French Studies: Why Study French?

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French Covers the World

• French is spoken on five continents. Over 200 million people in 45 countries speak French.
• In the U.S.A., more than 1.5 million people speak French at home.
• French is the second language on the Internet.
• Thousands of industrial corporations have invented in France. French companies employ 400,000 workers throughout the U.S.
• Speaking French is a necessity to operate and communicate well in a rapidly evolving global economy.

French is Part of Your Heritage

• An understanding of the French language is a stepping stone to other romance languages, such as Spanish and Italian, as well as to a better grasp of English, in which thousands of words are drived from French.
• French is the world language of theatre, arts, dance, architecture, as well as cuisine and fashion.
• Masterpieces of literature and opera were written in French: Beauty and the Beast, Les Miserables, The Little Prince, Candide, Madame Bovary, The Stranger, 20,00 Leagues Under the Sea, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Carmen, Pelleas and Melisande, etc.
• The foundations of today's world in science and politics were largely shaped by French philosophers and thinkers.
• Missouri and the Mississippi Valley were settled by the French as early as the 17th century. St. Louis was founded by a Frenchman, Pierre Laclede.

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