The French Language

• by about 80 million people as first language,
• by about 190 million as second language, and
• by about an additonal 200 million people as an acquired language

Important numbers of French speakers live in 54 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France, the origin of the French language. Most of the remaining number of French speakers live in Québec (Canada), Belgium, Switzerland, Francophone Africa, Luxembourg, and Monaco.

Origin of the French Language

French developed out of the Latin language of the Roman Empire. The same roots also lead to other national languages such as Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Catalan and Romanian and to some minority languages like i.e. Occitan or Neapolitan. The development of the French language was also influenced by the native Celtic languages of Roman Gaul and by the Germanic language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders.

French -
Official Language in many Countries

French is an official language in 29 countries, most of which form what is called, in French, La Francophonie, the community of French-speaking nations.

French is an official language of all United Nations (UN) agencies and plays an important role in a large number of international organizations.

According to the European Union (EU), 129 million (26% of the 500 Mio.) people in 27 member states speak French, of which 65 million (12%) are native speakers and 69 million (14%) claim to speak it as a second language. That makes French the third most spoken second language in the Union, after English and German.

In addition, prior to the ascension of English in the early 20th century, French served as the preeminent language of diplomacy among European and colonial powers as well as a lingua franca among the educated classes of Europe.

Today there are special programs by the governments of France and the Canadian Province of Quebec to protect the French language from the influence notably of the English language.

French as a Second Language

The French government also has satellite cultural centers (Alliance française) in many countries that offer French classes and have the purpose of 'defending' the French language.

The Alliance Française was created in Paris in 1883 by a group of men, among them the scientist Louis Pasteur, the diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps, the writers Jules Verne and Ernest Renan, and the publisher Armand Colin to promote learning French as a second language.