www.bbc.co.

uk/languages
http://www.frenchassistant.com/default.asp

french lessonsfrenchstudio - home

links to free french language learning tools

looking for a word, a definition ?

go to our page on-line dictionaries and thesauri
french frenchlesson.org - a top on the top site -
france is is geared toward those interested in developing a profound knowledge of french. pages
and pages full of extensive grammatical details of french verb tenses and endings, interactive
java exercices, audio files, tests, etc.the interactive grammar guides and tutorials (with audio) are
probably best suited for people who have already had some exposure to french or already have
some experience learning languages. however, their "beginner's guide" follows a comprehensive
and logical progression, well adapted to beginners.
frencha wide range of french teaching material
(interactive exercises and download section). useful for teachers and students! the
enormous amount of material makes the site a bit "crammed", though.
frenchzut!,
the website for teachers and learners of french run by teacher catherine murphy. zut!
provides a comprehensive set of interactive activities for french, featuring more than 400
exercises, over 100 of which have audio samples of native french speakers. it is an easily
navigated resource, well adapted for younger learners, organized for each year of study and
includes reading, writing and listening exercises.
zut! will start charging people for login as from the 9th of march 2003.
however (- and that's nice !), it will remain free between 4.00pm and 9.00am (local time) so that
users can access without having to log in.
frenchbbc languages-french
a definitive site for learning about french language and culture

bbci-french steps
an on-line beginners course, covering essential topics from booking train ticket to ordering a
meal in a restaurant. it's made up of 24 short units (each of which you can do in about 20
minutes) with self-explanatory titles: taking a taxi; talking about the weather etc. either follow the
units in sequence from beginning to end or just dip into them to refresh your memory on a
particular topic or situation.
*

french experience online

is a series of multimedia activities for beginners. it builds on the absolute basics of talk french,
but can be used on its own to learn and practice the language. it's based on clips from the 20-part
tv series.
*

quick fix
essential holiday phrases
*

le français cool
want to show some street cred?
here is our essential guide to young french people's slang.
the following web site is about much more than just french grammar. it is also about the epic love
story of tex and tammy, two star-struck armadillos, and bette, the sex kitten bent over ....
over ....french tex's french grammar,
a pedagogical reference grammar that combines explanations with surreal dialogues and
cartoon images. originally built for students at the university of texas at austin as a user-friendly
guide to french grammar, this web site may be profitably used by any learner of french, provided
he or she possess a sense of humor.
tex's french grammar is arranged like many other traditional reference grammars with the parts of
speech (nouns, verbs, etc.) used to categorize specific grammar items (gender of nouns, irregular
verbs). individual grammar items are carefully explained in english, then exemplified in a
dialogue, and finally tested in self-correcting, fill-in-the-blank exercises which are drawn from a
database.

to facilitate reference and learning, all grammar items are thoroughly cross-linked. important
grammatical terminology is defined in an introductory page for every part of speech. for example,
the definition of infinitive, conjugation, and paradigm can all be found in the introduction to verbs
page. also included are several other pedagogical tools: verb conjugator, a verb tutor, and an on-
line french dictionary.
frenchfrancais interactive
most suitable for an intensive revision from scratch-vocabulary, sound files, grammar,
interviews, video clips and transcripts. a more than impressive site from the university of texas at
austin. almost "high-tech"! and it's worthwhile being patient while the videos are loading! tex's
french grammar is integrated.
frenchfrench cyberbook
the french cyberbooks are free online french courses from 'novice' to 'intermediate high'.
students can work their way through the activities, vocabulary and grammar books to obtain a
basic understanding of the workings of the language.designed by fabienne gérard and claudia
griesing, both high school teachers at cary academy, north carolina.
frenchfrench revision
this site contains tons of interactive french exercises. whether you're revising for key
stage 3, gcse or a level french, this site has exercises, past papers and advice on all-important
grammar for you. the exercises mark themselves and a score is given!
frenchalmost a "classic" on the web
french for beginners in 9 lessons, with a few audio files (.wav).
a good starting point for newcomers to french grammar. grammar points are simply explained in
short units. this is the course maintained by jacques léon.
frenchfrench pronunciation

the alphabet and the way it is pronounced.

*

which part of a french word is stressed?

*

Écoutez l'alphabet
etc. ... etc.

french and do not miss this site, we simply love :

french pronunciation - why bother
frenchfrench tongue twisters with rough translations
start slowly ! ;-)
frenchphrase books which found our interest
 * smartphrase.com
* phrase finder

frenchtests and quizzes

* are you a complete beginner, quite fluent or somewhere in between?

a bbc test which gives you an approximate indication of your knowledge - it is not an exact
assessment tool. answer one question at a time. choose the correct answer and you'll get a more
challenging question. choose a wrong one and you'll get your final score plus a guide to those
parts of their site that will be most useful for you.

* test your proficiency level in french

proficiency tests are not dependent on particular class content, course materials, or language
software programs. instead, a proficiency test is intended to measure your command of a
language regardless of your background in that language.

* test your current knowledge of french

elementary french, niveau 1 et 2 du conseil de l'europe
survival and threshold levels
if you take the time to answer a sufficient number of tests, you will be given your total score,
your level based on the specifications of the council of europe ( that is the "survival and
threshold" levels or the first two volumes of the most common textbooks of french as a foreign
language published in france ).

* french online grammar quiz

french a series of lessons, exercises and tests with concise explanations of some
french grammar and syntax points which might be sometimes "rocky" for english speakers. a
collection of computer aided language learning (call) material developed by students from the
language engineering program (stp) at uppsala university in sweden.

* text with vocabulary list

* nouns: the singular and the plural
* nouns: the gender and definiteness
* the genitive
* verbs: an example of a conjugation
* le verbe "être" (to be)
* adjectives and adverbs
* tout/toute/tous/toutes/tout le monde ???

frenchour preferred ones! do not miss them ! :-)))

french french riviera french
essential phrases for the aspiring poseur ! the film scouts language course .
a must see ! not only useful in cannes!
and ...
... go to "the film scouts language laboratory". especially the shrink language workshop , the
special therapeutic program for cannes festival participants. it's worthwhile! really!!
it could give you a deeper understanding of your neighbor's ... english.
frenchmiscallaneous

* vocabulary training exercises

* le truc de genres
identify the gender (an interesting approach)

* those current little french words ... !

* french vocabulary crosswords

* an interesting site. lots of games, quizzes, etc.

