French (le français, pronounced [lə fʁɑ̃sɛ] or [lə fʁɑ̃se] ( listen) or la langue française [la lɑ̃ɡ

fʁɑ̃sɛːz]) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin
of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the
spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other
langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which
French (Francien) has largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages
of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the
post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are
numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking
person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.
French is an official language in 29 countries across multiple different continents,[4] most of which
are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 84
countries which share the official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in
descending order of the number of speakers) in France, Canadian provinces of Quebec, Ontario
and New Brunswick as well as other Francophone regions, Belgium (Wallonia and the Brussels-
Capital Region), western Switzerland (cantons of Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel,
Vaud, Valais), Monaco, parts of the United States (Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and
Vermont), partly in Luxembourg and in northern Italy (region of Aosta Valley), and by various
communities elsewhere.[5] In 2015, approximately 40% of the francophone population (including
L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the
Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania.[6] French is the fourth most widely
spoken mother tongue in the European Union,[7] Of Europeans who speak other languages
natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language.[8] French is the
second most taught foreign language in the EU.[9] French is also the 18th most natively spoken
language in the world, 6th most spoken language by total number of speakers and the second
most studied language worldwide (with about 120 million current learners).[10]

As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward