1. Why study French?

2. France was the United States’ first ally.

3. French is the only language other than English spoken on five continents.

4. More tourists visit France than any other country in the world, ahead of the U.S., China, Spain, and Italy.

5. France has the fifth largest economy in the world after the U.S., China, Japan, and Germany (2012, International Monetary Fund)..

6. France is the second largest exporter of agricultural products in the world after the U.S. http://www.whichcountry.co/top-10- agricultural-export-countries-world/

7. France is the world’s leader in the production of luxury goods.

8. France is the European leader in aerospace. Most commercial satellites are put into space on French Ariane rockets.

9. France is the world’s sixth military power (after the U.S., Russia, China, India, and the U.K.), and is the world’s fourth largest arms exporter. / http://www.globalfirepower.com

10. The French are a world leader in medical research: the AIDS virus was first isolated by French doctors.

11. In a listing of international jobs (12/1/09) distributed by the U.S. State Department: 92 required or preferred French, 36 Spanish, 11 a U.N. language (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish), 7 Arabic, 5 Russian, 1 Japanese, 1 Hindi, 1 German, and 1 Chinese.

12. French is the foreign language spoken by our largest trading partner: Canada

13. French, along with English, is the official working language of the United Nations, the International Olympic Committee, and the International Red Cross.

14. French is one of the languages spoken in the U.S.: 1.9 million Americans speak French in the home. (2000 U.S. Census)

15. High School students should consider studying at least four years of a foreign language. With French they have access to the most widely taught and spoken foreign language in the world after English.

16. Source: French The Most Practical Foreign Language by Richard Shryock Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University http://www.fll.vt.edu/french and wikipedia.org http://www.fll.vt.edu/french