Will French replace English as the main language in the EU?

John Strachan Knows English1y

French is a dying language internationally and English is widely used around the world, so I certainly don't
think French will come back and be used over English in the EU. I remember the French not being happy
about WWW (World Wide Web) being in English and trying to change it, but as we all know, no one was
interested.

Marisk Palustris· 1y

Hold your horses will you.

French language is not a dying language internationally. On the contrary, as more and more people
around the globe learn and speak french.

But just to answer the question, it's very unlikely that French language will be the new ex lingua franca of
the EU.

Edwin Stewart Deady· 11mo

A fun story, diplomatic meeting between Spain and England in the age of Elizabeth 1. The Spaniards
suggested using French in the discussions because Elizabeth called herself King of France countered by
the English team offering to conduct the meeting in Hebrew as Phillip called himself King of Jerusalem.

Marisk Palustris· 7mo

and at that time Hebrew as we know it today did not exist :)

Edmond Piffardini· 1y

The premise of top answer is utterly unsupported. French is the fastest growing European language in the
world as measured by native speakers. Perhaps the cultural pride of France itself is the driving force
behind the push to re-elevate French as the language of diplomacy but it also has a very long tradition as
such. For Asian countries I can imagine a certain irritation at the international dominance of any
European language. As an American I would welcome the requirement of learning French for the
diplomatic core or higher education as well, and Spanish, and German…ok and Russian and Mandarin
and Arabic. We need exposure to the outside world to alleviate the crushing ignorance that supports the
corruption of our business and politics. Oh and by the way French is a BLAST to learn. I’ve reached a B2
level in a year and a half of self study and I’m inspired to go as far as my brain will take me! Don’t be lazy
parochialists, my dear fellow native English speakers!

Larry Siegel· Nov 21

You might have mentioned that French is fast growing because of its prevalence in Africa, which is the
only continent with a rapidly growing population.

Olivier Hennebelle· 10mo

Read the answer to this question of George Dukesh rather than insulting one or other language. English is
not the main language in the EU, nor French, nor German nor Italian, Spanish or any other spoken
language. They are equal priority and none of them is “dying”.

Anyway, there is an evidence that common English (don’t try to read original ShakeSpeare book) is a very
useful, simple to learn and broadly known language which will continue to be used as a gateway language
for a long time, anywhere in the world, EU included.

Edwin Stewart Deady· 8mo

What is original Shakespeare book? To anybody moderately literate his English is easy to read bar some
vocabulary but you can run into unknown words even in the most modern piece of writing. No such thing
as common English.

D Anemon Sep 20

says an english speaker

Jpaul Falleni· Jan 12

equak poriority?? mmh.. certainly not Dutch or any of the guttural languages..

Luc Rolland 8mo

That never cease to amaze how so many British people wish that French becomes extinct and France
slowly decays.

I can confirm that the French language is not a dying language internationally. Africa is actually the key to
its increasing importance. Then, France is keeping its significant position of influence and will continue to
remain the alternative to a single rule. In the EU, English was not the official language of the EU but the
laws are all firstly written in French and then translated into the other languages.

Tim Proctor· 1y

While this might be correct that French is no longer the premier language in the world the version of
English that is the most prevalent is American. It’s also worth remembering that Spanish is spoken by
more native speakers than English.

John Strachan· 1y

Americans speak English, just because they use different words or have different sayings it's still English,
North and South in the UK have different sayings and words, it's still English.

Tim Proctor· 1y

I disagree, over the past few years I have noticed more and more instances where the American use of
‘English’ is so far from the British use of the language as to be unintelligible. For example the use of the
word ‘ouster’ from the verb to oust, current American usage of that word is a nonsense.

John Strachan· 1y

You're not all there are you.

Tim Proctor· 1y

Well I’m certainly not in Norwich if that is what you mean. If not then I think your very odd ad hominem
attack rather sums up both your attitude and your abilities.

John Strachan· 1y

You're nitpicking. Plus Europe generally learn true English at school and Asia is mixed because certain
people learn English from American films, but true English is learnt in Schools.

