121-557: An agent-general ( French : Délégué général or Déléguée générale ) is the representative in cities abroad of the government of a Canadian province or an Australian state and, historically, also of a British colony in Jamaica , Nigeria , Canada , Malta , South Africa , Australia or New Zealand and subsequently, of a Nigerian region . Australia's and Canada's federal governments are represented by high commissions , as are all Commonwealth national governments today. In
242-598: A Government Office in London ( Délégation générale du Québec à Londres ) and in several other cities around the world. Ontario , Alberta , Saskatchewan , and Manitoba have representatives who work out of the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC . The New South Wales Office in London was one of several overseas offices established by the colonies of Australia to represent their interests. The London Office
363-497: A party room meeting on 5 October 2021. She later announced she would be "spending her last days in office addressing local concerns" before officially resigning as member of the Legislative Assembly on 30 December 2021. A by-election for Berejiklian's seat of Willoughby was held on 12 February 2022, where Liberal Member Tim James secured the seat. In December 2021, after speculation that she might contest in
484-410: A "close personal relationship" with Daryl Maguire from 2015 until August 2020. Maguire had been a fellow Liberal MP until a previous inquiry had heard that he had sought inappropriate payments, leading to his resignation in 2018. As a result, a vote of no-confidence was taken in parliament. She survived the vote in the lower house with 47–38, and in the upper house with 21–20, after a deciding vote from
605-744: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
726-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
847-479: A conscience vote on the bill in her party. Many conservative parliamentarians of the Liberal Party opposed the bill. Three of these parliamentarians, MP Tanya Davies and Legislative Council members Matthew Mason-Cox and Lou Amato , "expressed dissatisfaction with Berejiklian's handling of the bill". They had repeatedly asked Berejiklian to "intervene to stop the "fast-tracking" of the bill and establish
968-555: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
1089-448: A joint select committee into the legislation reform". However, their requests were rejected by Berejiklian. On 16 September 2019, the trio announced they would hold a party leadership spill motion against Berejiklian the following day. Senior ministers, including conservative ministers who opposed the bill, backed Berejiklian and condemned the actions of the trio. The right-wing faction of the party also clarified that they did not sanction
1210-622: A party to a victory at a state election in Australia, after Anna Bligh and Annastacia Palaszczuk from Queensland, and the first non-Labor woman to lead a party to a state election victory in Australia. In September 2019, Berejiklian expressed support for the Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill , a private member's bill aimed to decriminalise abortion in New South Wales . Berejiklian allowed
1331-705: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
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#17327731493231452-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
1573-587: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and
1694-526: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only
1815-941: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as
1936-547: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
2057-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
2178-779: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French
2299-472: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
2420-489: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
2541-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including
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#17327731493232662-462: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share
2783-652: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
2904-503: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
3025-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
3146-582: Is not admissible in criminal court due to the loss of the right to silence within hearings. Berejiklian was born in Manly Hospital , Sydney , the eldest of three daughters born to Armenian parents, Krikor (1932–2022) and Arsha. Her grandparents were orphaned by Turkish soldiers in the Armenian genocide in 1915 and her father was born in Aleppo , Syria , where she still has family. Her mother
3267-469: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
3388-828: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
3509-576: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
3630-553: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
3751-483: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
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3872-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
3993-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
4114-485: The 2007 State election , she was given the shadow portfolio of Citizenship by Opposition Leader O'Farrell in his Shadow Ministry . Following the election of the O'Farrell government at the 2011 state election , Berejiklian was appointed Minister for Transport on 3 April 2011. Berejiklian restructured the railway system from July 2013 with RailCorp and its CityRail and CountryLink brands replaced by Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink . Notable projects include
4235-475: The 2022 federal election , Berejiklian confirmed that she would instead work in the private sector and looked forward to "a much less public life". Findings from the ICAC case were subsequently delayed and thus not released before the 2023 state election . On 29 June 2023, the ICAC found that Berejiklian had engaged in "serious corrupt conduct". The ICAC did not recommend that criminal charges be pursued due to
