An official language is a language having certain rights to be used in defined situations. These rights can be created in written form or by historic usage.
109-450: Remplacement militaire ( French ; lit. ' military replacement ' ) was a system of military conscription which existed in France and Belgium in the 19th century under which citizens selected for military service by lot were entitled to pay a sum of money, originally enough to pay a substitute to volunteer to serve in their place, to exempt them from being required to serve in
218-720: 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
327-660: A bill to parliament to statutorily recognise English as an official language. As of May 2020, the bill had not progressed. During the 2023 New Zealand general election , New Zealand First leader Winston Peters promised to make English an official language of New Zealand. The official language of Nigeria is English, which was chosen to facilitate the cultural and linguistic unity of the country. British colonial rule ended in 1960. Urdu and English both are official languages in Pakistan. Pakistan has more than 60 other languages. Filipino and English both are official languages of
436-554: A co-official language, but the proposal was rejected by nearly three-quarters of the voters. The official language of Malaysia is the Malay language ( Bahasa Melayu ), also known as Bahasa Malaysia or just Bahasa for short. Bahasa Melayu is being protected under Article 152 of the Constitution of Malaysia. Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands (a constituent country within
545-431: 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,
654-543: 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
763-531: A form of the Aramaic language (the so-called Official Aramaic or Imperial Aramaic) as the vehicle for written communication between the different regions of the vast empire with its different peoples and languages. Aramaic script was widely employed from Egypt in the southwest to Bactria and Sogdiana in the northeast. Texts were dictated in the native dialects and written down in Aramaic, and then read out again in
872-473: A minority. South Africa has twelve official languages that are mostly indigenous. Due to limited funding, however, the government rarely produces documents in most languages. Accusations of mismanagement and corruption have been leveled against the Pan South African Language Board , established to promote multilingualism, develop the 11 official languages, and protect language rights in
981-421: A national level. On the other extreme, Bolivia officially recognizes 37 languages, the most of any country in the world. Second to Bolivia is India with 22 official languages . South Africa is the country with the third lead with 12 official languages that all have equal status; Bolivia gives primacy to Spanish , and India gives primacy to English and Hindi . The selection of an official language (or
1090-688: 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
1199-494: 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
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#17330926649131308-573: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as 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
1417-513: 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 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
1526-897: 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 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
1635-481: A somewhat special status but are not official languages. For instance, at least 5% of the broadcasting time of privately owned TV channels must be translated into Russian (a similar privilege is granted to Arabic), warnings must be translated to several languages, and signs are mostly trilingual (Hebrew, Arabic and English), and the government supports Yiddish and Ladino culture (alongside Hebrew culture and Arabic culture). The Official Language Law recognizes Latvian as
1744-536: 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
1853-437: 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
1962-745: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from 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
2071-467: 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
2180-484: 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
2289-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As 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
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#17330926649132398-456: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in 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
2507-628: 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
2616-495: 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
2725-404: 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
2834-462: 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
2943-775: 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
3052-562: 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 ,
3161-538: 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
3270-399: Is the most common official or co-official language, with recognized status in 51 countries. Arabic , French , and Spanish are official or co-official languages in several countries. An official language that is also an indigenous language is called endoglossic , one that is not indigenous is exoglossic . An instance is Nigeria which has three endoglossic official languages. By this,
3379-479: 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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3488-492: 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
3597-788: Is the sole official language in Bulgaria . Following the Constitution Act, 1982 the (federal) Government of Canada gives equal status to English and French as official languages. The Province of New Brunswick is also officially bilingual, as is Yukon . Nunavut has four official languages: English, French, Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun . The Northwest Territories has eleven official languages: Chipewyan/Dené , Cree , English , French , Gwich’in , Inuinnaqtun , Inuktitut , Inuvialuktun , North Slavey , South Slavey , and Tłı̨chǫ (Dogrib). All provinces, however, offer some necessary services in both English and French. The Province of Quebec with