Alpha Magassouba· 1y

There’s no such thing as true English. There’s British English, American English, Australian English…
whether you like it or not. Linguist here.

Tim Proctor· 1y

What is ‘true English’? I have lived in France for 20 years, I speak, English, French and Spanish. As a result
of my business I meet many Europeans and my experience of English speakers now is that with the
exception of the Dutch they all tend to speak American English. The Dutch not so much because they use
English TV which is easily available in Holland. It’s not really surprising given that the Internet is
dominated by US English and Hollywood also projects the American influence.

John Strachan· 1y

English is English.

Paul Legros· 7mo

And Stupid is Stupid

R Ambroise· 1y

Patriotism has no sway over the analysis of language. The boundaries of a language have nothing really to
do with any national boundaries. Languages are named after particular countries for purely historical
reasons. Furthermore, English, unlike French or Spanish, has no academy that decides what is or isn’t the
language. You may as well say modern-day northern Germans and Danish own English because
Anglo-Saxon, the direct ancestor of English, was the language of immigrants from their territories.

Tim Proctor· 1y

Only in a little corner of the world.

Tim Proctor· 1y

And here was me thinking it was Mandarin. Have you really nothing better to do?

Michael Bentley· 1y

And there is no place called Holland. There are two Netherlands Provinces called North and South
Holland. The other eleven Dutch Provinces are not called Holland either.

Tim Proctor· 1y
Thank you so much for that geography lesson I feel so much better informed now.

John Kavanagh· 7mo

US English is unintelligible? That would explain the British subtitles in all the Hollywood movies and why
they don’t do well outside of the US…. If you want unintelligible English, go watch a Guy Richie film.

Larry Cherney· 7mo

French is hardly a, “dying” language. Other than English. Spanish has more speakers but is not more
widely spoken. French is by far, on every continent except Australia. The French even have an outpost on
Antarctica. French is the lingua france of how many countries in Africa, nother, west and central. No, it is
not dying. German is. It is not spoken outside of Europe and there by maybe 100M people. The Germans
were not very good at exporting their culture and their efforts to do so didn’t go very well.

Christian Feuillette· Aug 18

Australia is a country belonging to Oceania continent, and yes, in Oceania a lot of places are speaking
French too (Nouvelle-Calédonie, Tahiti, Marquises, etc.)

First5· 11mo

The French language isn't dying if anything it's growing

Yves Bourbonnière· 8mo

This debate between English and French is simply stupid. English is the most speaking language in the
world. So what. French is a beautiful language that will never be vanished. And France is the most visited
country in the world so is Paris. Quality is always better than quantity.

Juan Jose Lopez Barquero· Nov 22

The most spoken language by native speakers is Mandarine Chinese followed by Spanish. Also depending
of the country you travel and the language you speak it will be more useful another language than
English. For example, for a Spanish speaker it will be easier to talk with a Portuguese or Italian speaker
using their own language than try to use English.

Christian Feuillette Aug 18

Why is French the language of diplomacy? Because of its clarity (accord des adjectifs, participe passé,
etc.) All these grammar rules, difficult to learn, dispel all confusion. Since English has replaced French as
lingua franca, the world has never been so confused. A statement in English is not so clear and can be
subject to various interpretations.

Eric Lalouette· 1y

Sorry for breaking what are clearly bad news to you.

The UK will break up much before the French language will go extinct, one reason being that nearly 2/3
of the English dictionary includes French words or misspelt French words…

The other being that too many Britons are perceived as too insufferable… for the break up not to happen
in the future.
John Strachan· 1y

To be honest I'm not that bothered about the UK breaking up, but they will still speak English, unlike the
EU speaking French.

Gilles Thésée· 1y

The EU isn’t a country.

Chris Robins 1y

What has that got to do with no one having any interest in learning French? Apart from the French…

Dixit· 1y

French is not dying.

The number of French speakers will continue to increase. It's 400,000,000 today, it will be 500,000,000 in
2 decades.