4356-764: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
4477-462: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as
4598-608: The Armenian Apostolic Church . Since June 2021, she has been dating lawyer Arthur Moses who represented her at a corruption hearing into her former boyfriend Daryl Maguire . Berejiklian is a supporter of NRL club the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles . In September 2018, Sydney electronic music duo Twisted Melodiez in collaboration with Melbourne-based N3bula released a song named "Shut this Down", which remixed comments made by Berejikian in
4719-570: The COVID-19 pandemic . In October 2021, Berejiklian announced her intention to resign as both premier and member for Willoughby after the start of an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigation to determine whether a "breach of public trust" had occurred, over her failure to disclose the secret relationship with Daryl Maguire when relevant to her ministerial duties, and her failure to report potentially corrupt statements Maguire made to her that were recorded in phone calls during
4840-570: The Commonwealth Bank as general manager, Youth Retail Banking and Government & Industry Affairs. Berejiklian won Liberal preselection for Willoughby in 2003 when former Opposition Leader Peter Collins , who had represented the Willoughby area since 1981, decided to retire. Willoughby has historically been a comfortably safe Liberal seat even by northern Sydney standards; counting its time as Middle Harbour , it has been held by
4961-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
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5082-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
5203-559: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
5324-607: The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC). In February 2022, Berejiklian was appointed to the executive board of telecommunications company Optus , in the newly created role of Managing Director, Enterprise, Business and Institutional. Berejiklian was a member of the moderate faction of the Liberal Party and also supports the Australian republican movement . Berejiklian regularly attends events of
5445-877: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
5566-618: The New South Wales division of the Liberal Party from 2017 to 2021. Berejiklian currently works as an executive for the telecommunications company Optus . Berejiklian became a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly after winning the electoral district of Willoughby in the 2003 state election . She was given the roles of Treasurer and Minister for Industrial Relations in
5687-705: The Nigerian High Commission . By the 1990s, some Australian state governments regarded the office of their agent-general in London as a costly anachronism, even for promoting tourism and investment, and have since been closed and subsumed into the Australian High Commission . The majority of Australian states continue to have agents-general in London, but operate from Australia House rather than maintain separate premises. Many Canadian provinces similarly are no longer represented by an agent-general, although Quebec continues to have
5808-626: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
5929-1012: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
6050-525: The University of New South Wales (2001). Berejiklian joined the Liberal Party in 1993 and was president of the New South Wales Young Liberals from 1997 to 1998, being the third female president in its history. She also served as a Delegate to State Council (1996–2003), Urban Representative of the NSW Liberal Party State Executive (1997–2003), Campaign Director for State seat of Willoughby (1999) and Chair of Convention Committee (2002). Berejiklian also worked for Peter Collins and Senator Helen Coonan and
6171-407: The second Baird government , and Minister for Transport in the O'Farrell and first Baird governments . She was also the deputy leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party between 2014 and 2017. She assumed the role of premier after Mike Baird 's resignation in January 2017. She was re-elected after winning the 2019 state election . In her second term, she led New South Wales's response to
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#17327731493236292-438: The 18th and 19th centuries, a growing number of British colonies appointed agents in Great Britain and Ireland and occasionally elsewhere in Europe to promote immigration to the colonies. Eventually, agents-general were appointed by some colonies to represent their commercial, legal, and diplomatic interests in Britain and to the British government and Whitehall . They were appointed, and their expenses and salaries provided, by
6413-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
6534-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
6655-499: The Agent-General's Office was located in separate premises from Australia House , at the nearby address of 66 The Strand, which was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in May 1972. In October 1992, the position of NSW Agent-General in London was abolished by the Fahey government. This occurred following an expenses scandal by the last Agent-General, Neil Pickard , who had been appointed as a consolation for losing his seat in parliament. Following its abolition, Fahey noted to Parliament: "It
6776-405: The Armenian genocide . Berejiklian attended North Ryde High School, which became Peter Board High School from 1986, a public , co-educational school in North Ryde . She was a member of Girl Guides and continues to support the organisation. She has a Bachelor of Arts (1992) and a graduate diploma in international studies (1996) from the University of Sydney and a Masters in Commerce from
6897-420: The Berejiklian government provided little clarity about which businesses can remain open and failed to answer questions if Louis Vuitton stores were essential and therefore could remain open. After public pressure and increasing coronavirus cases, the government released a list of authorised workers. On the day the authorised workers list was released the Local Government Areas (LGAs) of concern which already had
