The French language is spoken by 130 million people around the world. The language is the native tongue in countries like France, Switzerland, Haiti, and parts of Canada. And many Americans in the states of Louisiana and Maine are native French speakers. French is also an official language of many organizations including the International Olympic Committee and the United Nations. If you are interested in learning a second language, either for professional reasons or just for personal enrichment, consider French. Long considered one of the most beautiful spoken languages, French is a language that implies class and distinction. Learning the French language will be an asset in your career, and will enhance your experience if you travel to French-speaking nations.
If you intend to learn the French language, you have several options from which to choose. You can attend a college or University and earn your degree in French. Earning a college degree in French will provide you with a sound expertise of formal French, both written and conversationally. With a college degree in French, you will most likely be fluent in the language. If you are already established professionally, and feel that learning French would be an advantage to you career, you can also enroll in accelerated courses in the French language online, which will offer you the opportunity to gain knowledge of a very basic foundation in the language. Learning the language in this manner will be a relatively quick and highly convenient way to learn a second language. There are many online colleges and learning centers that provide accelerated programs in French, as well as many other languages.
I think that most readers would agree that being able to speak French is a desirable and worthwhile goal, and yet believe that it is a very difficult thing to achieve. I remember from my first visit to France, I could speak no French, nor indeed could any of the other people who traveled to France on the same tour as myself. The interesting thing was that a good percentage of the French people I met could speak at least some English.
It seems that in many English speaking countries knowing the French language or indeed any foreign language is regarded as unimportant and too much effort whereas on the continent many people speak at least one extra language. During the next few paragraphs I intend to persuade you that training yourself to speak French is desirable, important and with modern learning techniques it is not especially difficult to achieve
The French Language.
Roughly around 200 million people around the world speak French. This number includes people who speak French as a native language, as a second language and students of all ages who do not live in a francophone (French-speaking) country but have learned French. In fact French as a foreign language is the second most commonly taught language worldwide after English. It is also the only foreign language that can be useful throughout the world as well as in the United States. French comes in second after English on the list of the world’s 10 most influential languages. Proof of this is the pivotal role French holds. It is one of the official working languages in dozens of powerful international organisations such as the European Union (EU), United Nations (UN), World Health Organisation (WHO), World Trade Organisation (WTO), and a host of other worldwide institutions.
The French language of today is a direct result of long periods of evolution. France, throughout its long history, had been invaded by different ethnic tribal groups. The most distinguished of these are the Franks. They adopted the Latin being spoken at that time. Thus, the French language is a descendant from Latin. It is also known as one of the Romance languages which include Catalan, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. They are called such because their parent tongue Latin was the language of the Romans. Over the years, the early French language has undergone changes in words and grammatical structures. It has evolved into today’s global French.