i don't know what cbse is like because in icse we only have english and a second language but avoid taking hindi if the marking scheme is rigid. maybe where u live u speak hindi as the regional language or in your home so it might be different for you but if my school offered french i would take it without a single doubt because a) icse hindi marking scheme is BRUTAL i know only 3 people who got above 57/80 in prelims and b) french is kind of an easy language to grasp because the text is in english and many of the basic words are similar to english words especially the larger action verbs and c) (specific to me only but lets see if it helps) i am gujarati and marathi i do not come from a remotely hindi family my parents moved to my city for job opportunities at a very young age and i have grown up speaking english or gujrati in my house so much that i literally did not learn hindi speaking till 3rd grade. even now i have barely a few friends i talk to hindi in, most stuff i watch is in english and i never got good marks inhindi because i lack practice which is KEY.

another thing i would tell you to take french is because you will realistically not come across naturally french speaking people in india so the bar for that will be much lower and easier to break. i know which area of the country you live in and starting off in 8th with hindi your language scoring WILL be at a higher bar for sure than french where you'll start from the basics, and in the event that you make mistakes the examiner will grade you more leniently because you will not speak it as a natural language which in my experience is not something that hindi examiners will do. its also up to what future you want for yourself bc government jobs and stuff will be easier with hindi but for westernish or progressive jobs it's better to take french

EXACTLY LIKE THEY ARE SO LENIENT IN FRENCH AND LIKE HINDI BEING THE MOTHER TONGUE HERE THE BAR IS SO MUCH HIGHER and our sir was literally telling us today how cbse is so lenient with marks in french cause its our third language but also like. i literally cannot understand/read french that well cause during covid i did not study french at all AND AGHHHHH WHY IS THIS SO CONFUSING