Celtic Symbols

French (français, French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃sɛ]) is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people, worldwide.[1][10] Around 190 million people speak French as a second language,[11] and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language.[12] French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories.[4] Most native speakers of the language live in France, where the language originated. The rest live essentially in Canada, particularly Quebec, as well as Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and certain places in the US states of Maine[13] and Louisiana.[14] Most second-language speakers of French live in Francophone Africa, arguably exceeding the number of native speakers.[15] French is a descendant of the Latin language of the Roman Empire, as are national languages such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian and Catalan, and minority languages ranging from Occitan to Neapolitan and many more. Its closest relatives however are the other langues d’oïl and French-based creole languages. Its development was also influenced by the native Celtic languages of Roman Gaul and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. It is an official language in 29 countries, most of which form what is called, in French, La Francophonie, the community of French-speaking nations. It is an official language of all United Nations agencies and a large number of international organizations. According to the …