* french scrabble

more linguistic games

* les jeux linguistiques d'orthonet

ils vous permetent de vérifier vos connaissances de la langue écrite et vous apprennent à
éviter ses pièges, développe votre vigilance orthographique et lexicale.
des jeux, dont chacun est un exercice d’orthographe, de syntaxe ou de vocabulaire ; faciles
(a), plus difficiles (b et c), énigmatiques (x). la série b 01 à 05 (accord des participes) est un
recyclage par une méthode simple. vérification des connaissances, comblement des lacunes,
exercice de vigilance.

the place for people who are crazy about frenchies!

so what? it is french too! isn't it? and it's a funny site ... !

french
frenchstudio - home

click here to learn more

tips on studying a foreign language

though many students may feel they have a mental block or even lack the aptitude for learning
foreign languages, most can learn a second language if they are willing to put in the necessary
time. here are some practical suggestions for studying effectively, overcoming anxiety, and
learning the grammar and skills necessary for success in college foreign language classes.

1. study every day. a foreign language course is different from any other course you take.
language learning is cumulative: you cannot put it off until the weekend. study 1 or 2 hours for
every class hour if you want an a or b.
2. distribute your study time in 15- to 30-minute periods throughout the day. focus on a different
task each time: vocabulary now, grammar next, etc. get an overview during the first half hour:
spend 10 minutes reviewing dialog, 10 minutes learning new vocabulary, 10 minutes learning new
grammar ... so you'll at least have looked at it all. approximately 80% of your study time should be
spent in recitation or practice, including practice in the language lab.
3. attend and participate in class without fail — even if you are not well prepared. class time is
your primary opportunity for practice. learn the grammar and vocabulary outside of class in order
to make the most of class time. spend a few minutes "warming up" before each class by speaking
or reading the language.
4. make yourself comfortable in the class. get to know your classmates so you will feel you are
among friends. visit your instructor during office hours to get acquainted: explain your goals and
apprehensions about the course.
5. learn english grammar if you don't already know it. grammar is the skeleton of a language, its
basic structure: you must learn it. review a simplified english grammar text. compare new
grammatical structures in your foreign language to their english equivalents.
6. practice for tests by doing what you will have to do on the test. if the test will require you to
write, then study by writing — including spelling and accents. if you will be asked to listen, then
practice listening. ask for practice questions; make up your own test questions. invent variations
on patterns and forms. over-learn: study beyond the point of recognition to mastery.
7. develop a good attitude. have a clear personal reason for taking the class. set personal goals
for what you want to learn. leave perfectionism at the door; give yourself permission to make
mistakes and learn from them.
8. get help if you need it. talk with your teacher. form study groups among class members. use
tutoring services. don't wait!

reading and writing a foreign language are analytical skills. you may be good at these if you are a
logical person who attends to detail. train yourself through practice to notice and remember
details such as accents and gender agreement.
reading skills tips:

* first, read the vocabulary list for the assignment. next, read the questions over the reading.
then read all the way through a new passage two or three times, guessing at meaning from
context. avoid word-by-word translation.
* isolate new vocabulary and study it separately. don't write between the lines! make flash
cards. carry them with you and recite them several times during the day at odd moments. over-
learn them until they are automatic.
* isolate new grammatical forms and study them separately. write the pattern on a flash card
and memorize it. write out and label a model sentence. when you encounter the form while
reading, pause and recite the pattern to recognize the form.

writing skills tips:

* pay attention to detail: notice accents, order of letters, etc. compare letter-by-letter different
forms (singular, plural, gender, etc.). write out conjugations of verbs, declensions of pronouns,
etc., and check your endings. memorize irregular verbs.
 * to master spelling, have a friend dictate 10 words to you. write them out and immediately
have your friend spell them correctly aloud while you look carefully and point at each letter. repeat
until you get all the words right.
* write (in your own simple foreign vocabulary words) a story you have just read.

listening and speaking are performance skills. you may do well at these if you are naturally
gregarious. students in foreign language classes often have difficulty hearing and speaking
because they are anxious about making mistakes. give yourself permission to be spontaneous
and to take risks.
listening skills tips:

* frequent the language lab. read the exercises in your book first; then listen and read together;
then listen without looking at the print. say aloud/write what you hear.
* participate silently in class when others are called on to speak. focus on the task; don't worry
about how you'll do.
* if you feel nervous, relax yourself physically by taking a couple of slow, deep breaths. when
called on, pause, relax, and give yourself time to respond.
* listen while a friend dictates to you and write what you hear. check for accuracy.
* practice: join language clubs, watch foreign tv, listen to foreign radio.

speaking skills tips:

* study out loud! mimic the sounds of the language. don't mumble. although most people feel
embarrassed making strange sounds, the language will soon feel more familiar to you.
* when called on in class, say something, even it it's wrong: you'll learn from it. if you need a
moment to think, repeat the question. if you don't know the answer, say in your foreign language,
"i don't know" or "help!"
* practice with a foreign student who wants your help to learn english or with another class
member.

jo ann cope powell, ph. d.

ut learning center staff member, 1972-2002

tips||||
mnemonic site
http://www.foreignlanguagehome.com/topics/lear
ning/index.htm

ip 1
categorizing
let's do an experiment. please try to learn the
following word list:

bear, cucumber, fox, armchair, beet, dog, chair,

radish, bed, sofa, pumpkin, rabbit, tomato,
monkey, carrot, lamp, cow, broccoli, table,
mouse, salad, dresser, desk, horse.

when reproducing the word list most people will

group these words, for example they first will
recall the animals, then the vegetables and then
the furniture. studies provided by bower, clark,
lesgold and winzenz (1969) showed these
mnemonics to effectively improve the
memorizing of words.
how to categorize:

1. create new lessons so that they contain

groups.
2. mix two lessons and when learning consider
in which category a word should belong.

example: you can mix a lesson containing words

for the topic fruit with a lesson containing
vegetables. when learning consider whether a
foreign word belongs to the fruits or to the
vegetables.

___________dd
ip 2
delimiting

if you are looking for something, it is usually helpful to know how it differs from
other things. you'll find a book more easily fed into a book shelve years ago if you
remember not just the author and title, but also it's size, the color of the cover
and other attributes.

many psychologists (for instance eyesenck, 1979 or jacoby & craik, 1979)
consider the same to be true for the memorizing of words. you can improve your
results by learning as many attributes as possible in which a word differs from
words of the same cetagory.
how to delimit:

consider the aspects in sound and meaning which distinguish a word from the
word you learned before.

___________

tip 3
story building

bind the vocabulary of a lesson by inventing a story. as a beginner you can

formulate the story in your mothers tongue and feed in the foreign words at the
right place. later you'll create the whole story in the foreign language.

example: you are learning a lesson about shopping. use the foreign words for
pants, changing-cubicle, mirror, vendor and cash to write a story, where you
enter a store, choose a pant, check the fitting in the mirror of a changing-cubicle,
talk with a vendor and pay the goods at the check-out.

tip 4
clue processing

while learning you usually pay less attention to other things, e.g. the time of day,
hungry feelings and the composition of the room. nevertheless, many of these
informations are processed casually and can serve as clues for remembering
what you have learned.
how to create clues intentionally:

provide your lessons with personal background images, e.g. scanned photos
taken during your holidays. if you cannot remember a word, it may help to
remember the photo first.

