French

French, [fʁɑ̃sɛ]) is a Romance language spoken as a first language by most people from France, French-speaking Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, and the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, as well as minorities elsewhere. Second language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts of the world, the largest numbers of which reside in Francophone Africa, and the highest proportions being situated in Gabon (80%) Mauritius (72.7%) and Côte d'Ivoire (70%). French is estimated as having 110 million native speakers and 190 million second language speakers. Additionally, French is the second-most studied foreign language in the world, after English.

French is a descendant of the spoken Latin language of the Roman Empire, as are languages such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Sardinian and Catalan. Its closest relatives however are the other langues d'oïl and French-based creole languages. Its development was also influenced by the native Celtic languages of Roman Gaul and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders.

It is an official language in 30 countries, most of which form what is called, in French, La Francophonie, the community of French-speaking countries. It is an official language of all United Nations agencies and a large number of international organizations. According to the European Union, 129 million (or 26% of the Union's total population), in 27 member states speak French, of whom 65 million are native speakers and 69 million claim to be able to speak French either as a second language or as a foreign language, making it the third language in the European Union that people say they are able to speak, after English and German. Twenty-percent of non-Francophone Europeans know how to speak French, totaling roughly 145.6 million people in Europe alone.

From the 17th century to the mid-20th century, French served as the pre-eminent international language of diplomacy and international affairs, as well as a lingua franca among the educated classes of Europe. The dominant position of the French language has only recently been overshadowed by English. As a result of extensive colonial ambitions of France and Belgium (at that time governed by a French-speaking elite), between the 17th and 20th centuries, French was introduced to the Americas, Africa, Polynesia, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean.

Canada

The "arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in Quebec while the international stop, which is also a valid French word, is used in France as well as other French-speaking countries and regions.

French is the second most common language in Canada, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. French is the sole official language in the province of Quebec, being the mother tongue for some 6 million people, or almost 80.1% (2006 Census) of the Province. About 95.0% of the people of Quebec speak French as either their first or second language, and for some as their third language. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal, which is the world's second largest French speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick, where about a third of the population is francophone, is the only officially bilingual province. Portions of Eastern Ontario, Northeastern Ontario, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta and Manitoba have sizable French minorities, and many provinces provide service in French for its linguistic minorities. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces.

About 9,487,500 of Canadians speak French as their first language, or around 30% of the country, with 2,065,300 constituting secondary speakers. Due to the increased bilingual school programs and French Immersion Classes in English Canada, the portion of Canadians proficient in French has risen significantly in the past two decades, and is still rising.

The difference between French spoken in Quebec and French spoken in France is similar in degree to that between American and British English. In Quebec, where the majority of French-speaking Canadians live, the Office québécois de la langue française (English: Quebec Board of the French language) regulates Quebec French and ensures the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101 & 104) is respected. The Office québécois de la langue française determined that "stop" is a valid French word, however it is observed that stop signs reading "ARRÊT" predominate in French-speaking areas, and "STOP" can be found in majority English-speaking areas.

Legal status in France

According to the Constitution of France, French has been the official language since 1992(although previous legal texts have made it official since 1539, see ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts). France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases (though these dispositions are often ignored) and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words.

In addition to French, there are also a variety of regional languages and dialects. France has signed the European Charter for Regional Languages, but has not ratified it since that would go against its 1958 Constitution.

Switzerland

Further information: Languages of Switzerland, Swiss French, and Romandie

French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland (along with German, Italian and Romansh) and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions and some cantons enjoy bilingual status for example, parts of Biel/Bienne as well as parts of Neuchâtel squaids. French is the native language of about 20% of the Swiss population and is spoken by 50.4% of the population.

Most of Swiss French is mutually compatible with the standard French spoken in France, but it is often used with small differences, such as those involving numbers after 69, there are also slight differences in other vocabulary terms.

Africa

Countries usually considered as Francophone Africa. These countries had a population of 344 million in 2010.Their population is projected to reach between 684 million and 732 million in 2050.

Countries sometimes considered as Francophone Africa

Countries that are not Francophone but are Members or Observers of the OIF

A majority of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to the 2007 report by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, an estimated 115 million African people spread across 31 Francophone African countries can speak French as either a first or a second language. This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050.

French is mostly a second language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire and in Libreville, Gabon. The classification of French as a second language in Francophone Africa is debatable because it is often the only language spoken and written in schools, administrations, radio, TV and the Internet. This prevalence of French is noticeable in popular music, in which French is often mixed with the language of the song. It is not possible to speak of a single form of African French, but rather of diverse forms of African French which have developed because of the contact with many indigenous African languages. In fact, the term African French is a misnomer, as forms are different from country to country, and the root of the French spoken in a particular country depends on its former colonial empire. French spoken in the Benin, for example, is closer to that spoken in France than to French spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is rooted in Belgian French.

In the territories of the Indian Ocean, the French language is often spoken alongside French-derived creole languages, the major exception being Madagascar. There, a Malayo-Polynesian language (Malagasy) is spoken alongside French.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid demographic growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of the language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world.

French is an official language in many African countries, most of them former French or Belgian colonies:

Benin

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cameroon

Central African Republic

Chad

Comoros

Congo, Republic of the

Côte d'Ivoire

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Djibouti

Equatorial Guinea (former colony of Spain)

Gabon

Guinea

Madagascar

Mali

Niger

Rwanda

Senegal

Seychelles

Togo

In addition, French is an administrative language and commonly used, though not on an official basis, in Mauritius and in the Maghreb states:

Algeria (see also languages of Algeria)

Mauritania (see also languages of Mauritania)

Morocco (see also languages of Morocco)

Tunisia (see also languages of Tunisia)