Now if you add a sliver of curiosity toward learning rudimentary French from the ROC

Technically we (rest of Canada) should already have rudimentary French since (at least when I was highschool) it was a core curriculum until the 9th grade, after which we had the choice to drop it or keep taking it as an elective. I stupidly chose not to continue, but still have the ability to understand about half of what I read or hear.

The problem in the ROC is the same problem that I have with my Portuguese; we simply don't speak it enough after highschool to maintain that base level of knowledge. It's something that I think most of us can dig up with some effort, but it doesn't flow off the tongue unless you're using it on a regular basis.