___________

tip 5
loci method

using the loci method you imagine walking through the rooms of a well known
house (e.g. your apartment) connecting a part of the information to learn with
every room. later you'll repeat the walk for retrieving the information.

if you ever had a visit to the foreign country, which language you are learning,
imagine being there again. look around and describe your surroundings with the
words you learn. stage a dialog with the seller in the food shop.

___________

tip 6
code-word system
the code-word system proposed by atkinson (1975) is an exhausting but most
effective technique which especially was developed for learning vocabulary
items. using this technique a foreign word is connected acoustically and visually
with a code-word.
how to process a vocabulary item:

1. as a code-word choose a word of your mothers tongue, which rhymes with

the foreign word or sounds similarly.
2. connect the code-word by a pictorial idea with the meaning of the vocabulary
item.

example:

1. pato, the spanish word for duck, sounds similarly like the english word pot.
pot therefore is the code-word for pato.
2. you can imagine a duck which swims in a pot or runs around with a little pot
on the head.

although the code-word system is superior to other mnemonics, occasionally

there were doubts that it promotes a basic understanding. perhaps you should
reserve this technique for the words which refuse most obstinately being learned
by you.

tip 7
learning strategy

most people experience multiple choice tests to be more easy than open
questions. psychologically this can be explained by memory processes of
generating and recognizing. open questions initiate a searching process for
generating different possible answers first. in a second step the correct answer is
recognized and selected. for multiple choice only the second step is necessary,
the recognizing.

when beginning a new lesson, you shouldn't overtax yourself with generating
translations. after you perfectly learned the lesson you'll gain nothing by boring
yourself with recognizing.
how to pursue an effective learning strategy:
 1. get familiar with the lesson. take your time to examine the vocabulary items,
try categorizing and delimiting them.
2. consolidate your vocabulary by forming stories and trying to recognize the
translations.
3. exercise your ability to generate translations. test yourself and use the code-
word system to remember hard words.

generating and recognizing is only one of many possible mnemonics. it seems to

be particularly used by beginners, while increasing practice will reduce searching
processes.
___________
tip 8
more tips

university of minnesota:
center for advanced research on language acquisition (carla)

university of texas at austin:

tips on studying a foreign language

mindtools:
the linkword technique
the town language mnemonic
the hundred most common words

your continued donations keep wikipedia running!

french language
from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
jump to: navigation, search
this article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification.
please help improve this article by adding reliable references.
material not supported by sources may be challenged and removed.
this article has been tagged since may 2007.
french
français
pronunciation: /f ʁɑ̃s ɛ/
spoken in: france, burundi, canada, united states, switzerland, belgium,
luxembourg, monaco, morocco, algeria, tunisia, ivory coast, equatorial guinea,
guinea, democratic republic of the congo, niger, senegal, haiti, lebanon,
martinique, vietnam, central african republic, chad, madagascar, cameroon,
gabon, and other countries. (see article for full list)
region: africa, europe, americas, pacific, isolated regions of asia
total speakers: native: 65[1]-109[2] million
total: estimates from 115 million to 500 million

[3] [4] [5] [6]

ranking: 11 (native), total: 3 to 7
language family: indo-european
italic
romance
italo-western
western
gallo-iberian
gallo-romance
gallo-rhaetian
oïl
french
official status
official language of: 30 countries, numerous international organisations
regulated by: académie française (france) office québécois de la langue
française (quebec, canada) conseil pour le développement du français en
louisiane (louisiana)
language codes
iso 639-1: fr
iso 639-2: fre (b) fra (t)
iso 639-3: fra

map of the francophone world

dark blue: french-speaking; blue: official language; light blue: language of culture;
green: minority
note: this page may contain ipa phonetic symbols in unicode.

this article is part of the series on:

french language

* dialects and history

* orthography
o reforms
o use of the circumflex
* phonology
o liaison
o elision
* grammar
o verbs
+ conjugation
+ verb morphology
 o articles and determiners
o adverbs
o pronouns
+ personal pronouns
* francophonie

this box: view • talk • edit

french (français, pronounced [f ʁɑ̃s ɛ]) is a romance language originally spoken

in france, belgium, luxembourg, and switzerland, and today by about 300 million
people around the world as either a native or a second language,[7] with
significant populations in 54 countries.

descended from the latin of the roman empire, along with languages such as
spanish, italian, catalan, romanian, and portuguese, its development was
influenced by the native celtic languages of roman gaul and by the germanic
language of the post-roman frankish invaders.

it is an official language in 41 countries, most of which form what is called in

french la francophonie, the community of french-speaking nations. it is an official
or administrative language of the african union, the european broadcasting union,
esa, the european union, the council of europe, fia, fifa, icup, fina, iho, the
international bureau of weights and measures, the international court of justice,
the international olympic committee, the international political science
association, the international secretariat for water, interpol, nato, the uci, the
united nations and all its agencies (including the universal postal union), the
world anti-doping agency, and the world trade organization. along with english it
is the most used language in the european commission.
contents
[hide]

* 1 geographic distribution
o 1.1 europe
+ 1.1.1 legal status in france
+ 1.1.2 switzerland
+ 1.1.3 belgium
+ 1.1.4 luxembourg
+ 1.1.5 monaco
+ 1.1.6 italy
+ 1.1.7 the channel islands
+ 1.1.8 french as a non-official language in europe
o 1.2 the americas
+ 1.2.1 legal status in canada
+ 1.2.2 haiti
+ 1.2.3 french overseas territories
+ 1.2.4 the united states
 o 1.3 africa
o 1.4 asia
o 1.5 oceania
* 2 dialects and creoles
o 2.1 regional varieties
o 2.2 derived languages
* 3 history
* 4 sounds
* 5 orthography
* 6 grammar
* 7 vocabulary
o 7.1 numerals
* 8 writing system
* 9 samples
* 10 references
* 11 see also
* 12 external links
o 12.1 dictionaries / vocabulary
+ 12.1.1 audio

geographic distribution

europe
knowledge of french in the european union and candidate countries
knowledge of french in the european union and candidate countries

legal status in france

see also: toubon law and languages of france

per the constitution of france, french has been the official language since 1992
[4] (although previous legal text have made it official since 1539, see ordinance
of villers-cotterêts). france mandates the use of french in official government
publications, public education outside of specific cases (though these
dispositions are often ignored) and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a
translation of foreign words. in france, all matters concerning the orthography,
grammar, vocabulary and use of the french language have been governed by the
académie française since the mid 17th century.[citation needed]

contrary to a common[citation needed] misunderstanding both in the american

and british media, france does not prohibit the use of foreign words in websites
nor in any other private publication, as that would violate the constitutional right
of freedom of speech. the misunderstanding may[citation needed] have arisen
from a similar prohibition in the canadian province of quebec which made strict
application of the charter of the french language between 1977 and 1998,
although these regulations addressed language used in advertising and the
provision of commercial services offered within the province, not the language of
private communication.

