France buys many American products and supplies us with pharmaceuticals, engineered products, wine and fine foods, and goods including fashions, perfumes, and cosmetics. It is a key business language in the European Union and in Eastern Europe. German is important in management, marketing, and sales. All major semiconductor and related companies have offices in Italy. Italy is in the forefront of high fashion and auto design, not to mention architecture, music, and cuisine.
Japan is one of our largest trading partners.
The US ships many raw materials to Japan and purchases huge amounts of manufactured goods in return. Knowledge of the society, culture, and traditions of Japan is an asset in developing relations with the Pacific Rim economic community. Knowledge of the language is especially useful in serving the Spanish-speaking market here at home as well as abroad. Finally, it's not foreign, but American Sign Language is used by millions of Americans and provides a major means of communication with the deaf and hard of hearing. Signers are employed by government offices, schools, courts, doctors and hospitals, places of worship, theaters, and other concerns which need to communicate with the public.