3706-424: 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
3815-738: 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
3924-459: 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 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
4033-587: The Basic Law of Hong Kong and the Official Languages Ordinance , both Chinese and English are the official languages of Hong Kong with equal status. The variety of Chinese is not stipulated; however, Cantonese , being the language most commonly used by the majority of Hongkongers , forms the de facto standard. Similarly, Traditional Chinese characters are most commonly used in Hong Kong and form
4142-560: The Belgian Workers' Party in favour, reform was delayed. The system was finally abolished in 1909, to be replaced by system whereby one son per family would be eligible for conscription into the army. In 1913, Albert I finally managed to have a bill passed through parliament instituting compulsory conscription for all adult males over the age of 20. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )
4251-508: The Constitution of Afghanistan , the Afghan government gives equal status to Pashto and Dari as official languages. English is the de facto national language of Australia, while Australia has no de jure official language, English is the first language of the majority of the population , and has been entrenched as the de facto national language since European settlement , being
4360-539: 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
4469-485: 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
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4578-547: 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,
4687-820: 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
4796-518: The Liberals and Catholics advocated Remplacement as a way of privileging the aristocratic and bourgeois classes and were united in defending it against reformers. The Belgian response to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1 highlighted the inadequacies of the country's military to defend its borders. The system of remplacement was viewed as an anachronism, constituting an unfair privilege for
4905-609: 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
5014-602: The Official Language Act (Quebec) and Charter of the French Language defines French, the language of the majority of the population, as the official language of the provincial government. Ethiopia has five official languages (Amharic alone until 2020) Amharic , Oromo , Somali , Tigrinya , and Afar , but Amharic is the de facto sole official language which is used by the government for issuing driving licenses, business licenses, passport, and foreign diplomacy with
5123-478: The Philippines , Belgium , Switzerland , and the European Union are examples of official multilingualism. This has been described as controversial and, in some other areas where it has been proposed, the idea has been rejected. It has also been described as necessary for the recognition of different groups or as an advantage for the country in presenting itself to outsiders. Following Chapter 1, Article 16 of
5232-951: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , 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
5341-490: The de facto standard for written Chinese, however, there is an increasing presence of Simplified Chinese characters particularly in areas related to tourism. In government use, documents written using Traditional Chinese characters are authoritative over ones written with Simplified Chinese characters. The Constitution of India ( part 17 ) designates the official language of the Government of India as Hindi written in
5450-502: 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;
5559-798: 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
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#17330926649135668-510: 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
5777-614: 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,
5886-435: The Devanagari script. Although the original intentions of the constitution were to phase out English as an official language, provisions were provided so that "Parliament may by law provide for the use ... of ... the English language". The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists has 22 languages, which have been referred to as scheduled languages and given recognition, status and official encouragement. In addition,
5995-408: 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
6104-416: 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
6213-408: The Government of India has awarded the distinction of classical language to Tamil , Sanskrit , Kannada , Telugu , Malayalam and Odia . The official language of Indonesia is the Indonesian language ( Bahasa Indonesia ). Bahasa Indonesia is regulated in Chapter XV, 1945 Constitution of Indonesia. On 19 July 2018, the Knesset passed a basic law under the title Israel as the Nation-State of
6322-417: The Hakka Basic Act to make Hakka an official language of Taiwan . According to the constitution of Timor-Leste , Tetum and Portuguese are the official languages of the country, and every official document must be published in both languages; Indonesian and English hold "working language" status in the country. The official language of Ukraine is Ukrainian . The de facto official language of
6431-407: The Jewish People , which defines Hebrew as "the State's language" and Arabic as a language with "a special status in the State" (article 4). The law further says that it should not be interpreted as compromising the status of the Arabic language in practice before the enactment of the basic law, namely, it preserves the status quo and changes the status of Hebrew and Arabic only nominally. Before
