved, and participated variously in the development of a great nation.  Many who speak French today have been captivated by French writers from Montaigne to Camus, by artists from Da Vinci (who lived and painted in France at the court of François 1^er) to Vuillard, and filmmakers from Eric Rohmer to Agnès Varda.  France today is also an exemplary European country when it comes to universal health coverage, urban development, and green energy.  It continues to make the case, through its leadership and humanitarian activities, for equal rights for women, public health, education, and the value of art.

Misperception #3: Americans do not need a foreign language. 

If you believe this, you are not alone, but you are misled.  Just a decade ago, if you were interested in languages, you most likely planned to work in defense, international relations, or teaching.  This has changed.  The high-paying field of language interpretation is growing.  (Sadly, well-paid interpretation jobs are often snapped up by the lucky few (mostly from abroad) who learned more than one foreign language in school.)  As for the more common jobs found in every community, language skills are increasingly in demand for these now, too. Medical practitioners, from nurses to psychologists to EMT’s, need foreign language skills to work with patients. Global businesses need bilinguals, of course, but so do retail outlets (Game Stop is an example), banking centers, customer service providers, and telecoms, whose clients may not be comfortable making a purchase in English.  Study of foreign language is a necessary investment, now…and also fun. And as a major plus, if you get interested enough to follow foreign media, (France 24, the French channel, broadcasts on PBS), you'll see a very different side of world news, one that's less focused on North America, but puts the U.S. into perspective as one nation among many others. French is a historic ally, of course, and it's language is, well, please see point one!  Bonne continuation!  Best wishes for continued progress!  - AB

Sources: 

En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language;

En.wikipedia.org/French_language

En.wikipedia.org/French_verbs

En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic

Newamericaneconomy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/NAE_Bilingual_V9.pdf (consulted 5/8/20)