Because there's a little (actually massive) place called Africa. By 2100, Africa will be the most populus
continent in the world, and French is one of the major languages of Africa.

Matthew Jenkins· 1y

I’m English and I love the French language!

Neil Moore· 1y

Sorry to point out what is clearly obvious.

The English Dictionary has English words in it, that’s why it called English Dictionary, the clue is in the
title. There are no misspelt words, French or otherwise in the English Dictionary, they are all English
words and correctly spelt.

Most European dictionaries will have words that have been derived from, amongst others Latin and
Greek, including the French one.

Roland Bruss· 10mo

The base language of English is German, not French. Yes, French had a big influence on the English
language after 1080. Unfortunately, the French influence degraded English from a phonetic to a
non-phonetic language, which resulted in so many ridiculous words having the same sound but totally
different spelling. Poor children who have to learn this mess.

Still, we better keep English the Lingua Franca. Hardly anyone in the UK learns any other language and we
don’t want Britain to be cut off from the rest of Europe completely after Brexit. IF the English meet
people from other nations they expect that the others do speak English. In Britain like here in Australia
foreign languages are an option, unlike in most other European countries, which results regularly in
dropping the other language like a hot potato and hardly anyone does an O or A level. Living here in
Australia for 40 years I hardly ever met an English or Australian person speaking another language to any
level past a single sentence.
What I find particularly funny is when the English or Australian say the Germans have no sense of
humour. When I ask: “do you speak German?”. The answer is always NO. I can’t help myself and I usually
ask: “and how do you know then that Germans have no sense of humour?”. The usual answer is a blank
look!

Neil Moore 10mo

Afin de comprendre ce que vous dites, j’ai eu recours à Google translate. Effectivement j’ai rit. Vous parlez
Saxon?

Thierry Laurent· 10mo

Haha… England did not even exist as an entity or a culture before Latin, not to mention Greek, was
replaced by local languages more or less derived from them and local tribes’ languages.

The reason for “Latin origin” words being present in English is almost entirely the result of Normen
(cousins of those who ruled England at the same time) coming over from “Normandy” (so-named
because they had agreed to stop ransacking Paris in return for a province, a lordship and the right to
become vassals of the French king…) to take over and importing their language into the local aristocracy
and government… and this happened in the same century (the 11th A.D.) as the publication of the first
Royal edict in almost recognisable French in France (before then all had been written in Latin indeed)…

So indeed, those Latin-looking words in modern English are mainly from France and it’s language, and
nobody in France is trying to imply that English-looking words in French are from Saxonic or Celtic (or
Germanic, for that matter !) origin…

This inability of many to recognise historical facts for what they are is highly amusing…

I agree with you on one point: there is nothing wrong with English words wherever they came from: no
misspellings, no wrong changed meanings, etc. Each language has its own genius and English more than
many.

Eric Lalouette· 1y

Sorry to point out what is clearly obvious.

Many English words are French words misspelt.

Edwin Stewart Deady· 1y

Those “misspelt” have been anglicized but to give you something else to do count the number of
originally English words you use. Word for a start.

Eric Lalouette· 1y

I was about to guess less than 5 pct, meaning not a lot.

To make sure i checked, in fact it is indeed about 5 pct according those in charge of the maintenance of
French language: The members of the French academy.

Mots français d'origine anglaise

Obviously some say it is already too many!!! 😉

Edwin Stewart Deady· 1y

“You use” referred to your posts not that which you use in French. This was in response to your wild claim
about the number of French words in English. Still it is Le weekend so you have time to check.

Eric Lalouette· 1y

Like it or not, not “my” claim.

Sorry.

To clarify things for you, the more educated anglos are, the more words of french origin they use.

Possibly, you don’t bump into enough of thoses… that could explain your belief.

Besides, any (educated) Briton knowing french can confirm that the number of words of French origin in
the english language is not just important but huge.

Butch Cassidog· 1y

Give it up Eric, you’ve lost an argument where you have a leg to stand on. Probably a lave blanc, but my
French is a bit rusty as no one speaks it any more!