in addition to french, there are also a variety of regional languages. france has
signed the european charter for regional languages but has not ratified it since
that would go against the 1958 constitution.

switzerland

further information: demographics of switzerland

french is one of the four official languages of switzerland (along with german,
italian, and romansh), and is spoken in the part of switzerland called romandie.
french is the native language of about 20% of all swiss.

belgium

further information: languages of belgium and belgian french

in belgium, french is the official language of the walloon region (excluding the
east cantons, which are german-speaking) and one of the two official languages
of the capital, brussels, along with dutch, where it is spoken by the majority of the
population. conversely the dutch language dominates among the city's largely
non-resident workforce. it should be noted that french is not an official language
nor a recognised minority language in flanders, although there are some districts
in belgium along linguistic borders that have special compromise linguistic
regimes (so called linguistic facilities). in total, native french-speakers make up
about 40% of the country's population, the remaining 60% speak dutch, the latter
of which 59% claim to speak french as a second language.[8] french is thus
known by an estimated 75% of all belgians, either as a mother tongue or second
language[9].

luxembourg
mailbox with french and german languages, luxembourg
mailbox with french and german languages, luxembourg

further information: languages of luxembourg

french is one of the three official languages in luxembourg, along with german
and luxembourgish.

monaco

further information: languages of monaco

although monégasque is the national language of the principality of monaco,

french is the only official language, and french nationals make up some 47% of
the population

italy

further information: languages of italy

french is also an official language, along with italian, in the province of aosta
valley, italy. in addition, a number of franco-provençal dialects are spoken in the
province, although they do not have official recognition.

the channel islands

further information: languages of jersey and languages of guernsey

although jersey and guernsey, the two baliwicks collectively referred to as the
channel islands, are separate entities, both use french to some degree, mostly in
an administrative capacity. jersey legal french is the standardized variety used in
jersey.

french as a non-official language in europe

further information: languages of andorra

although catalan is the only official language of andorra, french nationals make
up 7% of the population, giving the french language some presence there.

the americas

legal status in canada

see canadian french, languages of canada, bilingualism in canada

bilingual (english/french) stop sign on parliament hill in ottawa. an example of
bilingualism at the federal government level in canada.
bilingual (english/french) stop sign on parliament hill in ottawa. an example of
bilingualism at the federal government level in canada.

about 7 million canadians are native french-speakers, of whom 6 million live in

quebec [5], and french is one of canada's two official languages (the other being
english). various provisions of the canadian charter of rights and freedoms deal
with canadians' right to access services in both languages, including the right to a
publicly funded education in the minority language of each province, where
numbers warrant in a given locality. by law, the federal government must operate
and provide services in both english and french, proceedings of the parliament of
canada must be translated into both these languages, and most products sold in
canada must have bilingual labels.
overall, about 13% of canadians have knowledge of french only, while 18% have
knowledge of both english and french. in contrast, over 80% of the population of
quebec speaks french natively, and 95% can speak it. it has been the sole official
language of quebec since 1974. the legal status of french was further
strengthened with the 1977 adoption of the charter of the french language
(popularly known as bill 101), which guarantees that every person has a right to
have the civil administration, the health and social services, corporations, and
enterprises in quebec communicate with him in french. while the charter
mandates that certain provincial government services, such as those relating to
health and education, be offered to the english minority in its language, where
numbers warrant, its primary purpose is to cement the role of french as the
primary language used in the public sphere.

the provision of the charter that has arguably had the most significant impact
mandates french-language education unless a child's parents or siblings have
received the majority of their own primary education in english within canada,
with minor exceptions. this measure has reversed a historical trend whereby a
large number of immigrant children would attend english schools. in so doing, the
charter has greatly contributed to the "visage français" (french face) of montreal
in spite of its growing immigrant population. other provisions of the charter have
been ruled unconstitutional over the years, including those mandating french-only
commercial signs, court proceedings, and debates in the legislature. though none
of these provisions are still in effect today, some continued to be on the books for
a time even after courts had ruled them unconstitutional as a result of the
government's decision to invoke the so-called notwithstanding clause of the
canadian constitution to override constitutional requirements. in 1993, the charter
was rewritten to allow signage in other languages so long as french was
markedly "predominant." another section of the charter guarantees every person
the right to work in french, meaning the right to have all communications with
one's superiors and coworkers in french, as well as the right not to be required to
know another language as a condition of hiring, unless this is warranted by the
nature of one's duties, such as by reason of extensive interaction with people
located outside the province or similar reasons. this section has not been as
effective as had originally been hoped, and has faded somewhat from public
consciousness. as of 2006, approximately 65% of the workforce on the island of
montreal predominantly used french in the workplace.

the only other province that recognizes french as an official language is new
brunswick, which is officially bilingual, like the nation as a whole. outside of
quebec, the highest number of francophones in canada, 485,000, excluding
those who claim multiple mother tongues, reside in ontario, whereas new
brunswick, home to the vast majority of acadians, has the highest percentage of
francophones after quebec, 33%, or 237,000. in ontario, nova scotia, prince
edward island, and manitoba, french does not have full official status, although
the provincial governments do provide some french-language services in all
communities where significant numbers of francophones live. canada's three
northern territories (yukon, northwest territories, and nunavut) all recognize
french as an official language as well.

all provinces make some effort to accommodate the needs of their francophone
citizens, although the level and quality of french-language service varies
significantly from province to province. the ontario french language services act,
adopted in 1986, guarantees french language services in that province in regions
where the francophone population exceeds 10% of the total population, as well
as communities with francophone populations exceeding 5,000, and certain other
designated areas; this has the most effect in the north and east of the province,
as well as in other larger centres such as ottawa, toronto, hamilton, mississauga,
london, kitchener, st. catharines, greater sudbury and windsor. however, the
french language services act does not confer the status of "official bilingualism"
on these cities, as that designation carries with it implications which go beyond
the provision of services in both languages. the city of ottawa's language policy
(by-law 2001-170) has two criteria which would allow employees to work in their
official language of choice and be supervised in the language of choice; this
policy is being challenged by an organization called canadians for language
fairness.

canada has the status of member state in the francophonie, while the provinces
of québec and new brunswick are recognized as participating governments.
ontario is currently seeking to become a full member on its own.

haiti

french is an official language of haiti, although it is mostly spoken by the upper

class and well-educated, while haitian creole (a french-based creole language) is
more widely spoken as a mother tongue.

french overseas territories

french is also the official language in france's overseas territories of french

guiana, guadeloupe, martinique, saint barthelemy, st. martin, saint-pierre and
miquelon.

the united states

french language spread in the united states. counties marked in yellow are those
where 6-12% of the population speak french at home; brown, 12-18%; red, over
18%. french-based creole languages are not included.
french language spread in the united states. counties marked in yellow are those
where 6-12% of the population speak french at home; brown, 12-18%; red, over
18%. french-based creole languages are not included.

