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| Legal status in France |
See also: Toubon Law and Languages of France
According to the Constitution of France, French has been the official language since 1992.[22] (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 the 1958 Constitution.[citation needed]
[ | Tags:Europe,Dialects,Ordinance Of Villers-cotterêts,France,Official Language,Languages Of France,Constitution Of France,Education,Contracts,Advertisements,Citation Needed, Switzerland |
Further information: Languages of Switzerland and Swiss French
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. French is the native language of about 20% of the Swiss 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 some numbers.
[ | Tags:Switzerland,Italian,German,Swiss French,Romansh,Romandie,Geneva,Cantons,Bilingual, Belgium |
Further information: Languages of Belgium and Belgian French
Bilingual signs in Brussels.
In Belgium, French is the official language of Wallonia (excluding the East Cantons, which are German-speaking) and one of the two official languages—along with Dutch—of the Brussels-Capital Region where it is spoken by the majority of the population, though often not as their primary language.[23] French and German are not official languages nor recognized minority languages in the Flemish Region, although along borders with the Walloon and Brussels-Capital regions, there are a dozen municipalities with language facilities for French speakers. A mirror situation exists for the Walloon Region with respect to the Dutch and German languages. In total, native French speakers make up about 40% of the country's population, while the remaining 60% speak Dutch as a first language. Of the latter, 59% claim to speak French as a second language, meaning that about three quarters of the Belgian population can speak French.[24][25]
[ | Tags:Ipa,Belgium,Belgian French,Brussels,Wallonia,East Cantons,German-speaking,Dutch,Brussels-capital Region,Flemish Region,Municipalities With Language Facilities,First,Second Language, Monaco and Andorra |
Further information: Languages of Monaco and Languages of Andorra
Although Monégasque is the national language of the Principality of Monaco, French is the only official language, and French nationals make up some 47% of the population.
Catalan is the only official language of Andorra; however, French is commonly used because of the proximity to France. French nationals make up 7% of the population.
Knowledge of French in the European Union and candidate countries[26]
[ | Tags:Catalan,European Union,Languages Of Andorra,Monégasque,Principality Of Monaco,Andorra, Italy |
Further information: Languages of Italy
French is also an official language, along with Italian, in the small region of Aosta Valley, Italy,[27] although most people speak the Franco-Provençal language, they use standard French to write. That is because[citation needed] the international recognition of Franco-Provençal as a separated language (as opposed to a dialect or patois of French) was quite recent.
[ | Tags:Aosta Valley,Languages Of Italy,Italy,Franco-provençal Language, Luxembourg |
Further information: Languages of Luxembourg and Multilingualism in Luxembourg
French is one of three official languages of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, alongside German and Luxembourgish, the natively spoken language of Luxembourg. Luxembourg's education system is trilingual: the first years of primary school are in Luxembourgish, before changing to German; while in secondary school, the language of instruction changes to French.
[ | Tags:Luxembourg,Multilingualism In Luxembourg,The Grand Duchy Of Luxembourg,Luxembourgish, The United Kingdom and the Channel Islands |
Further information: Languages of Jersey, Languages of Guernsey, and Languages of the United Kingdom
French is a large minority language and immigrant language in the United Kingdom, with over 300,000 French-born people in the UK. It is also the most popular foreign language. French is understood by 23% of the UK population.[28]
Modern and Middle English are largely the result of the mixture of Oïl languages with Old English after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, when a Norman-speaking aristocracy took control of a population whose mother tongue was Germanic in origin. As a result of the intertwined histories of England and continental possessions of the English Crown many formal and legal words from Modern English have a French root. Thus whilst words such as buy and sell are of Germanic origin, purchase and vend are from Old French.
French is an official language in both Jersey and Guernsey. Both use French to some degree, mostly in an administrative or ceremonial capacity. Jersey Legal French is the standardized variety used in Jersey. However, Norman (in its local forms, Guernésiais and Jèrriais) is the historical vernacular of the islands.
[ | Tags:Oïl,Germanic,English,Languages Of The United Kingdom,Language In The United Kingdom,Modern,Middle English,Oïl Languages,Old English,Old French,Jersey,Guernsey,Jersey Legal French,Norman,Guernésiais,Jèrriais,Vernacular, Canada |
See also: Canadian French, French language in Canada, Spoken languages of Canada, and Official bilingualism in Canada
The "arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in Quebec while the international stop is used in the European French-speaking countries.