Kevin Gasperment· 11mo

No one speaks French…? Maybe you should travel more. What about Switzerland? Belgium? Quebec?
Half of Africa? What about close boarders such as northern Spain, Italy…? 50% of the modern English
language comes from Latin and French. I’ve met countless easterners (Russians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs..)
learning French.

French is very far from a dying language. Sorry for harming your ego with this.

Butch Cassidog· 11mo

You have absolutely no sense of humour do you?

Kevin Gasperment· 11mo

Ah sorry I probably misunderstood your humour for something else, maybe I haven’t eaten enough
marmite and baked beans to comprehend. Too busy chasing frogs and snails…

Butch Cassidog· 11mo

Well, you know us Rosbifs!

Just for the record, I used to be almost fluent in French and worked many years for a French company. I
have lost most of it now and unfortunately a lot of my hearing, so a conversation in French is no longer
possible and one in English, bad enough.

I think the original point was that the rising trading languages are Mandarin and Spanish, but that English
is often a commonly understood language that bridges the barrier for people.

French is not dying and may rise again in importance as the African continent becomes more wealthy.
Kevin Gasperment· 11mo

I see myself forgetting either my french or english. I once was confused, knowing the term sink in english
but not the french equivalent lavabo…

Edwin Stewart Deady· 1y

Superior tosser? Wot can I say guvnor you’ve got me bang to rights.

Edwin Stewart Deady· 1y

To help you start List of English words of Anglo-Saxon origin - Wikipedia

Eric Lalouette· 1y

Did i say anywhere that there were no words of Anglo saxon origin in the English language???

John Kavanagh· 1y

No, but you fail to count how many of those “French” words in English are actually derived from Greek or
Latin… in French. You also refer only to nouns and verbs whereas the syntax and grammar are far closer
to Norwegian or Fresian.

Not only that but the Norman-French originally imported into English was itself influenced by their
origins and is separate to the renewed fashion for French words and fashions in the 17th/18th century.

Finally, the survival of English as a language has little or nothing to do with the country that gave it it’s
name. Far more people outside of England speak English as a first language and as a 2nd language it’s
beyond comparison. It’s ubiquity undoubtedly due to its ease of comprehension and distributed by
Empire and Hollywood.

Not to rub sel in the wound but also the World Economic Forum report on English “found that better
English in a country correlates with higher income, higher levels of innovation and a better quality of life”.
France is near the bottom of EU countries on their list of English proficiency. Odd that if it is just badly
spelled French (a quote from Voltaire or Dumas maybe?), then why aren’t they better at learning it then?
We all know why the English have difficulty learning second languages as no-one likes taking a backward
step…..

Edwin Stewart Deady· 1y

Only a third.

Peter Evans· 1y

I could send you a choice list of Anglo-Saxon words, on petit Chou, but they’d never get past the censor.
Now beltez up…

Peter Evans· 1y

But English is basically a Germanic language, not a Romance language like

French,Spanish,Portuguese,Italian and-I believe-Rumanian.
So we have a mélange (see what I did there?) of Germanic and French vocabulary,eg
house/mansion,pig/porc,sheep/mutton et patati et patat…
Colin Jackson-Binnell· 1y

I wonder how many other countries need to have a specific organisation to ‘maintain’ their language? In
fact why does French need such an organisation when others don’t?

Eric Lalouette· 1y

The Academie Francaise was created in 1635.

The mission assigned to it originally, and which will be specified by letters patent of Louis XIII on January
29, 1635, is to work "to give certain rules to our language and to make it pure, eloquent and capable of
dealing with arts and sciences ”. In this spirit, she composed a Dictionary of the French Academy, the first
edition of which was published in 1694 and the ninth is in preparation. It also awards literary prizes, the
most famous of which is the French Academy's Literature Grand Prize.

The French Academy brings together personalities who have illustrated the French language: poets,
novelists, playwrights, literary critics, philosophers, historians, scientists, and, by tradition, high-ranking
soldiers, statesmen and religious dignitaries.

