Why Should I Learn French?

Provided below is a list of reasons adapted from the University of Tasmania's School of Journalism and European Languages:

1. French is the 11th most widely-spoken language in the world. French and English are the only 2 global languages.

2. French is the official language of 33 countries in the world. It is the official language in France, Haiti and Luxembourg, and the official second language in Canada, Belgium, and Switzerlang. The International Organization of Francophonie has 51 member states and governments.

3. French is spoken in 2 of the G7 countries. In Canada, people who can speak both English and French earn a higner salary than those who are unilingual.

4. Together with sizeable French-speaking minorities in Africa, Canada and the US, French is the mother tongue of 75 million people. Learning French can help you learn other languages like Spanish as French shares lexical similarities with a number of languages (89% lexical similarity with Italian, 75% with Portuguese, Rumanian and Spanish, 29% with German, and 27% with English). That makes French a very useful language to help you understand many of the most important languages of the world.

5. 200 million people around the world understand, speak, read or write French. This also includes people who have learned French as a 2nd/3rd/etc language.

6. French is the official language of postal services around the world.

7. French is one of the official languages of the International Red Cross.

8. Along with English, French is the official working language of the United Nateions, UNESCO, NATO, CUSO, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund, the International Labor Bureau, the International Olympic Committee, the 31-member Council of Europe, and the Union of International Associations (UIA).

9. French is the dominant working language at the European Court of Justice, the European Tribunal of First Instance, the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg, and the Press Room at the European Commission in Brussels.

10. French-speaking Africa represents an area larger than the USA. It serves as the unofficial second language in France's former African colonies like Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Niger and Benin.

11. French is the most widely taught second language after English. French Immersion and Extended Core French Canadian students consistently score better than their counterparts who only take English in school.

12. Over 20 000 English words have their origins in French, so learning French helps you increase your English vocabulary.

13. In terms of the number of words, French is the second largest after English.

14. In the humanities and social sciences, many of the most important writings have come from France. Students and researchers have access to these works for several years before they are translated into English. Many significant works are never translated and remain accessible only to those who know the language.

15. France is the world's top tourist destination (60 million tourists yearly).

16. France is Europe's top foreign investor in other countries.

17. France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany have the lowest rates of inflation in the European Union. This is an indicator of the economic health of these countries.

18. France is in 4th position in terms of world power and it does not have the debt facing many other major industrialized nations. (A positive sign for joint projects, business and scientific cooperation.)

19. France has the 4th largest economy in the world after the USA, Japan and Germany.

20. France is the 4th largest producer of automobiles in the world (Renault, Peugeot, Citroen) and the 3rd largest exporter of automobiles.

21. France is the 2nd largest exporter of agricultural products in the world after the USA.

22. The French export more per capita than the Japanese and more than twice as much as the Americans. Overall, France is the 4th largest exporting nation in the world.

23. France is the world's leader in the production of luxury goods.

24. France is renowned for the quality of its high tech. It has the world's fastest train, the TGV, the Chunnel, and is a leader in aerospace, engineering, physics and many other sciences.

25. France offers a range of generous scholarships to our graduate students and teachers.

26. France had 1 100 congresses in 1993 (including 400 international congresses) - a world record.

27. France has the world's greatest number of Nobel Prize winners in literature (12).

28. Paris is considered the capital of the world in terms of quality of life (Healy and Baker, 1991).

29. French trade with Canada was very high in the last decade.

30. Megabucks for French trade: In 1994, the Unites States did business/trade with the following countries in order of importance: a) French speaking countries, b) Japan, and c) Spanish speaking countries.

31. A good knowledge of French enables you to fully enjoy, at the theatre or on TV, some of the best films in the world (Chocolat!, etc).

32. Learning French can help you improve the interpersonal skills you bring to an international career in computer technology, pharmaceuticals, or engineering.

33. You can do so many more interesting things in the Internet if you speak French (high quality sites from fashion to finance, society to science, music to medecine).

34. For those with appropriate French skills, there are also many possibilities for work in the following fields: international business, international agencies, the tourism and hospitality business, the diplomatic services, the post office, the RCMP, French research institutes, teaching, translation, interpreter and government. It is also vitally important in art, fashion and cuisine.

35. Also, don't forget the 42 or so other good reasons: Due to France's past colonial power, there are now at least 42 different countries, spread over 5 continents where you can use the language. English is the only other language that can lay such a global claim.

If you're still not convinced that French is a valuable asset, please click on the links below to discover more reasons why one should learn French: