Why should someone learn French? After all, everyone knows that Spanish and Chinese are more important languages for Americans to learn. I've lived in Southern California for ___ years and I've never ran into French people that I needed to communicate with. And when it comes to jobs, obviously Spanish and Chinese are far more important.

If you've ever heard yourself or anyone else saying or thinking thoughts such as these, you may be interested to see the attached powerpoint. A man named George Weber did a study on the influence of languages on the world. He based their influence on six criteria: 1. The number of primary speakers of the language.
2. The number of secondary speakers (those who learned it as a second language).
3. The number of and population of the countries where the language is spoken.
4. The number of major fields using the language internationally.
5. Economic, military and financial power of the countries in which the language is spoken.
6. International socio-literary prestige of the language.

Enjoy