The French language was Europe lingua Franca of the educated classes for several centuries very much
on its own merits.

Colin Jackson-Binnell· 1y

All of that is in the past, what is the purpose now and why does such a well established (but, declining)
language need this body today when other languages don’t?

Eric Lalouette· 1y

The fact French is no longer the lingua franca does not change anything, the purpose of the Academie
Francaise was never to turn the French language into the lingua Franca… that was only a by-product.

As far as what is done for the sake of other languages, that is obviously not France’s problem.

Kevin Gasperment· 11mo

French isn’t the type of language that accepts change easily. English in comparison has this quality and
default of being very versatile. For example, the internet and especially american youth use a broken
english. In a way it is acceptable because it simplifies communication, but has nothing to do with the
original english. How many times have I read someone not know how to use « they are; their; there ».

Following mass immigration and Africa’s growth in population French is very rapidly changing too. Im not
saying whether it’s good or not, but it is a matter of time before the French language lives a renaissance.
It won’t match up to English but it is far from being a dying language, on the contrary it is and will grow.

You can’t speak gibberish in French. It simply kills the beauty and style of it. That explains why the French
are so inclined to speak a proper French. English is mainly used as an utility language, meant to be
practical and easy to learn. Obviously the english language also has its literature and works of art, but
ignored by most of the population. Regardless this might change for French.

John Pickford· 1y
Erik, what is your point ? Or do you just dislike Brits ?

Stan H· 1y

Ah I see…when we the speak the English language we are really speaking French…Got it now. But for
the English speaking UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand (plus a few non English speaking countries) and
the USA the French would probably be speaking Russian (or German) now.

Eric Lalouette· 1y

12-year-old boy rethoric.

Butch Cassidog· 1y

Time to go Eric, Bon Weekend!

David Perry· 1y

No they are not, their basis is in Latin, the same as France. The rest of the English language is germanic.

If you are going to get pedantic then at least get it right about your own language

Mike Riverside· 1y

I'm actually Irish, not “British” and my ethnic cousins in Britanny want independence as much as we did
until we got it just after WWI. The UK has given each constituent country its own parliament which they
are satisfied with. Neither Wales nor NI are seeking independence and when Scotland voted they decided
to stay in the UK. If France were to allow Britanny a vote they would vote to leave. So that makes France
more likely to disintegrate.

Igor Dupuy· Aug 25

You are british. No matter about your island suffering.

You belong to what is called british Islands.

Geography gcsc level.

William Strang· 1y

You're having a mare here Eric

Daniel French· 1y

Someone’s upset that their country comes second in everything

Peter Evans· 1y

The French words are not “misspelt” in English, they have been borrowed from French and adapted into
English, going all the way back to 1066 and all that and for hundreds of years afterwards, when parts of
France were under English rule. I believe King Richard I and various other English kings were French
speakers. Our two countries have been interlinked for a very long time!

Albert Hall· 1y
English is or more corrctly was now that the UK has left the EU and officu ial language in five EU member
states < England, Holland, Ireland Malta Cyprus and a second [ie at least 50% of the population speak
compentent English] In another five or more Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, POLAND and
English is the lingua franca in the rest and that’s not about to change FRance kicks against it a biy tn but
in every day France you’d besurprised at howe many ERnglish words have been adapted> And about time
too because you’d also be surprised at how much of the English Language IS from French origins
espercially in the DESCRIPTIVE sense.

Erick Flipreb· 10mo

England not a EU member state (left with UK) and Holland speaks Dutch and Frisian (English not an
official language)

Yann Derrien· Aug 16

You could add that norway and iceland arent members of the EU neither, that none of the countries he
cited has english as an official language and that every country when joining the EU has to declare one
language and only one and that none declared english (Malta decided for maltese and Ireland for gaelic)
thus english isn’t an official language in the EU anymore, several countries pushing for using less and less
english (France most of them of course) but the commission doesn’t seem to want to do so

Peter Greenwood· 1y

French used to be the Lingua Franca in international relations until President Wilson came along and
insisted on using English.

