Transcript FRENCH AS A LINGUA FRANCA

Nafsika Tsouni
* Today, lingua francas play an important role in global
communication. The United Nations defines its official
languages as Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and
Spanish.
* A major advance for any language is to become a Lingua
franca. Almost invariably the result of power and prestige,
this status is achieved by French after the heyday of France's
international influence under Louis XIV. In more recent times
English - first through the British empire, but more
significantly through American world dominance in the 20th
century - has replaced French in this role.
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* French is one of the very few languages spoken all over the world,
ranked the sixth most widely spoken language after Mandarin Chinese,
English, Hindi, Spanish and Arabic.
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There are currently over 220 million French speakers worldwide,
including 72 million so-called partial French speakers.
* French is an Italic language descended from the spoken Latin language
of the Roman Empire, as are languages such as Italian, Portuguese,
Spanish, Romanian, Lombard, Catalan, Sicilian and Sardinian.
* France and the French-speaking countries play an active part in the
world economy, accounting for some 20% of world trade in goods.
* French shares with English the distinction of being taught as a foreign
language in the education systems of most countries around the world.
French is thus the second most widely learned foreign language in the
world, with almost 120 million students and 500,000 teachers.
* According to different sources, nearly 30% of all English words have a
French origin.
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* French remains one of the most important diplomatic languages, with the
language being one of the working languages of NATO, the International
Olympic Committee, the UN Secretariat. It is also a working language in
nonprofit organizations such as the Red Cross.
* French is the fourth most widely spoken mother tongue in the European
Union.
* French is an official language in 29 countries, Belgium for instance, most
of which form la francophonie (in French), the community of Frenchspeaking.
* According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and
the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie,
French speakers will number approximately 500 million people in 2025
and 650 million people, or approximately 7% of the world's population by
2050.Estimates in 2013 suggest that French speakers will reach 1 billion
by 2060.
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* French was the most important language of diplomacy and
international relations from the 17th century to approximately the
middle of the 20th century. English has now taken over that role,
since following the Second World War.
* French was the lingua franca because France was the most
powerful European country for some time - Germany and Italy
were a plethora of small kingdoms and states and Paris was the
center of European culture.
* France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a
center of high culture since the 17th century, first in Europe, and
from the 19th century on, worldwide. From the late 19th century,
France has also played an important role in cinema, fashion and
cuisine.
Like most countries in the world, France has scores of famous people,
many of whom have become historical figures. These famous French
people are representative of the country's ethos and values. They
define their nation's culture and display to the world the best
qualities of their country.
* Claude Monet
Born: 14 November 1840
Died: 5 December 1926
Profession: Painter
Claude Monet was one of the pioneers
of the impressionist painting style in France.
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* Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Born: 28 June 1712
Died: 2 July 1778
Profession: Philosopher
Rousseau's political ideas were highly
influential on the French Revolution, the
formation of socialist and liberal theory, and
the development of nationalism.
* Coco Chanel
Born: 19 August 1883
Died: 10 January 1971
Chanel was a French fashion designer and
founder of the CHANEL brand. A prolific
fashion creator, Chanel's influence extended
beyond couture clothing.
* Acadian French
* African French
* Aostan French
* Belgian French
* Cambodian French
* Canadian French
* French-based creole languages
* Guyana French
* Indian French
* Jersey Legal French
* Lao French
* Louisiana French
* Maghreb French (North African French)
* Meridional French
* Metropolitan French
* Missouri French
* New Caledonian French
* Newfoundland French
* Quebec French
* South East Asian French
* Swiss French
* Vietnamese French
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http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr
en.wikipedia.org
www.dailymail.co.uk
www.antimoon.com
http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeograph
y/a/li nguafranca.htm
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www.mylinguafranca.com
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www.usingenglish.com
* http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/plaintexthistories
.asp?historyid=ab13#ixzz2ofaKjtfD
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