There are over 40 French-speaking countries and regions in the world. The official languages are Comoros, Republic of Congo, French Polynesia, Gabon, Mali, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, C? te d 'Ivoire, Guinea, Madagascar, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Togo, Vanuatu and Democratic Republic of Congo.

French is a branch of Romanesque Indo-European family derived from Latin. Gaul seemed to be a Celtic-speaking region before the Roman conquest and the introduction of Latin. Gaul language family has also become the third branch of Celtic language family, alongside Idili language family (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Isle of Man) and brissot Indonesian language family (Welsh, Cornish, Brittany).

Related content

Among the 3,000-6,000 languages and dialects used in today's world, French is second only to English and ranks second among foreign languages.

This special status does not depend mainly on the number of French speakers (fewer than Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, Bengali and Japanese), but on historical, cultural and geopolitical factors.

Due to historical reasons, French is widely used in five continents. After decolonization, French became the official language of emerging African countries. For these countries, French is a medium language and a language widely used in the world: it is the official language of the United Nations and enjoys a special status in some international organizations like English. It goes far beyond the "club" of French-speaking countries and is the diplomatic language of many countries.