People who are fluent in French are commonly referred to as “Francophones”. With a population of 67 million, France has the largest number of French speakers in the world. It is also the country of origin of the language, and the country most commonly associated with French.
French is the official language** in Belgium, Benin, Burkina, Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central, African, Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte, d'Ivoire, Democratic, Republic, of, the, Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial, Guinea, France, Guinea, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Republic, of, the, Congo, ...
New Caledonia is the closest French speaking territory to Australia, which means you can experience and learn French in total immersion at just 2 hours from Brisbane or 3 hours from Sydney!
Countries in Which French is a Co-Official Language:
Ironically, the most populous country in which French is an official language is not France, but the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, followed by France and Canada.
The French-speaking province of Quebec has the highest concentration of people with French ancestry in the world: 90% of Quebecers have French roots.
Mandarin (1,118 million speakers)
However, it's the most spoken language in the world if you count only first-language (native) speakers due to China's significant population. Mandarin is not actually a language, but a set of dialects of the Chinese language.
Villers-Bretonneux is now a civic tribute to the valor of those Australian, British and Canadian soldiers, with the hotels and streets named after Australian cities. Rue de Melbourne runs through the centre of Villers-Bretonneux and L'hotel is a favourite watering hole for many locals.
The top region is The Greater Paris region of Ile de France, where there are 1,523 Aussies, 917 of whom live in Paris, which is the top department.
The largest French Australian community is in the state of New South Wales, where they number 8,936 people, many of whom reside in Sydney.
French. French is known for its reputation as a romantic and elegant language, but it is also recognized as the fastest spoken language in the world. On average, French speakers produce around 7.18 syllables/second, placing it third on the list of fastest lingos.
The latest projection is that French will be spoken by 750 million people by 2050. A study by investment bank Natixis even suggests that by that time, French could be the most-spoken language in the world, ahead of English and even Mandarin.
Africa is — by far — the continent with the most countries that speak French. It's also the continent with the most French speakers.
The official language in Paris and the rest of France is French. Contrary to other counties, English isn't widely spoken. Although Parisians do not generally speak or like to speak English, tourists won't have any problems communicating in this language in most hotels, restaurants and shops.
The five most commonly spoken languages in the world are English (1.3 billion speakers), Madarin Chinese (1.1 billion), Hindi (637 million), Spanish (537 million), and French (267 million). These are the world's most spoken languages and together are spoken by about half the world's population.
In addition to French, which is the official language of France, there are several other languages spoken in the country. These include German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Le Canada. Canada is officially a bilingual country, though outside of the province of Québec, French is considerably less common than English.
DR Congo. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to the world's second largest population of French speakers, at over 42.5 million people.
The majority of Muslims in France belong to the Sunni denomination and are of foreign origins. Sizeable minorities of Shia, Ahmadiyya and non-denominational Muslims also exist. The French overseas region of Mayotte has a majority Muslim population.
Paris: The Most Visited City in France
France's cosmopolitan capital holds the number one spot on this list and it is not hard to see why. A truly global city and one of the largest in Europe, Paris has a reputation for being among the most beautiful and romantic places in the world.