Edwin Stewart Deady· 1y

Way before that.

Guillaume Ménage· 7mo

Umberto Eco, one of the brightest mind of his time, said that translation is for sure the language of
Europe. In this Babel Tower, this is the richness and the common culture developed by years of European
Construction. This is the hard way going forward, this is hard, slow, there’s backdraws but also big steps
to ease the thing like Brexit (sorry for that).

Hopefully for the Union, we still have Ireland, and I may guess Scotland in some time to keep the
enrichment with English. If we can understand the scottish accent eventually.

Alain Van Co· 1y

😅
You are right: winning the 100 Years War was a disaster that prevented the whole earth from speaking
French !

Amphicyon Ingens 8mo

what is ridiculous in the EU is that in the institutions, we continue to speak English a language coming
from… the Brexit ! We should replace it by esperanto which is more simple because it has no exception,
no irregular verbs. Like the swahili is spoken through Eastern Africa, Esperanto should be taught in each
country of the EU and become the EU official language.
Denner Cássio Nov 22

French used to be the diplomatic language in Europe back in the world war times and it was replaced by
English. It's really improbable the reverse to happen I'd say

Bruce Robertson· 7mo

If anything it would likely be Spanish, technically more spoken as,first language I think than English due to
South America and popularity in U.S.

Brian Ashby· 1y

And, no one is interested now and No it will never replace English.

Mina Daoud· 1y

English will be replaced by another language, just like French was.

Brian Ashby· 1y

English as a first language and the only worlds working language, English will not be replaced by French
nor any other language. As too many country’s now have English as their first language.

Nico Castellan· Oct 6

It is evident you don’t know anything about what you are talking about. And yes : English is here to stay
as an international language. No problem about that. But I remind you that there is no official main
language in the EU, nor on the WWW… And also that English was not even the main spoken language in
the pre-breaksit EU (wich was German I guess).

Chris Price 7mo

French is not dying. It’s actually the fastest growing language in the world now, with 750 million speakers
in 2050: Want To Know The Language Of The Future? The Data Suggests It Could Be...French

Bertie Jordan· 1y

French is only spoken in France and some small colonial countries and small,very small amount in Europe.
so no one wants to change the world Language for a few French

Thierry Laurent

· 10mo

Small colonial countries… they would certainly love to read this 🤣

Nobody will change the world language - as a matter of fact there is not one. French people no longer
care a bit about this. We are proud of our language (no more than the Brits are about theirs), but our
scientists publish in the US like everyone else, and business is mostly conducted in English by our major
industrial groups (oh, amd count them, boy, we have as many as the Germans and more than the Brits in
the Fortune 500… wake up !

Bertie Jordan· 10mo

yes they all speak English, it is the universal language everyone wants to speak as English langauge opens
more doors and opportunities than any other language

Bomal Yves 1y

Where is Canada ? In Europe ? It seems you have a problem with geography.

BLPPC· 1y

You forgot Quebec, Some African countries either, and over 275 Million people speak french in the world,
it’s a lot (even tho English speakers are over a billion). Compare to German which is only 3 countries (4 if
you include Belgium)

Mike Riverside· 1y

It's highly unlikely. More and more French people are learning English as a second language and even in
the DOMTOM countries English is gradually taking over from French. Frenckvwill

Thierry Laurent· 10mo

This is a ridiculous statement… have you ever set foot there ? I have, man… the level of English spoken
in French DOM TOM is below that on the motherland in Europe, where it has progressed but is still not
satisfactory at all. Taking your dreams for reality, aren’t you?

Mike Riverside· 10mo

You have actually agreed with what I said.

