I have been trying to learn French on and off for 7 years now, and I have learnt nothing. I have come to realise exactly what you said here. However, my interest in a particular brand of philosophy is cryptic enough when translated to English, which means I'll understand absolutely nothing when in its original French.

I will be sitting for classes with a personal tutor when I can (one of my goals for next year) to improve my skills in speaking and perhaps listening, alongside actually working on my French with a fixed curriculum. I still have absolutely no idea how people just learn to speak a language without vocabulary; what do they even say? How would I say "My team obliterated their opponents" when watching a football (soccer) match, when I hardly ever use the word anywhere else?

Would you happen to know any good books on Linux, Networking or Security written in basic French for a neanderthal like myself?

I love a specific type of French music, love reading what little I can in French, and yet, here I am languishing in misery and beating myself up because I just couldn't pick up the language. I hate it, but that is the truth.