World Literature - French Language - Essay Example

The French language originated from several ancient languages. These include:

Latin: the language of invading Romans,

Frankish: the language of the Germanic people who occupied the territory after the crumble of the Roman Empire.

Gaulish: the language of the Celtics

Old Norse; the language of the Vikings

French was at one time regarded as the world’s most pre-eminent language. It ranks 9 out of the top fifteen languages. Nonetheless, French is spoken by about 170 million. It is the official language of close to 40 countries. Most of these countries are under an organization called La Francophonie. Latin was France’s official language until 1539 (Flaitz,2008). This was later overturned by King Francis. From 17 th to 20 th, French was regarded as the preferred language for business, art, and science in North and South Europe. According to statistics from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are about 77 million Europeans that are speaking  French However, the aftermath of decolonization and World War  I and II  lead to the promotion of English and reduced the dominance of the French language. However, it is the second most spoken language as a result of extensive colonial ambition by Belgium and France to conquer many countries.