Derb, I concur with your recommendation of French to your son, though I disagree that the goal should be to “pick the language most likely to give him an ‘edge’ in future employment.” Very few people who study a foreign language (at least in our country) are ever going to learn it well enough to use it in any kind of employment. I mean, we bloviators here at NRO are all pretty well educated, and how many of us know any foreign language well enough for business purposes? Maybe a few, but not many, I would guess.

It seems to me the real goal of language study is twofold: First, to step out of yourself and realize that foreigners have a different word for everything, as Steve Martin says; for that, any language will do. But the second goal is to learn your own language better, and for that purpose French is optimal for English-speakers since it’s the source of fully half our vocabulary, by way of the Normans. (Full disclosure: my mother-in-law is French — but I recommend it anyway!)