Approximately 75 million people speak French as their native language. Besides being the official language of France, French is also the official language of Haiti and Luxembourg and more than fifteen African countries. It is one of the official languages of Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada, and it is considered an unofficial second language of many countries such as Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. It is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

The French language as it exists today is the result of a long and complex evolution. Ancient France saw many periods of invasion by different ethnic and linguistic groups: Greeks, Romans, Celts, Franks and other Germanic tribes, and Arabs. The name, France, actually comes from the name of the Germanic tribe, the Franks, who entered France during late antiquity and gradually became the dominant people. They adopted the late form of Latin being spoken in the country at the time, but added many of their own words or changed some of the Latin forms to resemble their own more closely.

A French-speaking person today could not understand the early forms of French spoken before the 12th century or so without specialized study. Over the years, as different peoples entered the country, the words and grammatical structures deriving from Latin evolved to fit the needs and patterns of the developing language. Two examples: the Latin for "farmer" was "agricola"; the French is now agriculteur. The Latin for "(they) are" was "sunt"; in French, the word has become sont.

French has contributed many words and phrases to the English language. For example, hors d'oeuvre, en route, rendezvous, and R.S.V.P. all come from French.

It is comforting to recognize some words when studying a foreign language. However, although French and English share many words and expressions, don't assume that a French word always means what you expect it to mean in English. For example, the French word comment doesn't mean "comment." It means "how." And demander doesn't mean "to demand." It means "to ask." A person who is sympathique is not sympathetic-- he's nice.

The concept of formal and informal address in French may be interesting to an English speaker. When addressing an older person, or someone you don't know very well, you should use the formal vous form of address. When speaking to a child, a good friend, or a family member, use the informal tu form of address. Did you know that the French address their pets as tu? It's true! Pets are very highly regarded in France and are treated as part of the family. It's not unusual to see a French person go just about everywhere with the family dog-- even to a restaurant!

English speakers will find many interesting differences between the two languages. For example, a decimal is written as a comma, and vice-versa, in French numerals. So, 1,000 looks like 1.000 when written in French. And .75 becomes ,75. Also, you might notice that the French write the number seven with a line through it (to distinguish it from the number one, which they write with a top stroke that makes it look like a seven).

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