French (français) is a Romance language originally spoken in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland .French is an official language in 31 countries, most of which form what is called in French La Francophonie, the community of French-speaking nations. French is an official language of all United Nations agencies and a large number of international organizations. Per the Constitution of France, French has been the official language since 1992 . France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education outside of specific cases and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland (along with German, Italian, and Romansh), and is spoken in the part of Switzerland called Romandie. French is the native language of about 20% of the Swiss population. |
