French in the world

French language alive and kicking by/from Jeffery Simpson ChronicleHerald-Vive le francais- According to Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow, the language is alive and flourishing. “English Canadians — and actually all English speakers — are probably most surprised to hear that, far from declining, French is thriving,” Barlow said in a recent e-mail interview. “Today, there are 180 million French speakers in the world, more than there ever have been.” The couple has produced in The Story of French a journalistic work that explores how the language has held its own against English in terms of global influence. For instance, the number of French speakers has kept pace with global population growth, tripling during the past 50 years. It’s the world’s second international language and the official tongue in 33 countries, compared with 45 for English. “Some linguists claim that half of English vocabulary comes from French — words as varied as strive, pedigree, war, catch, chase, pledge, challenge,” Barlow says. “At any rate, some of the prestige French enjoys in English-speaking culture definitely comes from this history. “The result is that today, to a certain extent, as English sweeps the planet, it’s carrying French with it.” “By our estimates, the more educated those countries get, the more francophone they will become,” she said.

At one point the French tried to make French the official language of the internet. French is a great language to learn and appartently not going away anytime soon.

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Tags: French language