see french in the united states

although it has no official recognition on a federal level, french is the third [10] or
fourth [11] most-spoken language in the united states, after english, spanish, and
possibly chinese (if chinese languages such as mandarin and cantonese are
grouped together), and the second most-spoken in the states of louisiana, maine,
vermont and new hampshire. louisiana is home to a unique dialect, cajun french.

africa

see:african french
a majority of the world's population of francophones lives in africa. most africans,
however, do not speak french as their mother tongue (although the number of
native french speakers on the continent is said to be increasing) but tens of
millions can speak it as a second language. it is impossible to speak of a single
form of african french, but rather of diverse forms of african french which have
developed due to the contact with many indigenous african languages.[12] in the
territories of the indian ocean, the french language is often spoken alongside
french-derived creole languages, the major exception being madagascar. there, a
malayo-polynesian language (malagasy) is spoken alongside french.

sub-saharan africa is the region where the french language is most likely to
expand due to the expansion of education and it is also there the language has
evolved most in recent years[13][14] some vernacular forms of french in africa
can be difficult to understand for french speakers from other countries[15] but
written forms of the language are very closely related to those of the rest of the
french-speaking world.

french is an official language of many african countries, most of them former

french or belgian colonies:
countries usually considered as francophone africa countries sometimes
considered as francophone africa
countries usually considered as francophone africa countries sometimes
considered as francophone africa

* benin
* burkina faso
* burundi
* cameroon
* central african republic
* chad
* comoros
* congo (brazzaville)
* côte d'ivoire
* democratic republic of the congo
* djibouti
* equatorial guinea (former colony of spain)
 * gabon
* guinea
* madagascar
* mali
* mauritius
* niger
* rwanda
* senegal
* seychelles
* togo

in addition, french is an administrative language of mauritania and is commonly

used, though not on an official basis, in algeria, morocco, and tunisia.

various reforms have been implemented in recent decades in algeria to improve

the status of arabic relative to french, especially in education.

while the predominant european language in egypt is english, french is

considered to be a more sophisticated language by some elements of the
egyptian upper and upper-middle classes; for this reason, a typical educated
egyptian will learn french in addition to english at some point in his or her
education. the perception of sophistication may be related to the use of french as
the royal court language of egypt during the 19th century. egypt participates in la
francophonie.

french is also the official language of mayotte and réunion, two overseas
territories of france located in the indian ocean, as well as an administrative and
educational language in mauritius, along with english.

asia

in asia, french is an administrative language in laos and lebanon, and is used

unofficially in parts of cambodia, india (mahé, karikal and yanam), vietnam and
syria. french has official status in union territory of pondicherry, along with the
regional language tamil.

oceania

french is also an official language of the pacific island nation of vanuatu, along
with france's territories of french polynesia, wallis & futuna and new caledonia.

dialects and creoles

regional varieties

main article: dialects of the french language

 * acadian french
* african french
* aostan french
* belgian french
* cajun french
* canadian french
* cambodian french
* guyana french (see french guiana)
* indian french
* jersey legal french
* lao french
* levantine french
* maghreb french (see also north african french)
* meridional french
* metropolitan french
* new caledonian french
* newfoundland french
* north american french
* oceanic french
* quebec french
* south east asian french
* swiss french
* vietnamese french
* west indian french

derived languages

main article: french-based creole languages

* antillean creole
* haitian creole
* lanc-patuá
* mauritian creole
* michif
* louisiana creole french
* réunionese creole
* seychellois creole
* tay boi

history

main article: history of french

sounds
 main article: french phonology

note: this page or section contains ipa phonetic symbols in unicode. see ipa chart
for english for a pronunciation key.

although there are many french regional accents, only one version of the
language is normally chosen as a model for foreign learners. this is the educated
standard variety of tours[citation needed], which has no commonly used special
name, but has been termed "français neutre" (neutral french).

* voiced stops (i.e. /b d g/) are typically produced fully voiced throughout.

* voiceless stops (i.e. /p t k/) are described as unaspirated; when preceding

high vowels, they are often followed by a short period of aspiration and/or
frication. they are never glottalised. they can be unreleased utterance-finally.

* nasals: the velar nasal /ŋ/ occurs only in final position in borrowed (usually
english) words: parking, camping, swing. the palatal nasal /ɲ/can occur in word
initial position (e.g. gnon), but it is most frequently found in intervocalic, onset
position or word-finally (e.g. montagne).

* fricatives: french has three pairs of homorganic fricatives distinguished by

voicing, i.e. labiodental /f/–/v/, dental /s/–/z/, and palato-alveolar /ʃ/–/ʒ/. notice
that /s/–/z/ are dental, like the plosives /t/–/d/, and the nasal /n/.

* french has one rhotic whose pronunciation varies considerably among

speakers and phonetic contexts. in general it is described as a voiced uvular
fricative as in [ʁu] roue "wheel" . vowels are often lengthened before this
segment. it can be reduced to an approximant, particularly in final position (e.g.
"fort") or reduced to zero in some word-final positions. for other speakers, a
uvular trill is also fairly common, and an apical trill [r] occurs in some dialects.

* lateral and central approximants: the lateral approximant /l/ is unvelarised in

both onset ("lire") and coda position ("il"). in the onset, the central approximants
[w], [ɥ], and [j] each correspond to a high vowel, /u/, /y/, and /i/ respectively. there
are a few minimal pairs where the approximant and corresponding vowel
contrast, but there are also many cases where they are in free variation.
contrasts between /j/ and /i/ occur in final position as in /pɛj/ paye "pay" vs. /pɛi/
pays "country".

french pronunciation follows strict rules based on spelling, but french spelling is
often based more on history than phonology. the rules for pronunciation vary
between dialects, but the standard rules are:

* final consonants: final single consonants, in particular s, x, z, t, d, n and m,

are normally silent. (the final letters 'c', 'r', 'f', and 'l' however are normally
pronounced.)
o when the following word begins with a vowel, though, a silent consonant
may once again be pronounced, to provide a liaison or "link" between the two
words. some liaisons are mandatory, for example the s in les amants or vous
avez; some are optional, depending on dialect and register, for example the first
s in deux cents euros or euros irlandais; and some are forbidden, for example the
s in beaucoup d'hommes aiment. the t of et is never pronounced and the silent
final consonant of a noun is only pronounced in the plural and in set phrases like
pied-à-terre. note that in the case of a word ending d as in pied-à-terre, the
conson t is pronounced instead.
o doubling a final 'n' and adding a silent e at the end of a word (e.g. chien
→ chienne) makes it clearly pronounced. doubling a final 'l' and adding a silent 'e'
(e.g. "gentil" → "gentille") adds an [j] sound.

