The best way to make healers fun to play is to make their profession matter in the culture of the setting and in the conflicts the group faces.
Is the character merely "Joe, with a Great-level Healing skill and a Good Herbalism skill"? If yes, why? Wouldn't it be more interesting to have the character be "Joe, an Adept of the Scarlet Order", with contacts in every city, a thorny relationship with ignorant village 'healers', and a respected profession that opens doors in polite society in ways a sinister sorcerer can't?
Make healers be more than just a skill. Tie them into the setting in ways that are distinct from the ways magical healers fit into the setting's cultures and society, and they'll be fun to play because they'll have opportunities unique to their status and reputation.
Speaking, No. Understanding, Maybe.
The few Familiars that can automatically speak, do so "as a supernatural ability."
From PFSRD:
Familiar Basics
Skills:
[...] Regardless of a familiar's total skill modifiers, some skills may remain beyond the familiar's ability to use.
and further down that page:
Intelligent Animals
Increasing an animal's Intelligence to 3 or higher means it is smart enough to understand a language. However, unless an awaken spell is used, the animal doesn't automatically and instantly learn a language, any more than a human child does. The animal must be taught a language, usually over the course of months, giving it the understanding of the meaning of words and sentences beyond its trained responses to commands like "attack" and "heel."
Even if the animal is taught to understand a language, it probably lacks the anatomy to actually speak (unless awaken is used). For example, dogs, elephants, and even gorillas lack the proper physiology to speak humanoid languages, though they can use their limited "vocabulary" of sounds to articulate concepts, especially if working with a person who learns what the sounds mean.
So, to expand my answer a little... No they can't speak it, unless the animal has the right anatomy to produce speech. They can be taught to understand languages, though.
(You could argue that the gaining of a point of Linguistics reflects the months of learning a language, so that being Awakened is not a requirement.)
Familiars automatically meet the Intelligence requirement:
Familiar Ability Descriptions
All familiars have special abilities (or impart abilities to their masters) depending on the master's combined level in classes that grant familiars, as shown on the table below. The abilities are cumulative.
Master Class Level Natural Armor Adj. Intelligence
1st–2nd +1 6
...
Best Answer
This has come up in one of the campaign I currently run. Comprehend languages, like most spells, has a limited duration and is therefore only useful as long as:
Of course, players could prepare the spell more than once, but then they find themselves short on spell slots. Charged magic items can offset the disadvantage of spells without requiring slots, but they tend to have a worryingly large up-front cost for a non-guaranteed payoff.
The problem with translation spells is exacerbated by the fact that memories are rarely perfect: A wizard who read the riddle-poem of Llasynt the Long-winded probably won't remember it word for word, and if guessing the password for Llasynt's front door requires the third verb in the fourth insulting stanza, then he'd better have made some detailed notes...
On top of that, comprehend languages does what it says on the tin: It allows you to comprehend written or spoken languages, but doesn't allow you to speak or write those languages, making it useless if your cunning plan depends on asking a dryad where her bathroom is.
Linguistics, on the other hand is always on, is non-magical (and therefore works in situations where magic would be impossible, inadvisable or a social faux pas), and makes you a hit at parties. It also doesn't require you to touch the target for it to work, which again may allow you to avoid potential hazards, inconvenient distances, and more social faux pas. Plus, it grants you an additional language known with each rank, which is a nice way to avoid making mistakes with the skill entirely.