Esperanto

[kat_h]

Well then, you already know how great it is to be multilingual. Why don't Engineers Without Frontiers use the local language wherever possible, through engineers who speak the language (preferable) and/or interpreters?

That would require having engineers spend a lot of time and effort to learn difficult languages and dialects that they can only use in small regions. There are very few languages which can be learned to a usable level quickly. International organisations spend millions of dollars a year on translators. Can you imagine how much more charity work could be done if the UN and the WHO could divert their translation budgets?

I know Canadians are required to learn French in school

No we aren't. Many schools don't offer it at all. Many others offer it only as an option and only for a few years.