French vs. the French

[Lucia]

Test No. incompl/elem-8 "Articles", question 10

Are you studying foreign languages at school, like .........?

(a) French
(b) a French
(c) the French

Test No. incompl/elem-8 "Articles", answer 10

Are you studying foreign languages at school, like French?

Correct answer: (a) French

Your answer was: incorrect
Are you studying foreign languages at school, like the French?
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Can you explain the difference between using "the" in front of nationality word, such as French, please? Thank you.

[Torsten]

You can speak French, Polish, Chinese, Italian, Mongolian etc. which means you use the French/Polish etc. language.

You can speak about the French, the Polish, the Chinese etc. which means you make remarks about a nation or a people in general.

Please, take a look at this post too:
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic1368.html
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