ĭue to Roman rule, Latin was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul, and as the language was learned by the common people it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which being attested on graffiti. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. įrench has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including the United Nations, the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the World Trade Organization, the International Olympic Committee, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. OIF estimates 700 million by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, the total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050. According to the OIF, approximately 300 million people worldwide are 'able to speak the language', without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. įrench is estimated to have about 76 million native speakers about 235 million daily, fluent speakers and another 77–110 million secondary speakers who speak it as a second language to varying degrees of proficiency, mainly in Africa. Most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa and Asia. French is also the 18th most natively spoken language in the world, sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers and the second or third most studied language worldwide (with about 120 million learners as of 2017). at the Court of Justice of the European Union). All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German in certain institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union. In 2015, approximately 40% of the francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in: France Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick, as well as other Francophone regions) Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region) western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region) parts of Luxembourg parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont) Monaco the Aosta Valley region of Italy and various communities elsewhere. French is also one of six official languages used in the United Nations. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.įrench is an official language in 29 countries across multiple continents, most of which are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 84 countries which share the official use or teaching of French. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl-languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien) largely supplanted. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul.

It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French ( français or langue française ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family.

Law of the jungle ep 220