111-808: The Brussels Stock Exchange ( French : Bourse de Bruxelles ; Dutch : Beurs van Brussel ), abbreviated to BSE , was founded in Brussels , Belgium, by decree of Napoleon in 1801. In 2002, the BSE merged with the Amsterdam , Lisbon and Paris stock exchanges into Euronext , renaming the BSE Euronext Brussels . The most well known stock market index on the BSE is the BEL20 . The former Brussels Stock Exchange building (French: Palais de la Bourse ; Dutch: Beurspaleis ), usually shortened to Bourse or Beurs ,
222-543: A Dutch colonial province in Indonesia, with a monopoly on Euro-Asian trade. The subscription terms of each stock purchase offered shareholders the option to transfer their shares to a third party. Quickly a secondary market arose in the East India House for resale of this stock through the official bookkeeper. After an agreement had been reached between the two parties, the shares were then transferred from seller to buyer in
333-720: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
444-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
555-580: A first merger took place with CIK and BELFOX (BELgian Futures and Options Exchange). On 22 September 2000, the BSE merged again with Paris Bourse and the Amsterdam Stock Exchange to form Euronext , the first pan-European exchange for equities and derivatives , with common trading and clearing of all products, and was renamed Euronext Brussels . In 2015, this company moved away from the Stock Exchange building, which had become too large, after
666-432: A flurry of investors that in turn made it easier for buyers to find sellers and vice versa. Thus, the building of the stock exchange led to a vast expansion of liquidity in the marketplace. In addition, trading was continued in other buildings, outside of the trading hours of the exchange, such as the trading clubs, and was not prohibited in hours outside of those outlined in the bye-law. The location of exchange relative to
777-543: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
888-688: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
999-538: A pool of investors. Should something go wrong on the voyage, risk was mitigated and dispersed throughout the pool and investors all suffered just a fraction of the total expense of the voyage. The system of privatizing national expeditions was not new to Europe, but the fixed stock structure of the East India Company made it one of a kind. In the decade preceding the formation of the VOC, adventurous Dutch merchants had used
1110-410: A priority in the list of works of public utility, this undertaking gave rise, at the time, to numerous proposals including that of the architect Léon-Pierre Suys which, as part of his proposal to construct a series of grand boulevards in the river's place, designed a stock exchange building to become the centre of the rapidly expanding business sector. Supported by several petitions, Suys' proposal won
1221-493: A regular basis as a secondary market to trade its shares. Prior to that, the market existed primarily for the exchange of commodities. It was subsequently renamed the Amsterdam Bourse and was the first to formally begin trading in securities . The Sephardic Jewish writer Joseph de la Vega 's Confusion of Confusions (1688) is the first full-length work about the stock exchange, its participants and shareholders. In 1602,
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#17328406120421332-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
1443-650: 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 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 ,
1554-488: A similar method of "private partnership" to finance expensive voyages to the East Indies for their personal gain. The ambitious merchants pooled money together to create shipping partnerships for exploration of the East Indies. They assumed a joint-share of the necessary preparations (i.e. shipbuilding, stocking, navigation) in return for a joint-share of the profits. These Voorcompagnieën took on extreme risk to reap some of
1665-536: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
1776-653: A while to the 'New Bridge' (Nieuwe Brug). Early trading in Amsterdam in the early 16th century (1560s–1611) largely occurred by the Nieuwe Brug bridge, which crosses the Damrak near Amsterdam Harbor. Its proximity to the harbor and incoming mail made it a sensible location for traders to be the first to get the latest commercial news. Trading also flourished in the 'church square' near the Oude Kerk . The city of Amsterdam then ordered
1887-453: A working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As
1998-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
2109-467: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
2220-484: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
2331-628: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
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#17328406120422442-549: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
2553-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
2664-660: Is located on the Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan , and is the namesake of the Place de la Bourse/Beursplein , which is, after the Grand-Place/Grote Markt , the second most important square in Brussels. The eclectic building, inspired by Palladian architecture , mixes borrowings from the neo-Renaissance and Second Empire styles. It has an abundance of ornaments and sculptures, created by famous artists, including
2775-430: Is located on the Place de la Bourse/Beursplein along the Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan . This area is served by the premetro (underground tram) station Bourse/Beurs on lines 3 and 4 . Created in 1801 by decree of Napoleon , the Stock Exchange (French: Bourse de Commerce ) established in Brussels successively occupied different premises. From 1858, a time when it experienced considerable development following
2886-696: Is not quite accurate to call [Amsterdam] the first stock market, as people often do. State loan stocks had been negotiable at a very early date in Venice, in Florence before 1328, and in Genoa, where there was an active market in the luoghi and paghe of Casa di San Giorgio, not to mention the Kuxen shares in the German mines which were quoted as early as the fifteenth century at the Leipzig fairs,