* elision or vowel dropping: some monosyllabic function words ending in a or

e, such as je and que, drop their final vowel when placed before a word that
begins with a vowel sound (thus avoiding a hiatus). the missing vowel is replaced
by an apostrophe. (e.g. je ai is instead pronounced and spelt → j'ai). this gives
for example the same pronunciation for "l'homme qu'il a vu" ("the man whom he
saw") and "l'homme qui l'a vu" ("the man who saw him").

orthography

main article: french orthography

* nasal: "n" and "m". when "n" or "m" follows a vowel or diphthong, the "n" or
"m" becomes silent and causes the preceding vowel to become nasalized (i.e.
pronounced with the soft palate extended downward so as to allow part of the air
to leave through the nostrils). exceptions are when the "n" or "m" is doubled, or
immediately followed by a vowel. the prefixes en- and em- are always nasalized.
the rules get more complex than this but may vary between dialects.
* digraphs: french does not introduce extra letters or diacritics to specify its
large range of vowel sounds and diphthongs, rather it uses specific combinations
of vowels, sometimes with following consonants, to show which sound is
intended.
* gemination: within words, double consonants are generally not pronounced
as geminates in modern french (but you can hear geminates in the cinema or tv
news from as recently as the 1970s, and in very refined elocution they still may
occur). for example, "illusion" is pronounced [ilyzj ɔ̃] and not [illyzj ɔ̃]. but
gemination does occur between words. for example, "une info" ("a news") is
pronounced [yn ɛfo],
̃ whereas "une nympho" ("a nympho") is pronounced
[ynn ɛfo].
̃
* accents are used sometimes for pronunciation, sometimes to distinguish
similar words, and sometimes for etymology alone.
o accents that affect pronunciation
+ the acute accent (l'accent aigü), "é" (e.g., école— school), means
that the vowel is pronounced /e/ instead of the default /ə/.
+ the grave accent (l'accent grave), "è" (e.g., élève— pupil) means that
the vowel is pronounced /ɛ/ instead of the default /ə/.
+ the circumflex (l'accent circonflexe) "ê" (e.g., forêt— forest) shows
that an e is pronounced /ɛ/ and that an o is pronounced /o/. in standard french it
also signifies a pronunciation of /ɑ/ for the letter a, but this differentiation is
disappearing. in the late 19th century, the circumflex was used in place of 's'
where that letter was not to be pronounced. thus, forest became forêt and
hospital became hôpital.
+ the diaeresis (le tréma) (e.g. naïf— foolish, noël— christmas) as in
english, specifies that this vowel is pronounced separately from the preceding
one, not combined and is not a schwa.
+ the cedilla (la cédille) "ç" (e.g., garçon— boy) means that the letter c
is pronounced /s/ in front of the hard vowels a, o, and u. ("c" is otherwise /k/
before a hard vowel.) c is always pronounced /s/ in front of the soft vowels e, i,
and y, thus ç is never found in front of soft vowels.
o accents with no pronunciation effect
+ the circumflex does not affect the pronunciation of the letters i or u,
and in most dialects, a as well (the circumflex on i and u is no longer compulsory:
boite, chaine, ile-de-france). it usually indicates that an s came after it long ago,
as in hôtel.
+ all other accents are used only to distinguish similar words, as in the
case of distinguishing the adverbs là and où ("there", "where") from the article la
and the conjunction ou ("the" fem. sing., "or") respectively.

grammar

main article: french grammar

french grammar shares several notable features with most other romance
languages, including:

* the loss of latin's declensions

* only two grammatical genders
* the development of grammatical articles from latin demonstratives
* new tenses formed from auxiliaries

french word order is subject verb object, except when the object is a pronoun, in
which case the word order is subject object verb. some rare archaisms allow for
different word orders.

vocabulary

the majority of french words derive from vulgar latin or were constructed from
latin or greek roots. there are often pairs of words, one form being popular (noun)
and the other one savant (adjective), both originating from latin. example:
 * brother: frère / fraternel < from latin frater
* finger: doigt / digital < from latin digitvs
* faith: foi / fidèle < from latin fides
* cold: froid / frigide < from latin frigidvs
* eye: œil / oculaire < from latin ocvlvs
* inhabitants of the city saint-Étienne are called stéphanois

the last example, saint-Étienne/stéphanois, illustrates common practice for

gentilics throughout france.

in some examples there is a common word from "vulgar" latin and a more savant
word from classical latin or even greek.

* cheval — concours équestre — hippodrome

the french words which have developed from latin are usually less recognisable
than italian words of latin origin because as french developed into a separate
language from vulgar latin, the unstressed final syllable of many words was
dropped or elided into the following word.

it is estimated that 12 percent (4,200) of common french words found in a typical

dictionary such as the petit larousse or micro-robert plus (35,000 words) are of
foreign origin. about 25 percent (1,054) of these foreign words come from english
and are fairly recent borrowings. the others are some 707 words from italian, 550
from ancient germanic languages, 481 from ancient gallo-romance languages,
215 from arabic, 164 from german, 160 from celtic languages, 159 from spanish,
153 from dutch, 112 from persian and sanskrit, 101 from native american
languages, 89 from other asian languages, 56 from afro-asiatic languages, 55
from slavic languages and baltic languages, 10 for basque and 144—about three
percent—from other languages (walter & walter 1998).

numerals

the french counting system is partially vigesimal: twenty (vingt) is used as a base
number in the names of numbers from 80-99. the french word for 80, for
example, is quatre-vingts, which literally means "four twenties", and soixante-
quinze (literally "sixty-fifteen") indicating 75. this reform arose after the french
revolution to unify the different counting system (mostly vigesimal near the coast,
due to celtic (via basque) and viking influence). this system is comparable to the
archaic english use of "score", as in "fourscore and seven" (87), or "threescore
and ten" (70).

belgian french and swiss french are different in this respect. in belgium and
switzerland 70 and 90 are septante and nonante. in switzerland, depending on
the local dialect, 80 can be: quatre-vingts (geneva, neuchâtel, jura) or huitante
(vaud, valais, fribourg). octante had been used in switzerland in the past, but is
now considered archaic.[16] in belgium, however, quatre-vingts is universally
used.

writing system

main article: french alphabet

french is written using the 26 letters of the latin alphabet, plus five diacritics (the
circumflex accent, acute accent, grave accent, diaeresis, and cedilla) and the two
ligatures (œ) and (æ).

french spelling, like english spelling, tends to preserve obsolete pronunciation

rules. this is mainly due to extreme phonetic changes since the old french period,
without a corresponding change in spelling. moreover, some conscious changes
were made to restore latin orthography:

* old french doit > french doigt "finger" (latin digitum)

* old french pie > french pied "foot" (latin pedem)

as a result, it is difficult to predict the spelling on the basis of the sound alone.
final consonants are generally silent, except when the following word begins with
a vowel. for example, all of these words end in a vowel sound: pied, aller, les,
finit, beaux. the same words followed by a vowel, however, may sound the
consonants, as they do in these examples: beaux-arts, les amis, pied-à-terre.

on the other hand, a given spelling will almost always lead to a predictable
sound, and the académie française works hard to enforce and update this
correspondence. in particular, a given vowel combination or diacritic predictably
leads to one phoneme.

the diacritics have phonetic, semantic, and etymological significance.

