Sage-Tips

Is French the official language of EU?

The EU has 24 official languages, of which three (English, French and German) have the higher status of “procedural” languages of the European Commission (whereas the European Parliament accepts all official languages as working languages).

Is French declining in Europe?

Across Europe, French has gradually declined from being the lingua franca to falling behind German and English. And French has fallen so far behind in Eastern Europe, in particular, that it is the third-most studied language, behind English and Spanish.

Do most Europeans speak French?

Today is the European Day of Languages. Within the European Union, there are 23 officially recognised languages. The five most widely spoken foreign languages remain English (38\%), French (12\%), German (11\%), Spanish (7\%) and Russian (5\%).

What is the official language of the EU?

The EU has 24 official languages: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish.

Where is French an official language?

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.

Is French dying out?

The French language is not dying, but rather, it is growing due to rising French-speaking populations namely oi Africa. Along with German, it’s one of the most important natively-spoken languages in the European Union, and despite being strictly controlled by the Acadamie Française, it’s evolving.

Will French become global language?

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.

Is French the EU’s official language?

French, of course, is an official EU language (one of 24), and one of the three working languages of the Europen Commission. And France has used its EU presidency to promote the French language before.

Should the European Union change its official lingua franca?

In the EU, any change to the official lingua franca of its organizations and procedures has to be approved by the European Council by a unanimous vote. More recently, an article published in Le Figaro magazine makes the case that English should be done away within the EU, if not for French, then oddly enough, for Latin.

Will the French replace English in the EU after Brexit?

Beaune did not explicitly advocate for French to replace English after Brexit. However, he said a post-Brexit Europe “which would work only in one language, would communicate only in one language would be a mistake.” France will hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2022.

Which languages are spoken at the EU Council?

As an example, Nuno Brito, the Portuguese ambassador whose country currently holds the EU presidency, speaks mostly in English in Council meetings, several Council officials said. But as is often the case, the French like to do it the French way.