Mina Daoud· 1y

The French Speaking World: 220 Million and Growing

More that 220 million people belong to the French speaking world and it is growing every year! Here you
will find out where in the world it is spoken.

https://www.jumpspeak.com/blog/the-french-speaking-world-220-million-and-growing

Why French Matters

Why Learn French This link pretty much sums it up nicely with seven top reasons. If you’re still not
convinced, read more… Over 275 million people around the world speak French. According to the U.S.
Census Bureau, nearly 1-in-5 people, or 47 million U.S. residents age 5 and older, spoke a language other
than English at home at the turn of the 21st century. The report, Language Use and English-Speaking
Ability: 2000 , affirmed that 55 percent of the people who spoke a language other than English at home i
n the U.S. also reported that they spoke English “very well.”  After English and Spanish, Chinese was the
language most commonly spoken at home (2.0 million speakers), followed by French (1.6 million
speakers) and German (1.4 million speakers). Of the 20 non-English languages most frequently spoken at
home, the second largest proportional increase was for French Creole speakers (the language group that
includes Haitian Creoles), whose numbers more than doubled from 188,000 to 453,000. In the state of
New Jersey, there are approximately 40,000 people who speak French at home, and more than 21,000
who speak French Creole. (Source: https://www.census.gov/ ) Useful links about reasons to learn French:
French in the Delaware Valley The French-American Chamber of Commerce of Philadelphia reports
significant French business investment in the Delaware Valley, and underscores the continuing
globalization of American companies. In fact, the French-American Chamber of Commerce of
Philadelphia has grown since 1989 to become the second largest chapter in the 23-city network. They
also rank as the largest of 14 bi-national chambers of commerce in the region. There is an FACC
membership category to suit companies of every size. Business leaders from almost every industry are
represented: banking, insurance, pharmaceutical, technology, strategic consulting, accounting, law,
manufacturing, media, advertising, design, travel, real estate and education. Their membership also
features many small and medium-sized businesses, including fine restaurants, art galleries, gourmet food
importers and a local winery. Visit the FACC web site to see some of their members. Useful links about
French in the Delaware Valley: French in America What do Warren Buffet, Emeril Lagasse, Eva Larue,
Madonna, Tony Parker, and Paul Revere all have in common? They all have French roots. Americans with
French and French Canadian ancestry make up more than 10 percent of the population in many New
England states , while California and Louisiana each include more than one million Franco-Americans
according to the 2010 U.S. Census. As famous writers (Henry David Thoreau, Jack Kerouac, W.E.B.
Dubois), artists (Marcel Duchamp, Louise Bourgeois, Jean-Michel Basquiat) and athletes (Joakim Noah,
Charlie Manuel, Brett Favre), Americans of French-speaking descent have made important cultural
contributions to sports, literature and the arts. Of course, France and America share a long history of
diplomat

https://foreignlanguages.camden.rutgers.edu/french/why-french-matters/

Dimitar-Esperanto Berberu· 6mo

French is not dying & English will not die in the next decade or so as preferred communication. However,
the world balance is shifting out of EU/US & we should forget about the dominance of European
languages.

The 1st suggestion of the Frech academy of sciences in 1905 to use Esperanto for international
collaboration failed because of the Frech politicians. This time they should learn that Europe's time is
over. Russia is helping in that direction.
Esperanto will save billions in wasted translations that will be very needed in the current world crisis.

Archambault Benoit· 10mo

Like all languages English will die. Probably faster than you imagine. The new order Russia-Chine will
make chinese mandarin the language of the future.

Edwin Stewart Deady· 8mo

Don’t you hope that?

Bruce Hayden· 1y

I believe that I read of a proposal to make Latin the official language for the EU, but I am not sure
whether it was made tongue in cheek.

John Irvine· 1y

Sounds about right - a dead language for a decaying bureaucracy (ah, a misspelt French word?

BLPPC· 1y

Should be Esperanto to make more sense of it haha

Justine H.· Nov 8

French language is a dying language? This is a factually incorrect statement. The Francophone population
has been growing and will continue to do so. You can check the Observatoire de la francophonie for stats
and reports such as this one

https://observatoire.francophonie.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Livret_OIF2_Anglais-VF.pdf

Jean Nguyễn· 6mo

😁
It looks like the French language is dying in France! An increasing amount of French youngsters can’t
speak and write the language anymore!

