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I don't think it would be a bad idea for any English major to take at least a semester or two of both German and French. After all, they were the sources for modern English.
Language classes are valuable for several reasons. They teach something about other cultures as well as just the language. They help us understand the strenghs and limitations of our own language as well as language is general. Knowing just a few words in a foreign language can be invaluable in relating to people when they visit us or when we visit them. More importantly they bring depth and texture to our own lives.
Back in 1985 I took the most worthless class I ever enrolled in. It was intro to computers and was about an already obsolete language. Our second assignment was all about how to use some command that had not been included in the version on our mainframe. Somehow the teacher had missed that important fact. After wasting untold hours I dropped the class. I am still computer illiterate, but I know that class would have not made any difference.
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I was there to see beautiful naked women. So was everybody else. It's a common failing.
Robert A Heinlein in "They Do It With Mirrors"
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