* acute accent (é): over an e, indicates the sound /e/, the ai sound in such
words as english hay or neigh. it often indicates the historical deletion of a
following consonant (usually an s): écouter < escouter. this type of accent mark is
called accent aigu in french.
* grave accent (à, è, ù): over a or u, used only to distinguish homophones: à
("to") vs. a ("has"), ou ("or") vs. où ("where"). over an e, indicates the sound /ɛ/.
* circumflex (â, ê, î, ô, û): over an a, e or o, indicates the sound /ɑ/, /ɛ/ or /o/,
respectively (the distinction a /a/ vs. â /ɑ/ tends to disappear in many dialects).
most often indicates the historical deletion of an adjacent letter (usually an s or a
vowel): château < castel, fête < feste, sûr < seur, dîner < disner. it has also come
to be used to distinguish homophones: du ("of the") vs. dû (past participle of
devoir "to have to do something (pertaining to an act)"; note that dû is in fact
written thus because of a dropped e: deu). (see use of the circumflex in french)
 * diaeresis or tréma (ë, ï, ü, ÿ): indicates that a vowel is to be pronounced
separately from the preceding one: naïve, noël. a diaeresis on ÿ only occurs in
some proper names and in modern editions of old french texts. some proper
names in which "ÿ" appears include aÿ (commune in canton de la marne formerly
aÿ-champagne), rue des cloÿs (alley in the 18th arrondisement of paris), croÿ
(family name and hotel on the boulevard raspail, paris), château du feÿ (near
joigny), ghÿs (name of flemish origin spelt "ghijs" where "ij" in handwriting looked
like "ÿ" to french clerks), l'haÿ-les-roses (commune between paris and orly
airport), pierre louÿs (author), moÿ (place in commune de l'aisne and family
name), and le blanc de nicolaÿ (an insurance company in eastern france). the
diaresis on ü appears only in the biblical proper names archélaüs, capharnaüm,
emmaüs, Ésaü and saül. nevertheless, since the 1990 orthographic rectifications
(which are not applied at all by most french people), the diaeresis in words
containing guë (such as aiguë or ciguë) may be moved onto the u: aigüe, cigüe.
words coming from german retain the old umlaut ("ä", "ö" and "ü") if applicable
but use french pronunciation, such as kärcher (trade mark of a pressure washer).
* cedilla (ç): indicates that an etymological c is pronounced /s/ when it would
otherwise be pronounced /k/. thus je lance "i throw" (with c = [s] before e), je
lançais "i was throwing" (c would be pronounced [k] before a without the cedilla).

there are two ligatures, which have various origins.

* the ligature œ is a mandatory contraction of oe in certain words. some of

these are native french words, with the pronunciation /œ/ or /ø/, e.g. sœur
"sister" /sœʁ/, œuvre "work [of art]" /œvʁ/. note that it usually appears in the
combination œu; œil is an exception. many of these words were originally written
with the digraph eu; the o in the ligature represents a sometimes artificial attempt
to imitate the latin spelling: latin bovem > old french buef/beuf > modern french
bœuf. Œ is also used in words of greek origin, as the latin rendering of the greek
diphthong οι, e.g. cœlacanthe "coelacanth". these words used to be
pronounced with the vowel /e/, but in recent years a spelling
pronunciation with /ø/ has taken hold, e.g. œsophage /ezɔfaʒ/ or /øzɔfaʒ/. the
pronunciation with /e/ is often seen to be more correct. the ligature œ is not used
in some occurrences of the letter combination oe, for example, when o is part of
a prefix (coexister).

* the ligature æ is rare and appears in some words of latin and greek origin like
ægosome, ægyrine, æschne, cæcum, nævus or uræus.[17] the vowel quality is
identical to é /e/.

french writing, as with any language, is affected by the spoken language. in old
french, the plural for "animal" was "animals". common speakers pronounced a "u"
before a word ending in "l" as the plural. this resulted in "animauls". as the french
language evolved this vanished and the form "animaux" ("aux" pronounced /o/)
was admitted. the same is true for "cheval" pluralized as "chevaux" and many
others. also "castel" pl. "castels" became "château" pl. "châteaux".
some attempts have been made to reform french spelling, but few major changes
have been made over the last two centuries.

samples
(audio) this section includes inline links to audio files. if you have trouble
playing the files, see wikipedia media help.
english french ipa pronunciation (canadian accent) ipa
pronunciation (french accent)
french français /f ʀɑ̃s ɛ/ (info)/f ʁɑ̃s ɛ/ (info)
english anglais / ɑ̃gl ɛ/ (info) / ɑ̃gl ɛ/ (info)
yes oui /wi/ (info) /wi/ (info)
no non /n ɔ/̃ (info) /n ɔ/̃ (info)
hello! bonjour ! (formal) salut ! (informal) /b ɔʒ ̃ uːʀ/ (info) /b ɔʒ ̃ uːʁ/
(info)
good evening! bonsoir ! /b ɔ̃sw ɑ:ʁ/ (info) /b ɔ̃swa: ʁ/ (info)
good night! bonne nuit ! /bɔnnɥi/ (info) /bɔnnɥi/ (info)
goodbye! au revoir ! /ɔʁvwɑːʁ/ (info) /oʁøvwaːʁ/ (info)
have a nice day! bonne journée ! /bɔnʒuʀne/ (info) /bɔnʒuʁne/ (info)
please s'il vous plaît (formal) s'il te plaît (informal) /sɪlvuplɛ/ (info)
/silvuplɛ/ (info)
thank you merci /mɛʀsi/ (info) /mɛʁsi/ (info)
you're welcome de rien ("it is nothing") / je vous en prie
sorry pardon / désolé (if male) / désolée (if female) /paʀd ɔ̃/ (info) / /dez ɔle/
(info) /paʁd ɔ/̃ (info) / /dez ɔle/ (info)
who? qui ? /ki/ (info) /ki/ (info)
what? quoi ? /kwa/ (info) /kwa/ (info)
when? quand ? /k ɑ̃/ (info) /k ɑ̃/ (info)
where? où ? /u/ (info) /u/ (info)
why? pourquoi ? /puʀkwa/ (info) /puʁkwa/ (info)
what's your name? comment t'appelles-tu ? (informal), comment vous appelez-
vous ? (formal)
because parce que /paʁs(ə)kə/ (info) /paʁs(ə)kə/ (info)
how? comment ? /kɔm ɑ̃/ (info)/kɔm ɑ̃/ (info)
how much? combien ? /k ɔbj ̃ ɛ/̃ (info)/k ɔ̃bj ɛ/̃ (info)
i do not understand. je ne comprends pas. /ʒə nə k ɔ̃p ʀɑ̃ p ɑ/
(info) /ʒə nə k ɔp̃ ʁɑ̃ p ɑ/ (info)
yes, i understand. oui, je comprends. /wi ʒə k ɔ̃p ʀɑ̃/ (info) /wi ʒə k ɔ̃p ʁɑ̃/
(info)
help! au secours !! (à l'aide !) /oskuːʀ/ (info) /oskuːʁ/ (info)
can you help me please ? pouvez-vous m'aider s'il vous plaît ?
where are the bathrooms? où sont les toilettes ? /u s ɔ̃ le twal ɛt/ (info)
/u s ɔ̃ le twal ɛt/ (info)
do you speak english? parlez-vous anglais ? /paʀlevu ɑ̃gl ɛ/ (info)
/paʁlevu ɑ̃gl ɛ/ (info)
i do not speak french. je ne parle pas français. /ʒə nə paʀlə pɑ f ʀɑ̃s ɛ/
 /ʒə nə paʁl(ə) pa f ʁɑ̃s ɛ/
i don't know. je ne sais pas.
i know. je sais.
i am thirsty. j'ai soif.
i am hungry. j'ai faim.
how are you? how are things going? how's everything? Ça va? (informal)
comment allez-vous? (formal)
i am (very) well. everything is (very) well. etc. Ça va (très) bien. (informal) je
vais bien. (formal)
i am (very) bad. everything is (very) bad. etc. Ça va (très) mal. (informal) je
vais (très) mal. (formal)
i am ok/so-so. everything is ok/so-so. etc. Ça va comme ci, comme ça.
i am fine. Ça va.
green vert
white blanc