François Esson· 7mo

French is certainly not dying and is spoken widely around the world. It's a vivid and ever evolving
language. However its not English that obviously has the lead but Globish. A downgraded approximative

😉
and poor English language spoken by most non-English speakers. And globish is indeed a rollercoaster !

Pierre Rolin· 7mo

None of then, the rising language is chinese, asian is 60% of the world population … and the most rising
economy …

Eric Lodewijk· Nov 26

Agree although French is a beautiful language it is simply to difficult to learn for most people and that is
why it is relegated to just a local language rather than global one like spanish and english

Kathleen Jones· 6mo

US English is used on tbe www. Even when you don't want it to be.

Het Laatste Nieuws· 7mo

What is dying is the american hegemony :)))))

Cromby· 10mo
What a toxic question!

There is a place for any european language in EU.

Even Russian and Ukrainian in the future.

John Strachan· 10mo

You're quite right in Europe.

Cromby· Sep 16

English is the most popular lingua franca in the world and in Europe, and it probably will be... but English
speakers are deluding themselves if they believe that other languages will disappear in its place.

Most English speakers are considered too monocultural and falsely open.

Annie Jones 7mo

Your answer is definitely biased. French is silent in Canada and countries in Africa and Vietnam. The
French language is here to stay.

Floriane Ballige· 10mo

No, French is not a dying language but English is more used.

Jeremy Cox· 8mo

It might be a good idea if you wish to prove English is such a poor language to offer some proof of this
squalid assertion. Merely asserting it to be so is no better than those who assert there is a god. But I
understand the motivation for these absurd claims:it's simply to provoke discussion. Well done!!

David Clark· 1y

If they ever get full control of the EU, I can see using it being made a crime.

Taya Tatjana Hribar Gregorin Paumgarten· 7mo

No…English remains a world wide spoken language …no need to confuse todays politics with linguistic
roots …

Luis Castillo· 7mo

you meant Spanish?

Chris Arnaud· 1y

Of course! ooops, biensur!

Carlos Francisco Pérez-Vela y Dominick· Aug 14

‘ A dying language internationally ‘ ?

Really ?

Where did you get that stat , Mr. Strachan ?

You know , the Alliances Françaises are to be found everywhere in the world.

France still happens to have a large international presence .

Parlez - vous Français , Mr. Strachan ?

It's sure worth your while !

Salut et au revoir !

John Frum 1y

Who cares?. Apart from the French.

Mina Daoud 1y

French is spoken by more non-French people than French people and is far from being a dying language
as your but hurt Brexiter friend said.

John Frum· 1y

It’s a beautiful elegant language even when thugs and criminals speak it let alone poets and writers. My
wife and daughter speak it and it’s absolute music but it won’t replace English.

Mina Daoud 1y

No-one ever said it would.

But that doesn’t mean it’s a dying language.

Languages don’t die just because they aren’t the lingua franca.

Erick 77· Jan 19

English is the main 2d language, or working language, but not the main native language. and will most
likely remain as such for a while. However French is not a dying language at all ! Francophonie is well and
alive !!

Loic Chevrier· 7mo

Actually, you have to consider that it is now common thing with English and American people to add to
their speech some words, expressions, sentences in French IN ORDER to look smart and well educated.
French is not so good for music but it is more accurate and rich. We were a strong nation already while
England was a small island, exhausted by viking raids. It is why English borrows so much from French. It is
the source.

John Strachan· 7mo

Yes Del Boy used it lot in Only Fools and Horses which made him look like a idiot especially when he got
the words wrong, but I can't say I have ever heard anyone throw French into a sentence unless we
already use it in our language, but nice try anyway.

Marc Milleret· 7mo

False premise

Jpaul Falleni· Jan 12

Of course NO!!

Jpaul Falleni· Jan 12

OF COURSE NO!!

Comment deletedFebruary 27, 2022

Mina Daoud· 1y

A hate-full buthurt brit 😂