The importance of the French language and French culture
FRENCH LANGUAGE
French is a Romance language originally spoken in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
Today, it is spoken by over 175 million people in 30 countries where French is an official language (including Belgium, Benin, Burkina_Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada,
Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon,
Guinea, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo and Vanuatu) as well as an official second and
administrative language in another 10 countries (Algeria, Canada, Chad, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Laos, Lebanon, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia) and an unofficial language in Cambodia,
India, Syria and Vietnam.
French as a foreign language is the second most frequently taught language in the world after English. It is an official or administrative language of the African Union,
the European Broadcasting Union, the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA),
the Fédération Internationale de Football Association(FIFA), ICUP, the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA), the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO),
the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, the International Court of Justice, the International Olympic Committee (ICO), the International Political Science Association,
the International Secretariat for Water, Interpol, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Union Cycliste Internationale, the United Nations,
the Universal Postal Union, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Along with English, it is perhaps the most used language in the European Commission.
In the USA, the French language is spoken as a "Minority language". French speakers are particularly located in southern Louisiana and in northern New
England, bordering Canada. French is the second most-spoken language in four states: Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
More than 13 million Americans claim some French ancestry, but only 1.6 million speak the language at home. Until the 1980s, French was the most
popular foreign language studied in the United States (it is now Spanish, likely a consequence of heavy immigration from Latin America).
The English languages is full of French expressions that will cover a wide range of topics:
gastronomy: à la carte, au jus, amuse bouche, apéritif, cuisine, fondue, ganache, haute cuisine, hors d'oeuvre, maitre d', mousse, nouvelle cuisine, roux,...
fashion: à la mode, chic, collage, (haute) couture, décolletage, découpage, déshabillé, eau de toilette, lingerie, macramé, négligé,
passé, petite, pot pourri, prêt-à-porter,répertoire, toilette,...
arts and culture: amateur, art nouveau, auteur, avant garde, chef d'oeuvre, connoiseur, décor, dernier cri, detente, dossier, encore, exposé, genre, grand prix,
mélange, motif, Tour de..., montage, savant, trompe l'oeil,...
everyday life: au contraire, beaucoup, c'est la vie, c'est magnifique, chez, cliché, comme ci comme ça, crème de la crème, cul-de-sac, déjà vu,
du jour, en route, extraordinaire, je-ne-sais-quoi, joie de vivre, moi, nouveau, nouveau riche, panache, poseur, quel dommage, sacrebleu, sans, touché, vis-à-vis, voilà,
voulez vous coucher avec moi (ce soir), zut alors !,...
politics and business: carte blanche, coup d'état, coup de grâce, entente, entrepreneur, faux-pas, laissez-faire, protégé, rapport, résumé, sabotage,
savoir faire, venue,...
romance and relationship: amour, chéri(e), coup de foudre, femme fatale, fiancé(e), ingénue, j'adore, je t'aime, liaison, ménage à trois, rendez-vous,
risqué, soirée, voyeur,...
A great number of words of French origin have entered the English language to the extent that 40% of its vocabulary is of French origin. Many of those words in turn
originate from Latin, and sometimes from Greek. It is via French that many Latin words have come to the English language. Most of the French vocabulary now appearing
in English was imported over the centuries following the Norman conquest of England of 1066 , when England came under the administration of Norman-speaking peoples.
According to different sources, between one third to two thirds of all English words have a French origin. This fact suggests that at least 30,000 words should appear in this list.
For that matter, French, along with German, is one of the most important languages you need to master in order to satisfy the foreign language requirement
for graduate sudies. For example, UF requires translating competency in one foreign language. However, students chosing the Humanities or Politics fields of studies are often requires to be fluent in French.
