French is a popular Indo-European language which is also known as the Romance language. It has its origin in Vulgar Latin. There are multiple French variants in practice now. A French-speaking person and community is known as a Francophone community. French serves as the first language in France, Canada, Belgium, the western part of Switzerland, a few parts of the USA, and many more communities across the globe. French is part of the six official languages of the United Nations, making French translation services crucial to bridge the language gap for the groups who speak different languages. There are up to 310 million speakers of the French language and it is also quite popular among new language learners.
Here are a few factors that make French a popular and important language globally emphasizing the need for translation services more than other languages.
The official language in 28 countries
French serves as the official language of 28 countries and is one of the languages that is spoken across all continents. The studies also show that French is one of the most widespread languages geographically after English. It works as a de facto official, administrative, and cultural language in up to 50 territories. Language is official in countries such as Canada, Belgium, Ivory Coast, Haiti, and Madagascar. There is a massive francophone community in Canada and the French language that they speak there is called French Canadian with a variation in the language dialect, nuances, and vocabulary. There are 7 million French Canadians. Moreover, another variant of French is African French spoken in the African continent. More than 167 million people in Africa speak and understand French.
Therefore, this whopping number of countries where French is treated as an official language also opens a gateway of opportunities for businesses and they can effectively tap these markets with the help of French translation solutions.
Part of the United Nations’ official languages
French also holds the privilege of being part of the United Nations official languages which are 6. These include Arabic, Chinese, English, Spanish, and Russian. The Department of Global Communication at the UN has established language days for each of the UN’s six official languages. They celebrate the language days to promote multilingualism as well as cultural diversity. They intend to educate people about awareness and respect for history and culture. French Language Day is celebrated on 20th March every year. The popularity of the French language made it part of the United Nations on 1st February 1946. The translation from a competent language translation company becomes evident for a better understanding of the language along with tapping the targeted audiences.
Language of International Diplomacy
Another important factor that makes French a hot language for translation is its status as the language of international diplomacy. The French history of being a diplomacy language goes back to the 17th century. It was back in the days when the French started emerging as the lingua franca of European diplomacy due to its impact and influence on political and cultural stature. The choice to make French an official language assisted the diplomats coming from different nations to communicate effectively and also facilitated treaties, contracts, and negotiations. French’s linguistic attributes contributed the most to making it the diplomacy language. The grammatical structure and vocabulary are quite precise and help diplomats convey tough ideas with clarity. Likewise, the translation of the French language also becomes easy and convenient for obvious reasons.
A global business language
French being the language of 28 countries has naturally emerged as one of the top business languages. All businesses around the globe have to seek French translation services to tap the French-speaking markets for good. French is the second most popular language in European countries after German. Interestingly the French language has more non-native speakers as compared to native due to the French colonization globally.
Language of literature and history
French is also known as the language of love and is also popular due to its rich and extensive language literature. The French people have always taken great pride in their language, traditions, poetry, drama, and prose. French literature is also taught across the world in institutes and universities. Many students, researchers, and scholars seek assistance from a professional language translation company to work on the language literature for their dissertations and research papers. It is one of the ancient cultures and its history dates back to even the 12th century. Chronicles from Crusades was significant prose and is important to mention.
Top internet language
Though the English language holds great significance when it comes to the languages mostly used on the internet. French has also emerged as the popular language of the internet. The 2009 monitoring report of UNESCO tells in its reports of 12 years from 1996 to 2008 about a visible decline in English language webpages making them conclude that only 45% of the content is in English language and other languages taking over the slot. French stands at number 5 in the list of languages used on the internet after English, Spanish, Russian and German.
Conclusion
French is an important and popular global language. This is one of the languages that is spoken across all continents. It is also a popular language among the people of Africa. A few factors that make this language popular globally for translation services are the official language of the UN and 28 countries. Moreover, the fact that it is a language that belongs to international democracy and business along with a language of literature and history also makes it a hot nut for businesses to crack with translation.