6540-475: The Kingdom of the Netherlands). In the province of Friesland , Frisian is the official second language. While Dutch is therefore the official language of the Caribbean Netherlands (the islands Bonaire , Saba and Sint Eustatius ), it is not any of the three islands' main spoken language: Papiamento is the most often spoken language on Bonaire, while English is on both Saba and Sint Eustatius. These languages can be used in official documents (but do not have
6649-549: The Philippines. Polish is the official language of Poland . Russian is the official language of the Russian Federation and in all federal subjects , however many minority languages have official status in the areas where they are indigenous. One type of federal subject in Russia, republics , are allowed to adopt additional official languages alongside Russian in their constitutions. Republics are often based around particular native ethnic groups and are often areas where ethnic Russians and native Russian-language speakers are
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#17330926649136758-399: The United Kingdom is English . In Wales , the Welsh language , spoken by approximately 20% of the population, has de jure official status, alongside English. English is the de facto national language of the United States. While there is no official language at the federal level, 32 of the 50 U.S. states and all five inhabited U.S. territories have designated English as one, or
6867-422: The addition that Court documents are in Amharic, and the constitution is written in Amharic, making Amharic a higher official language in the country. According to the Finnish constitution, Finnish and Swedish are the national languages of the republic, giving their speakers the right to communicate with, and receive official documents from, government authorities in either of the two languages in any part of
6976-418: The country aims to protect the indigenous languages although at the same time recognising the English language as its lingua franca. In spatial terms, indigenous (endoglossic) languages are mostly employed in the function of official languages in Eurasia , while mainly non-indigenous (exoglossic) rest of the world. Around 500 BC, when Darius the Great annexed Mesopotamia to the Persian Empire , he chose
7085-428: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Official language 178 countries recognize an official language, 101 of them recognizing more than one. The government of Italy made Italian official only in 1999, and some nations (such as the United States , Mexico , and Australia ) have never declared de jure official languages at
7194-492: The country – making those languages de facto official . Speakers of Sámi languages have those same rights in their native area ( Sámi homeland ). German is the official language of Germany . However, its minority languages include Sorbian ( Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian ), Romani , Danish and North Frisian , which are officially recognised. Migrant languages like Turkish, Russian and Spanish are widespread but are not officially recognised languages. According to
7303-447: The country. In practice, government is conducted in English. The four national languages of Switzerland are German , French , Italian and Romansh . At the federal level German, French and Italian are official languages, the official languages of individual cantons depend on the languages spoken in them. Mandarin is the most common language used in government. After World War II the mainland Chinese-run government made Mandarin
7412-404: 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
7521-437: The early twentieth century. The following languages are official ( de jure or de facto ) in three or more sovereign states. In some cases, a language may be defined as different languages in different countries. Examples are Hindi and Urdu, Malay and Indonesian, Serbian and Croatian, Persian and Tajik. Some countries—like Australia , the United Kingdom and the United States —have no official language recognized as such at
7630-448: 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
7739-489: 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
7848-758: The enactment of the aforementioned basic law, the status of official language in Israel was determined by the 82nd paragraph of the " Palestine Order in Council " issued on 14 August 1922 , for the British Mandate of Palestine , as amended in 1939: This law, like most other laws of the British Mandate, was adopted in the State of Israel, subject to certain amendments published by the provisional legislative branch on 19 May 1948. The amendment states that: In most public schools ,
7957-506: 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
8066-404: The following five languages: Bengali , Chinese , English , Korean and Spanish . The same languages are also on ballot papers in certain parts of the state (namely, New York City ). Opponents of an official language policy in the United States argue that it would hamper "the government's ability to reach out, communicate, and warn people in the event of a natural or man-made disaster such as
8175-858: 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 ,
8284-818: 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
8393-436: The lack thereof) is often contentious. An alternative to having a single official language is "official multilingualism ", where a government recognizes multiple official languages. Under this system, all government services are available in all official languages. Each citizen may choose their preferred language when conducting business. Most countries are multilingual and many are officially multilingual. Taiwan , Canada ,
8502-508: 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
8611-474: 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
8720-602: 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 ,
8829-475: 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
8938-489: The main teaching language is Hebrew, English is taught as a second language, and most students learn a third language, usually Arabic but not necessarily. Other public schools have Arabic as their main teaching language, and they teach Hebrew as a second language and English as a third one. There are also bilingual schools which aim to teach both Hebrew and Arabic equally. Some languages other than Hebrew and Arabic, such as English, Russian, Amharic , Yiddish and Ladino enjoy
