Pyrenees Guide

French is the native language of 70 million people and the second language for 180 to 220 million.
Standard French is based on the dialect of Paris called "francien", which is the official language since the XVI Century and made disappear, or at least almost disappear, most of the other French and not french languages of the country.

Nowadays, beside French, survive Breton (spoken only in Brittany, North of the country), Flemish (spoken in Flandes), Catalan (spoken in Rosellon, South of France) and Basque (spoken in a small part of Gascony, Southeast of the country. Italian (in Côte d'Azur) and German (in Alsace) are also spoken. In the overseas territories and independent countries that once were conquered by the French, they still use French as their official language.

It is a neutral communication medium among the ethnic groups who occupy the country and owns each one their own dialect (such is the case of African French speaking countries like Morocco, Ivory Coast, etc.). Or it has been transferred with French culture, as it is the case of French speaking Canada.

French students in schools in Canada went from 40.000 students in 1978 to over 313.000 in 1996. The level of bilingualism among Canadian youngsters between 15 and 25 years old went up from a 16% to a 23%. French is also official language in Switzerland and in Belgium, as well as in many African countries (including the Island of Madagascar). It is also spoken in parts of Latin America, Indochina and in some areas of the United States, especially in the State of Louisiana.

In Switzerland, French is the native language of 18% of the population who lives mainly in the cantons of Fribourg, Jura, Vaud, Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva. In Belgium, French coexists with Dutch and German, which are also official languages, and its speakers have settled mainly in the South, representing 32% of total population. In Brussels, for example, French and Dutch are recognized officially, but the French group is bigger. Besides, at least 11% of the population speak several languages.

In some countries of the Caribbean and South America (Haiti, Martinique, Dominique, French Guyana) French language is the official language, even though in everyday life the one employed is their own Creole language, from the combination of African languages with French. In Africa, French works as a neutral communication medium between the different ethnic groups who own each one their own language at the same time as the language of the administration and the government, as much as in diplomacy and even in education.

Furthermore, French is also still spoken by some in Vietnam, which used to be the French colony of Indochine, and in the French territories of Nouvelle Caledonie and other islands of Oceania, giving it the distinction of being spoken in the five continents.