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 6.8 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 and Manitoba have sizable French minorities, but its prescription as an official language in those jurisdictions and the level of francophone services varies. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. 10,170,000 Canadians can speak French as either a first or second language, or 30.6%[citation needed] of the country. Due to the increased bilingual school programs and French Immersion Classes in English Canada, the portion of Canadians proficient in French has risen significantly[citation needed] in the past two decades, and is still rising[citation needed].
The difference between French spoken in Quebec and French spoken in France is similar to 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) is respected. As Québécois live near to English-speaking regions, they are more sensitive about the language situation than the European French speakers are, and many object to the use of English words in French (anglicisms).[citation needed]
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.
[ | Tags:Canada,Quebec,New Brunswick,Ontario,Canadian French,Official Bilingualism In Canada,Montreal,Eastern Ontario,Northeastern Ontario,Nova Scotia,Manitoba,French-speaking Canadians,Office Québécois De La Langue Française, Haiti |
French is one of the official languages of Haiti, in which it is spoken by the educated because of the school system, while Haitian Creole (a French-based creole language) is more widely spoken as the common language and about 75-85% have the ability to speak French[citation needed].
[ | Tags: French overseas departments and territories in the Americas |
French is also the official language in France's overseas departments and territories of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Barthélemy, St. Martin and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.
[ | Tags: The United States |
See also: French in the United States, Cajun French, and Louisiana Creole French
French language spread in the United States. Counties marked in yellow are those where 6–12% of the population speak French at home; brown, 12–18%; red, over 18%. French-based creole languages are not included.
French is the fourth[29][30] most-spoken language in the United States, after English, Spanish and Chinese, and the second most-spoken in the states of Louisiana, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. Louisiana is home to many distinct dialects, of which Cajun French has the largest number of speakers. According to the 2000 US Census, there are over 194,000 people in Louisiana who speak French at home, the most of any state if Creole French is excluded.[30]
[ | Tags:Maine,Louisiana,Spanish,French-based Creole Languages, Brazil |
The French language in Brazil was spoken in brief period at the colonial attempts in France antarctique and France ecquinociale. Also, the language was used by the community of French immigrants and expatriates in the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries, and by the Brazilian public education system.
Today the Karipuna indigenous community (nearly 30,000 people) of Amapá in North Brazil speaks a French creole, the Lanc-Patuá, possibly related to the French Guiana Creole.
[ | Tags: Africa |
Main articles: African French and Maghreb French
Supermarket sign in French in Dakar, Senegal.
Countries usually considered as Francophone Africa. These countries had a population of 344 million in 2010.[31] Their population is projected to reach between 684 million[32] and 732 million[31] in 2050. Countries sometimes considered as Francophone Africa
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.[16] This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learnt French as a foreign language.[16]
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[33] and in Libreville, Gabon.[34] 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.[35]
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.[36] It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years.[37][38] Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries,[39] 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 (Brazzaville)
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
Mauritania
Morocco
Tunisia
[ | Tags:Africa,Francophonie,Francophone Africa, Algeria |
Most urban Algerians have some working knowledge of French, and a high (though unknown) percentage speak it fluently. In their everyday spoken language, they intermix French words and expressions with their native Arabic or Berber. Much of the educated intelligentsia in the capital speaks both French and Arabic in everyday life, a classic situation of diglossia. A small percentage of the urban elite speaks French as a first language.
However, because of the country's colonial past, the predominance of French has long been politically fraught. Numerous reforms have been implemented in recent decades to improve the status of Arabic in relation to French, especially in education. For this reason, although Algeria is certainly one of the most Francophone countries in the world outside of France, and has perhaps the largest number of French speakers, it does not participate in the Francophonie association.
[ | Tags:Reforms, Egypt |
While the predominant European language in Egypt is English, French is learned by some elements of the Egyptian upper and upper-middle classes;[citation needed] for this reason, some highly educated Egyptians will learn French in addition to English at some point in his or her education. Egypt participates in La Francophonie.
[ | Tags: French overseas departments and territories in Africa |
French is also the official language of Mayotte and Réunion, two overseas territories of France located in the southwest Indian Ocean.
[ | Tags: Lebanon |
A Lebanese "mille livres" (thousand-pound) bank note
Arabic is the official language of Lebanon, while a special law shall regulate the use of French. French is considered a second language by the Lebanese people and is used on bank notes (along with Arabic) and on official buildings. French is widely used by the Lebanese, especially for administrative purposes, and is taught in many schools as a secondary language along with Arabic and English.
[ | Tags: Syria |
Like Lebanon, French was official in Syria until 1943. But in contrast to Lebanon, the language is not official, but still spoken by educated groups, both elite and middle-class.
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