Why Learn French?

French is the official language of 28 countries that are part of the International Organization of Francophonie.
French is first language for 77 million people, and the second language for 51 million.
French is spoken on five continents, and is one of the UN official languages.
French Enlightenment thought (Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau) influenced the American Revolution.
Modernity and Western culture would have been inconceivable without the contribution of French thought.
French is the language of Voltaire, Rousseau, Mallarme, Baudelaire, Victor Hugo, Balzac, Dumas, Flaubert, Sartre, Camus, Claudel, Simone de Bouvier, Foucault, Derrida, Lacan, and many more.

Facts about France

France is the fourth world economy, and with Germany it is the main pillar in the EMU (European Monetary Union).
French is a major language of high-tech and business in the world. (Second language on the internet.)
French is the official language of the International Red Cross, and the Olympic Games.
French-speaking Africa represents an area larger than the U.S.
Montreal (Canada) is the second-largest French-speaking city in the world.
France is the fourth largest producer of automobiles in the world (Renault, Peugeot, Citroën) and the third largest exporter.
The French are a world leader in medical research: the AIDS virus was first isolated by French doctors.The French are leaders in medical genetics (the Human Genome Project is located in Paris).
The French are the European leaders in aerospace (Aérospatiale, Arianespace, Airbus...).
The fastest train (TGV) is French. The ocean liner Queen Mary II was built in France.
France has one of the most advanced systems of telecommunications in the world. Fiber optics were invented in France.