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Why Study French?
While any language will be useful for some jobs or for
some regions, French is the only foreign language that can be useful throughout
the world as well as in the United States. French as a foreign language
is the second most frequently taught language in the world after English.
The International Organization of Francophonie has 51 member states and
governments. Of these, 28 countries have French as an official language.
French is the only language other than English spoken on five continents.
French and English are the only two global languages.
When deciding on a foreign language for work or school,
consider that French is the language that will give you the most choices
later on in your studies or your career.
French, along with English, is the official working language
of the United Nations,
UNESCO, NATO, OECD
(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), the International
Labor Bureau, the International
Olympic Committee, the Council
of Europe, the European Union, the
Universal Postal Union, the
International Red Cross,
UIA (Union of International Associations)
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, the Press Room at the European Commission
in Brussels, Belgium.
One example of the importance of French can be seen in
a recent listing of international jobs (5/13/03) distributed by the US
State Department: 185 required or preferred French, 124 a UN language
(Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish), 39 Spanish,
19 Arabic, 10 Russian, 6 Portuguese, 5 German, 5 Chinese.
Of the various types of professional positions for which
international organizations recruit, five required French, two Spanish,
one Portuguese, and one Arabic, according to the fact sheet released by
the UN Employment Information and Assistance Unit Bureau of International
Organization Affairs U.S. Department of State, December 1, 2000.
© 2002 Richard Shryock
Please visit the original site for an up-dated version:
http://www.fll.vt.edu/french/whyfrench.html
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