FRENCH LANGUAGE FACTS:

NATIVE: français

NATIVE SPEAKERS: 80 million (2016), Estimated 230 million total speakers

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE IN 29 COUNTRIES: Belgium, Benin, Burkino Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, Guinea, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo and Vanuatu.

WRITING SYSTEMS: Latin (French Alphabet)

REGULATED BY: Académie française

French Language

French has long been considered an international language of diplomacy, commerce, literature, and scientific standards.

Economic Significance

Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language in commerce. La francophonie is only projected to increase in future years. According to demographic projections, total French speakers will number approximately 500 million people in 2025 and 650 million people by 2050.

Any business that intends to advertise and conduct business in France should become familiar with the Toubon Law. The Toubon Law mandates the use of French language in all official government publications, in all advertisements, in all workplaces, in commercial contracts, in some other commercial communication contexts, in all government-financed schools, and some other contexts. For example, any product sold in France must have a French language user interface and include instructions written in French.

History

A Romance Language, French derived from Vulgar Latin. French features unique characteristics compared to other Romance languages. The pre-Roman Celtic population spoke Gaulish languages which had a substrate effect on the Vulgar Latin introduced by the Romans. Later invasions by Germanic tribes, namely Frankish speaking, had a superstrate effect on the evolution of French. Modern French came into use in the 17th century.

Dialects

Metropolitan, Aostan, Belgian, Meridional, Swiss, Canadian, Haitian, Vietnamese