Why French?
There's no question that a bilingual education is a beneficial one for your young learner, but why French specifically? We'll share why we know French to be such an important and special language to learn!
'Les limites de ma langue sont les limites de mon monde.'
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'The limits of my language are the limits of my world.'
WHY FRENCH
French is the world’s 5th most spoken language and one that is projected to grow in terms of the number of speakers over the coming decades. French is the official language in 29 countries, which puts it in second place behind English. These 29 countries are: Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, the Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, France, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, and Vanuatu.
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French is also the procedural language for the EU, the only language used for deliberations at the Court of Justice for the EU, and one of the recognized working languages of the United Nations. In addition, dozens of international organizations use French as a working language, including the International Red Cross committee, International Labor Organization, Amnesty International, and Doctors without Borders. Francophone countries form an important bloc in the UN, the EU, the African Union, and the Arab League.
French is taught in every country of the world, with 100 million students and 2 million teachers – 20 % of whom are outside of francophone countries. The number of French speakers has TRIPLED since 1945, largely since most former French and Belgian colonies kept French as their language of government, education, and science after decolonization. According to demographers, the total number of French speakers could rise to as high as 700 million by 2050 due largely to population growth in Africa.
29
84
444
500
French speaking countries across the globe
Countries in the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) who share the official use or teaching of French
Million people hailing from countries with French as their official language
Million French speakers globally by 2025