references

* walter, henriette and gérard, dictionnaire des mots d'origine étrangère, 1998.

1. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=fra
2. ^ http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/francophonie/francophonie.htm
3. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=fra
4. ^ http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/dglf/politique-langue/franco-chiffre-
2000.html
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/francophonie/francophonie.htm
7. ^ "les francophones dans le monde" (francophones of the world") − provides
details from a report, (rapport 1997-1998 du haut conseil de la francophonie,
"etat de la francophonie dans le monde", la documentation française, 1999,
pp.612) which provides the following numbers: 112,666,000 with french as a first,
second, or "adopted" language; 60,612,000 "occasional francophones" for whom
usage and mastery of french are limited only by circumstances or by expressive
capability; 100-110 million "francizers", who have learned french for several years
and have maintained limited mastery, or who have simply been required to learn
enough to perform their job.
8. ^ (june 2006) "la dynamique des langues en belgique" (in french) (pdf).
regards économiques, publication préparée par les économistes de l'université
catholique de louvain (numéro 42) retrieved on 7 may 2007. “les enquêtes
montrent que la flandre est bien plus multilingue, ce qui est sans doute un fait
bien connu, mais la différence est considérable : alors que 59 % et 53 % des
flamands connaissent le français ou l'anglais respectivement, seulement 19 % et
17 % des wallons connaissent le néerlandais ou l'anglais. ... 95 pour cent des
bruxellois déclarent parler le français, alors que ce pourcentage tombe à 59 pour
cent pour le néerlandais. quant à l’anglais, il est connu par une proportion
importante de la population à bruxelles (41 pour cent)”
 9. ^ 40%+60%*59%=75.4%
10. ^ [2]
11. ^ [3]
12. ^ "en afrique, il est impossible de parler d'une forme unique du français
mais..."
13. ^ http://www.cecif.com/?page=la_francophonie " le français, langue en
évolution dans beaucoup de pays francophones, surtout sur le continent africain,
une propor tion importante de la population ne parle pas couramment le français
(même s'il est souvent la langue officielle du pays). ce qui signifie qu'au fur et à
mesure que les nouvelles générations vont à l'école, le nombre de francophones
augmente: on estime qu'en 2015, ceux-ci seront deux fois plus nombreux
qu'aujourd'hui.".
14. ^ http://www.cecif.com/?page=la_francophonie#francaisafrique c) le sabir
franco-africain "c'est la variété du français la plus fluctuante. le sabir franco-
africain est instable et hétérogène sous toutes ses formes. il existe des énoncés
où les mots sont français mais leur ordre reste celui de la langue africaine. en
somme, autant les langues africaines sont envahies par les structures et les
mots français, autant la langue française se métamorphose en afrique, donnant
naissance à plusieurs variétés."
15. ^ http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/afrique/centrafrique.htm il existe une autre
variété de français, beaucoup plus répandu et plus permissive: le français local.
c'est un français très influencé par les langues centrafricaines, surtout par le
sango. cette variété est parlée par les classes non instruites, qui n'ont pu
terminer leur scolarité. ils utilisent ce qu'ils connaissent du français avec des
emprunts massifs aux langues locales. cette variété peut causer des problèmes
de compréhension avec les francophones des autres pays, car les interférences
linguistiques, d'ordre lexical et sémantique, sont très importantes. one example
of a variety of african french that is difficult to understand for european french
speakers.
16. ^ septante, octante, huitante, nonante. langue-fr.net.
17. ^ la ligature æ (in french)

see also

* french wikipedia

* académie française
* office québécois de la langue française
* la francophonie
* history of the french language
* alliance française

* dialects of french
* french creole languages
* french in canada
* french in the united states
 * list of countries where french is an official language

* french phrases used by english speakers

* list of english words of french origin

* french proverbs
* list of french phrases
* morphology of the french verb
* reforms of french orthography
* crfl (careful mnemonic) - french pronunciation
* common phrases in different languages

* verlan
* louchébem

dialects of english influenced by french

* cajun english

external links
wikiversity
at wikiversity, you can learn about:
french language
wiktionary
french language edition of wiktionary, the free dictionary/thesaurus
wikipedia
french language edition of wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
wikibooks
wikibooks has more about this subject:
french
wikimedia commons has media related to:
french

* (french) académie française

* ethnologue report for french
* french language course
* free french tutorial including informal french & slang
* learn french at about
* learn the basic rules of french
* target language
* typing french characters using the keyboard
* why study french
* free french lessons

dictionaries / vocabulary
 * great terminologic dictionary (by the office of french language of quebec)
* french dictionary
* french vocabulary
* cross-translating french to english, german, italian, and dutch
* learn most popular french words
* collection of french bilingual dictionaries
* xmllittré french dictionary
* french dictionaries

audio

* french audio files for words, telling time, poetry, photos...

* free audio base of french words
* french audio files of the shtooka.net project

official languages of the united nations

arabic • chinese • english
french • russian • spanish
source: official un website
v•d•e
official languages of the european union[hide]
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working languages of the african union
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source: acalan website
official languages of south america

aymara (bolivia, peru) · dutch (netherlands antilles, aruba, surinam) · english

(falkland islands, guyana)
french (french guiana) (france) · guarani (paraguay) · papiamento (aruba) ·
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spanish (venezuela, colombia, ecuador, peru, bolivia, chile, uruguay, paraguay,
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v•d•e
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retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/french_language"

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