No, not joking. I have some French courses under my belt from my childhood, but I never got very fluent with it because I never had any use for it. Having an actual need to use the language would be great.
Great! I'd be tempted too if I hadn't done enough Smalltalk to feel comfy already. (I'll have to find other stuff in French. Maybe Laplace on probability? Or more likely Tin-tin...)