Learn French And Meet 265 Million New Friends
There are more French speakers than you might think. At the last count, some 265 million people in different countries in the world spoke French. As there are “only” 60 million people in France, that leaves a lot of other people to be accounted for.
Let’s start with the neighbors. Both Belgium and Switzerland have sizable French-speaking populations, naturally enough located in those parts of the country that are closest to the border with France. Apart from small differences in certain words and intonations, the French spoken in these countries is the same as that which is spoken in France.
Moving a little further a field, many parts of Africa are also French speaking. In terms of surface area, practically half of this large continent is concerned, which is not surprising when you look at the list of countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Madagascar and so on. For many of these countries, French arrived with the French colonialists in the same way that English gained such a firm foothold in India.
Across the Atlantic ocean we come of course to Canada, where the French language is not only alive and flourishing but even fiercely defended by French speaking Canadians against the onslaught of “world” English. Whereas the French in France leave matters in the hands of their famous “Académie Française” to decide what is and what is not proper French, French speaking Canadians have developed a whole new French vocabulary to replace the English words that are implanting themselves elsewhere.
So head for your French language course and brush up your holiday French, because if you want to, you can go round the world without ever having to speak a word of English again.
About the author. Marc Dubois is an active instructor working in both English and French. He knows what makes learning French successful for you, the mistakes you need to avoid, and how you can have fun and make progress. Find out more on how this approach to speaking French can help you and try out a mini-course for free by visiting http://www.speak-french-now.com
Tags: africa, Belgium, Canada, France, french, french language, learn french, speak french, switzerland
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