The French language is one those languages which are spoken all around the world. It's the 11th most used language through the world, the second most commonly-taught second language in the world (after English) and the official language in 29 countries . According to some estimations, more than 170 millions of people are French speaker, this means 3.2% of the global population. Europe gathers 44% of the francophone population, the USA 7.6%, Africa 46.3%, Asia 1.8% and Oceania 0.3%.
After the denial of the Constitution of the EU in 2005, many countries called into question the engagement of the French, who were with the Germans, the leader of this process. It appeared that the French were not ready to harmonize their laws and many people misunderstood the constitution, they perceived it as a threat for their culture, their jobs. But, the French can not deny the globalization and the evolutions which are going with such as the question which is on everybody's lips: in which ways can we consider English as a new Lingua Franca?
The French pride themselves for having an extremely "civilized" language, a pure language different from the English which is considered as a hybrid language. An amount of 1 billion $ is invested each year to promote the French language in order to maintain its place and its prestige all over the world. But the inevitable spread of English through the internet, the movies, marketing and the mechanism of globalization, is regarded as a threat to French. How does one preserve the French cultural exception and how does one safeguard linguistic diversity without expelling the country from the international scene?
[...] Whereas the Americans and British just allowed the spread of English, the French have spent billions on promoting their language in French-speaking territories such as Africa and the Pacific.What do you think about a country which denies to do like the others and to harmonize their habits and, in the same time, which tries to harmonize process in the construction of the EU? The construction of this Union which aims to be like the "United States of Europe” has been slowed down after the vote of the French who decided to wait for a common constitution. [...]
[...] Some measures have been taken to slow this trend included government censorship of comic strips and financial support for the French film and French language in industries. Some organizations are responsible for the creation of a French terminology, the spread and the defense of the French language: the French Academy, the High Committee of the French language (quality of the language), l'Office de la langue française du Québec and the Service de la langue française de la Communauté française de Belgique (neology and creation of new words) The new Lingua Franca: Esperanglais The French was considered as a centre of esthetic attraction for English writers such as Green and Beckett. [...]
[...] On the Internet, the place of the French language is growing from in 1997 to more than today Do you speak Franglais? Franglais[12] is a result of a mix between the words français ("French") and anglais ("English"). In English, Franglais means a combination of English and French, which is produced either by poor knowledge of one or the other language or for humorous effect. If one tries to speak French and fills in gaps in their knowledge with English words or false friends with their incorrect meaning, the result is Franglais. [...]
[...] By the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539, King François I made French the official language of administration and court proceedings in France, ousting the Latin that had been used before then. With the imposition of a standardized chancery dialect and the loss of the declension system, the dialect is referred to as Middle French. The expansion of French is also linked to the power of the French army. At the end of the 16th, France was the most populated and the richest country in Europe with 15 million people, and so the King could promote the French and increase his authority. [...]
[...] In many countries, French plays an important role, either as an administrative, commercial, or international language or simply due to a significant French-speaking population[7]: Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Dominica (French patois), Egypt, Greece, Grenada (French patois), Guinea-Bissau, India, Laos, Lebanon, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Poland, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, United Kingdom (Channel Islands), Vatican City Legal status in Canada Since 1974, French has been the official language of Quebec. About 12% of the world's francophones are Canadian, and French is one of Canada's two official languages, with English according to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which deals with the right of Canadians, and the federal government must operate and provide services in both English and French. [...]
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