2997-462: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
3108-775: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
3219-618: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
3330-538: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
3441-479: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
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3552-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
3663-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
3774-448: Is topped by a dome with a finial rooflight. The inside pediment separating the main hall from the entrance vestibule on the Rue du Midi / Zuidstraat includes four caryatids by Rodin and Antoine van Rasbourg [ nl ] , symbolising Protection , Trade , Art and Victory , with above them a globe carried by two putti . The original light fixture supports were supplied at
3885-689: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
3996-600: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population 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
4107-509: The Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only a second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and
4218-530: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
4329-547: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
4440-820: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
4551-609: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
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4662-665: The Paris Stock Exchange to form Euronext . The registered office of Euronext, itself incorporated in the Netherlands a public limited company ( naamloze vennootschap ), is also located in the exchange. The Amsterdam stock exchange is considered the oldest "modern" securities market in the world. It was created shortly after the establishment of the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Nederlandse Oost-Indische Compagnie)(VOC) in 1602 when equities began trading on
4773-502: The States General of the Netherlands granted the VOC a 21-year charter over all Dutch trade in Asia and quasi-governmental powers. The monopolistic terms of the charter effectively granted the VOC complete authority over trade defenses, war armaments, and political endeavors in Asia. The high level of risk associated with trade in Asia gave the VOC its private ownership structure. Following in
4884-686: The Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. 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 was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by
4995-735: The World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
5106-497: The provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); 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 estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to
5217-411: The "capital book". The official account, held by the East India House, encouraged investors to trade and gave rise to market confidence that the shares weren't just being transferred on paper. Thus, speculative trading immediately ensued and the Amsterdam securities market was born. The rapid development of the Amsterdam Stock exchange in the mid 17th century led to the formation of trading clubs around
5328-427: The ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in
5439-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
5550-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
5661-433: The Amsterdam Stock Exchange and the joint-stock merchants became the directors of the new VOC. Furthermore, this new mega-corporation was immediately recognized by the Dutch provinces to be equally important in governmental procedures. The VOC was granted significant war-time powers, the right to build forts, the right to maintain a standing army, and permission to conduct negotiations with Asian countries. The charter created
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#17328406120425772-510: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
5883-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
5994-442: The East India House was also strategic. Its proximity gave investors the luxury of walking a short distance to both register the transaction in the official books of the VOC, and complete the money transfer in the nearby Exchange Bank, also in Dam square. Jan David Zocher constructed a new building for the exchange near the Dam/Damrak. It opened in 1845 and was designed as a Greek temple with columns in front. Between 1896 and 1903
6105-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
6216-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
6327-410: The Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as
6438-402: The OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as a second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
6549-425: The Spanish juros, the French rentes sur l'Hotel de Ville (municipal stocks) (1522) or the stock market in the Hanseatic towns from the fifteenth century. The statutes of Verona in 1318 confirm the existence of the settlement or forward market ... In 1428, the jurist Bartolomeo de Bosco protested against the sale of forward loca in Genoa. All evidence points to the Mediterranean as the cradle of the stock market. But what
6660-494: The West Indies. This new charter gave the VOC additional years to stay in business but, in contrast to the first charter, outlined no plans for immediate liquidation, meaning that the money invested remained invested, and dividends were paid to investors to incentivize shareholding. Investors took to the secondary market of the newly constructed Amsterdam Stock Exchange to sell their shares to third parties. These "fixed" capital stock transactions amassed huge turnover rates, and made
6771-475: The advantage of being a regularly meeting market, which enabled traders to become more specialized and engage in more complicated transactions. As early as the middle of the sixteenth century, people in Amsterdam speculated in grain and, somewhat later, in herring, spices, whale-oil, and even tulips. The Amsterdam Bourse in particular was the place where this kind of business was carried on. This institution began as an open-air market in Warmoestreet, later moved for
