Languages
Native
French
97%
Secondary languages
English
30%
Language Samples
Bonjour, comment allez-vous ?
Hello, how are you?
Je vais très bien, merci.
I am very well, thanks.
Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Linguistic History
French evolved from Vulgar Latin brought to Gaul by Roman soldiers and settlers from the 1st century BC onward. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it mixed with Germanic elements from the Frankish invaders. By the 9th century, it had diverged enough from Latin to be recognisable as Old French. The Académie française, founded in 1635, has spent nearly 400 years trying — with mixed success — to keep the language pure.
Similar Languages
Spanish
82%
Italian
89%
Portuguese
78%
Romanian
71%
Media
Paris — the historic heart of the French-speaking world
Photo: Yann Caradec from Paris, France · CC BY-SA 2.0
Sabbatical explores the real France beyond Paris
Did You Know
01
French was the international language of diplomacy for over 300 years, from the 17th to the 20th century — hence the term 'lingua franca'.
02
About 45% of modern English vocabulary comes from French, a legacy of the Norman Conquest of 1066.
03
French is the only language other than English spoken on five continents, and is the official language of 29 countries.