French Translation Services
Language History
France once belonged in an ancient Western Europe region known as Gaul. The Gaulish (Celtic) language was soon replaced by Vulgar Latin when the region was conquered by Romans in the 2nd & 1st centuries BC. It was during the Germanic invasions in the 4th century AD when Vulgar Latin was infused with different Germanic dialects. The region, which then had a mixture of German settlers, mixed its Germanic, Celtic and Latin languages overtime to create what is known as the French language today.
“French is the language of love.”
Where is French spoken?
French is the (or one of) official language of over 30 countries and it is spoken by more than 100 million people in the world. Français is spoken in 29 countries like France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada (Quebec), northern New England (Vermont), the state of Louisiana.
FACT
French is spoken as a mother language by 72,000,000 people and as a second language by another 52,000,000.
Did you know
French is the only language that is taught in every country in the world (other than English). That could equal to 100 million students and 2 million teachers worldwide!
Top 10 French-Speaking Countries outside France
• Source: www.theatlas.com – as of 2018
French is a Romance Language
In literal terms, French is indeed a romantic language but theoretically, it is one of the most popular languages originating from Romans. Other Romance Languages include Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.
Learning French
There are several variations and dialects of the French language. Parisian French is considered the ‘model’ when learning French as a second language.
French Dialects
Each dialect has a different accent and some have different vocabularies, too! Canadian French is apparently so different, that European French people sometimes struggle to understand them! For example, in Canadian French the word “plein(e)” means “full of food”, but in France, it means “pregnant”!
“French is spoken in five continents across the globe and it looks to be spreading even further. It’s in no danger of disappearing any time soon!”
English words have French origin – In fact, 30% of the English language is French!
| Information | Café |
|---|---|
| Attention | Restaurant |
| Communication | Adorable |
| Menu | Visible |
| Picnic | Comfortable |
Learning French
| Dialect | Areas Spoken | Number of Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| Standard French | France | 50,000,000+ |
| Canadian French/Quebec French | Canada | 6,000,000 + |
| African French | Western Africa | 120,000,000+ |
| Belgian French | Belgium | 4,000,000+ |
English – French Cognates
| English – French False Cognates | English – French True Cognates |
|---|---|
| Coin – coin (corner) | Fruit – fruit |
| Attend – attendre (to wait) | Chocolate – chocolat |
| Journey – journée (day) | Example – exemple |
| Jolly – joli(e) (pretty) | Pizza – pizza |
| Grape – grappe (bunch) | Dentist – dentiste |
Population vs. Internet Penetration
Speakers
405,644,599
Internet users
108,014,564
Penetration
25.4%
As of 2017. Source: www.internetworldstats.com
Did you know
The French language has over one million words – There are approximately 20,000 new ones created every year!
French Translation Tips
- Keep in mind that the letter ‘w’ only appears in foreign words within the language.
- Look out for false cognates – “attendre” doesn’t mean “attend”, it means “to wait”.
- Make sure you have full comprehension of the accents, genders, verb conjugation and pronunciation of nasal sounds.
- Get used to linguistic rules such as replacing “ly” in English to “ement” in French.
- Avoid using general words like “très” or “choses”.
- Try not to use the passive voice unless it’s totally required – this is quite rare in the French language.
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