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#17328406120426882-414: The boulevard, the two allegorical lion sculptures by Jacquet on each side of the main entrance's monumental staircase (one with its head facing up, the other curved back) represent the two symbolic stock market trends (akin to the famous " bull and bear " metaphor), as well as the Belgian Nation. They are accompanied by a genius with a torch by the same sculptor. A large arched skylight was pierced through
6993-402: The brothers Jacques and Jean-Joseph Jacquet , the French sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse and his then-assistant Auguste Rodin . Some of the best examples are the group of four allegorical figures on the façade by Guillaume de Groot , symbolising Art , Agriculture , Industry and Science , as well as the friezes by Carrier-Belleuse, in which Rodin may have contributed. Towards
7104-452: The centre of the side façades by the architect Jules Brunfaut in 1893 in order to bring more light into the interior. The interior, also inspired by Palladian plans, is a cruciform vessel supported by four monumental piers against which are attached Corinthian columns. In the centre of the building, the main hall or salle des pas perdus ( lit. ' room of the lost steps ' ), around which rooms and vestibules are arranged,
7215-439: The city. Traders met frequently, often in a local coffee shop or inns to discuss financial transactions. Thus, "Sub-markets" emerged, in which traders had access to peer knowledge and a community of reputable traders. These were particularly important during trading in the late 17th century, where short-term speculative trading dominated. The trading clubs allowed investors to attain valuable information from reputable traders about
7326-415: The construction of an exchange in Dam Square . It was built by Hendrick de Keyser and opened for business in 1611. Various sections of the building were marked for commodity trading and VOC securities. A bye-law on trade in the city dictated that trade could only take place in the exchange on weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon. While only a short amount of time for trading inside the building, the window created
7437-408: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Amsterdam Stock Exchange Euronext Amsterdam is a stock exchange based in Amsterdam , the Netherlands . Formerly known as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange ( Dutch : Amsterdamse effectenbeurs ), it merged on 22 September 2000 with the Brussels Stock Exchange and
7548-410: The country's economic and industrial growth, the cramped and unsanitary conditions of the various premises led the business community to demand, from the municipal authorities, the erection of a new stock exchange. Following the covering of the river Senne for health and aesthetic reasons between 1867 and 1871, a massive programme of beautification of Brussels' city centre was undertaken. Having become
7659-404: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
7770-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
7881-489: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
7992-506: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
8103-656: The footsteps of the English East India Company, stock in the corporation was sold to a large pool of interested investors, who in turn received a guarantee of some future share of profits. In the Amsterdam East India House alone, 1,143 investors subscribed for over ƒ3,679,915 or €100 million in today's money. Widely considered to be the first modern stock market. However, there were limited markets for something similar to shares in Venice, Florence, Genoa, Germany, or Spain several centuries earlier. "It
8214-858: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
8325-480: The future of the securities trade. Experienced traders on the inside circle of these trading clubs had a slight advantage over everyone else, and the prevalence of these clubs played a major role in the continued growth of the stock exchange itself. Additionally, similarities can be drawn between modern day brokers and the experienced traders of the trading clubs. The network of traders allowed for organized movement of knowledge and quick execution of transactions. Thus,
8436-818: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
8547-466: The ground floor of the building, causing a lot of damage. As a result, the BSE risked losing its financial activities and its reason for existence. Though the building was neatly restored, automation and acquisitions were already bringing an end to old market practices. In July 1996, all market floor activities disappeared. That year, the cash market was fully digitalised and the daily meeting of stockbrokers and traders therefore became redundant. In 1999,
8658-508: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
8769-474: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
8880-602: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
8991-475: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
9102-487: The lease was broken by the City of Brussels in 2012. The vacated space was then occasionally opened to house temporary exhibitions of the City of Brussels. In the meantime, a competition was held about repurposing the Stock Exchange building. Renovations started in 2020 and plans were made to reopen the building as a museum of Belgian beer . The winning design by Robbrecht & Daem, Baneton-Garrino and Popoff provided new space in
9213-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
9324-419: The official bookkeeper. After an agreement had been reached between the two parties, the shares were then transferred from seller to buyer in the "capital book". The official account, held by the East India House, encouraged investors to trade and gave rise to market confidence that the shares weren't just being transferred on paper. Thus, speculative trading immediately ensued and the Amsterdam securities market
9435-528: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
9546-462: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
9657-464: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