9047-496: The military personally. Although considered an important civic liberty, the policy favoured the rich and was detrimental to military efficiency. It was abolished in Belgium in 1913 and replaced by a system of "personal military service" ( service militaire personnel ): a form of universal conscription. The Belgian army relied on both voluntary enlistment and, from 1902, also on recruitment by lot in order to keep its numbers constant. Both
9156-445: The national level. Other nations have declared non-indigenous official languages. Many of the world's constitutions mention one or more official or national languages . Some countries use the official language designation to empower indigenous groups by giving them access to the government in their native languages. In countries that do not formally designate an official language, a de facto national language usually evolves. English
9265-463: The native language at the places they were received. The First Emperor of Qin standardized the written language of China after unifying the country in 221 BC. Classical Chinese would remain the standard written language for the next 2000 years. Standardization of the spoken language received less political attention, and Mandarin developed on an ad hoc basis from the dialects of the various imperial capitals until being officially standardized in
9374-420: 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
9483-530: The official language, and it was used in the schools and government. Under the Development of National Languages Act, political participation can be conducted in any national language, which is defined as a "natural language used by an original people group of Taiwan", which also includes Formosan languages , the Taiwanese variety of Hokkien and Hakka . According to Taiwan's Legislative Yuan, amendments were made to
9592-574: 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 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;
9701-519: The only language spoken in the home for 72% of Australians . Article 21 of Azerbaijani Constitution designates the official language of the Republic of Azerbaijan as Azerbaijani Language . After the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the then Head of the State Sheikh Mujibur Rahman adopted the policy of 'one state one language'. The de facto national language , Bengali , is
9810-767: The only, official language, while courts have found that residents in the 50 states do not have a right to government services in their preferred language. Public debate in the last few decades has focused on whether Spanish should be recognized by the government, or whether all business should be done in English. California allows people to take their driving test in the following 32 languages: Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Chinese, Croatian, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese , Khmer, Korean, Laotian, Persian , Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Tagalog/Filipino, Thai, Tongan, Turkish, and Vietnamese. New York state provides voter-registration forms in
9919-528: 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
10028-462: 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
10137-464: 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
10246-705: The same status as Frisian). Low Saxon and Limburgish , languages acknowledged by the European Charter , are spoken in specific regions of the Netherlands. New Zealand has three official languages. English is the de facto official language, accepted as such in all situations. The Māori language and New Zealand Sign Language both have restricted de jure official status under the Māori Language Act 1987 and New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006. In 2018, New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell introduced
10355-511: The sole official language of Bangladesh according to the third article of the Constitution of Bangladesh . The government of Bangladesh introduced the Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987 to ensure the mandatory use of Bengali in all government affairs. Belarusian and Russian have official status in the Republic of Belarus . Belgium has three official languages: Dutch , French and German . Bulgarian
10464-472: The sole official language of Latvia, while Latgalian is protected as "a historic variant of Latvian" and Livonian is recognized as "the language of the indigenous (autochthonous) population". Latvia also provides national minority education programmes in Russian , Polish , Hebrew , Ukrainian , Estonian , Lithuanian , and Belarusian . In 2012 there was a constitutional referendum on elevating Russian as
10573-462: 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
10682-673: 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
10791-508: 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
10900-479: 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
11009-520: The wealthy and reducing the quality of the army's recruits. King Leopold II was particularly keen that the system be abolished and used his political influence to try to persuade politicians to support reform. Major-General Guillaume , Minister of War and a former aide de camp to the king, pushed for the government to adopt a policy of personal military service, and resigned from the cabinet on 10 December 1872 when it would not. With both major political factions united in favour of Remplacement , and only
11118-531: 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
11227-402: 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
11336-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by 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
11445-791: 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
11554-400: 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
11663-579: 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
11772-575: 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
11881-554: 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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