Learning a language other than one's own is an opening on the world, on the beliefs and practices expressed by that second language. As our Earth shrinks to a global village, knowledge of foreign languages becomes increasingly valuable.
Translation can never adequately substitute for direct communication in another language.
The best reason for language study is that the mental habits it teaches give a heightened awareness of the linguistic bias of one's own thinking and of the power and limitations of language itself. French influence cultural, scientific, technological, economic and political is felt in many parts of the world. French is spoken not only in Europe but in North and South America, the Caribbean, the South Pacific and Indian Ocean areas and Africa. A great wealth of human experience is uniquely portrayed in the literary and artistic works of France. The study of her history is essential to an understanding of western civilization.