9768-513: The rewarding spice trade in the East Indies, but introduced a common form of the joint-stock venture into Dutch shipping. Although some of these voyages predictably failed, the ones that were successful brought promise of wealth and an emerging new trade. Shortly after these expeditions began, in 1602, the many independent Voorcompagnieën merged to form the Dutch East India Trading Company. Shares were allocated appropriately by
9879-416: The secondary market for VOC shares became extremely efficient, and trading clubs played no small part. Brokers took a small fee in exchange for a guarantee that the paperwork would be appropriately filed and a "buyer" or "seller" would be found. Throughout the 17th century, investors increasingly sought experienced brokers to seek information about a potential counterparty. The European Options Exchange (EOE)
9990-476: The stock exchange vastly more important. Thus the modern securities market arose out of this system of stock exchange. The voyage to the precious resources in the West Indies was risky. Threats of pirates, disease, misfortune, shipwreck, and various macroeconomic factors heightened the risk factor and thus made the trip wildly expensive. So, the stock issuance made possible the spreading of risk and dividends across
10101-485: The support of the municipal council. The Brussels Stock Exchange (BSE) building was erected from 1868 to 1873, halfway down the newly created Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan (then called the Boulevard Central / Centraallaan ), on the site of the former Butter Market (French: Marché au Beurre , Dutch: Botermarkt ), itself built over the remains of the 13th-century Recollets Franciscan convent . The building
10212-521: The time by the Compagnie des Bronzes de Bruxelles . 50°50′53″N 4°21′01″E / 50.84806°N 4.35028°E / 50.84806; 4.35028 French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from
10323-736: The top two floors for the museum. The roof was converted into a panoramic bar with terrace, covered by a brass awning . After three years of renovations, the Belgian Beer World museum was opened in September 2023. The former Brussels Stock Exchange building does not have a distinct name, though it is usually called the Palais de la Bourse in French or the Beurspaleis in Dutch (or simply Bourse / Beurs , respectively), meaning "Stock Exchange Palace". It
10434-462: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
10545-738: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. 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 Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
10656-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
10767-482: The usable area and the incidence of light. On that occasion, a third floor was added and the central side walls on the Rue Henri Maus / Henri Mausstraat and the Rue de la Bourse / Beursstraat were opened up. The load-bearing parts of the building were also reinforced with reinforced concrete to support these renovations. On the night of 29 November 1990, a fire broke out in one of the stockbrokers ' cabins on
10878-479: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
10989-587: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
11100-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories 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
11211-497: The world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share the official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in
11322-474: Was born. A big acceleration in the turnover rate came in 1623, after the 21-year liquidation period for the VOC ended. The terms of the initial charter called for a full liquidation after 21 years to distribute profits to shareholders. However, at this time neither the VOC nor its shareholders saw a slowing down of Asian trade, so the States General of the Netherlands granted the corporation a second charter in
11433-791: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
11544-536: Was founded in 1978 in Amsterdam as a futures and options exchange. In 1983, it started a stock market index , called the EOE index, consisting of the 25 largest companies that trade on the stock exchange. Forward contracts , options, and other sophisticated instruments were traded on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange well before this. In 1997, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and the EOE merged, and its blue chip index
11655-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. 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 is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
11766-409: Was inaugurated with a large ball in the presence of King Leopold II , his wife Queen Marie Henriette , and his brother Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders . In parallel to these works, a large square, called the Place de la Bourse/Beursplein , was created in front of the building. Over the years, the Stock Exchange building underwent many renovations. Between 1930 and 1950, it was decided to increase
11877-633: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
11988-452: Was new in Amsterdam was the volume, the fluidity of the market and publicity it received, and the speculative freedom of transactions." The Amsterdam exchange was the first incarnation of what we could today recognize as a stock market. The subscription terms of each stock purchase offered shareholders the option to transfer their shares to a third party. Quickly a secondary market arose in the East India House for resale of this stock through
12099-488: Was renamed AEX , for "Amsterdam EXchange". It is now managed by Euronext Amsterdam. On 3 October 2011, Princess Máxima opened the new trading floor of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. The former Stock Exchange building was the Beurs van Berlage . The Amsterdam Bourse, an open-air venue, was created as a commodity exchange in 1530 and rebuilt in 1608. Rather than being a bazaar where goods were traded intermittently, exchanges had
12210-575: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
12321-554: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
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