Frenchlanguage

French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family, descended from Vulgar Latin and part of the Gallo-Romance group. It developed from the langues d'oïl spoken in northern France, and its standard form has been influenced by Parisian speech and by lexicographic and regulatory efforts.

Today, French is spoken by about 80 million people as a native language and by over 300 million as a second language or in official capacity. It is an official language in France and Belgium, one of the four official languages of Switzerland, and widely used in Canada (notably Quebec). It is also an official language in many African countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Senegal, and Cameroon, and in Haiti.

French uses the Latin alphabet with diacritics. The standard written form in France is often referred to as Metropolitan French, but numerous varieties exist worldwide, including Canadian French, African French, Caribbean French, and Haitian French. Dialects differ primarily in pronunciation, vocabulary, and some syntactic preferences.

Historically, French emerged from Old French in the medieval period and evolved through Middle French to Modern French. It spread globally through exploration and colonization and remains influential in diplomacy, culture, and arts. The language has contributed many loanwords to English and other languages.

French is widely taught as a foreign language and studied in schools around the world. It is a working language in several international organizations and maintains a substantial cultural presence in literature, cinema, and media.