7018-510: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
7139-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
7260-445: The Court of Appeal rejected Berejiklian's challenge and upheld ICAC's original ruling that her behaviour was corrupt. The report's delayed release, along with McGuire's actions and the report's findings, were criticised by some members of the New South Wales Liberal Party, who gave their support to Berejiklian, including Opposition Leader Mark Speakman , who held a press conference on the matter. Other state Liberals who criticised
7381-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
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#17327731493237502-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
7623-407: The ICAC announcement, Berejiklian announced her intention to resign as Premier and as a member of the Legislative Assembly. Her supporters started petitions to keep her as premier, with one receiving nearly 40,000 signatures in 48 hours and eventually totalling more than 70,000 names. Berejiklian stayed on as Premier until her treasurer Dominic Perrottet was elected as party leader and Premier at
7744-423: The Liberal president . Despite her high approval ratings, Berejiklian faced some scrutiny for her actions during the COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales in 2021, which some have argued had an impact on the pandemic across Australia . In June 2021, Berejiklian resisted calls to enact a lockdown in Sydney, which, according to some media outlets, resulted in wide community transmission and over 20,000 cases of
7865-423: The Liberals, their predecessors or a conservative independent for all but one term since 1927. However, she faced a spirited challenge from Pat Reilly, the longtime mayor of the City of Willoughby , who nearly took the seat on Labor preferences. Ultimately, Berejiklian won by 144 votes, with the Liberals suffering a swing of 10.9 points. The swing was large enough to drop the Liberal margin over Labor to 7.2 percent,
7986-447: The Maguire ICAC investigation. Berejiklian stayed on as premier until a replacement was elected at a party room meeting, held on 5 October 2021 . Treasurer Dominic Perrottet succeeded Berejiklian as premier of New South Wales. In 2023 ICAC findings stated that Berejiklian engaged in "serious corrupt conduct" by refusing to report Maguire's corrupt statements to her, but did not recommend criminal charges against her as ICAC evidence
8107-404: The NSW Government Trade and Investment Office, London, which had no ceremonial function, but focused on the promotion of investment and trade in the UK and Europe. The NSW Government of Gladys Berejiklian considered reviving the Agent-General position in late-2019, noting that "We know the post-Brexit environment is going to be very different and NSW can gain a lot of opportunities in business from
8228-709: The New South Wales Liberal Party will not expel Berejiklian. Premier Chris Minns commented on the report's findings but defended Berejiklian's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said was "excellent". Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused to comment on the issue. The Greens were supportive of the ICAC investigation, saying it should bring integrity to the New South Wales Parliament. These remarks were made by both federal and state Greens MPs, including federal Senator Mehreen Faruqi , NSW state MP David Shoebridge , and Victorian state MP Tim Read , with Read also stating that Berejiklian would have not been found corrupt if investigated by Victoria's equivalent to ICAC,
8349-484: The UK". As it was difficult to compete with larger provinces like Ontario and Quebec, the province of Manitoba decided to leave trade promotion to the federal government and accordingly recalled their agent-general in 1965 without appointing a replacement. Quebec uses the title agent-general or delegate-general. In 1936, legislation was passed by the government of Maurice Duplessis closing all Quebec government offices abroad. The government of Adélard Godbout repealed
8470-476: The closest "traditional" two-party margin in the seat or its predecessors since 1984 . However, Berejiklian easily saw off a rematch with Reilly after picking up a healthy swing of 14.5 points, enough to revert Willoughby to its traditional status as a comfortably safe Liberal seat. Berejiklian joined the front bench in 2005 as Shadow Minister for Mental Health and was appointed to the opposition front bench portfolio of Transport by Peter Debnam in 2006. Following
8591-420: The community, with a poll declaring that 80% of respondents opposed this decision. Berejiklian led the Coalition into the 2019 state election , becoming the third woman to take a major party into an election in the state. With polls showing the race at a knife-edge, the Coalition suffered a swing of six seats, cutting its numbers down to 48 seats, a majority of two. This made Berejiklian the third woman to lead
8712-513: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Gladys Berejiklian Gladys Berejiklian ( Armenian : Գլեդիս Բերեջիկլյան , romanized : Gledis Berejiklyan ; born 22 September 1970) is an Australian businesswoman and former politician who served as the 45th premier of New South Wales and the leader of
8833-610: The creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. After 1905 the position of Agent-General was replaced by that of High Commissioner, with the final Agent-General becoming the first High Commissioner. The First Nigerian agents-general to the United Kingdom were appointed in December 1959 and include: The last Nigerian Agent-Generals in London were: French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )
8954-519: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
9075-569: The difficulties in mounting a prosecution and the unlikelihood that the Director of Public Prosecutions would follow such a recommendation. In September 2023, Berejiklian lodged legal action against ICAC, seeking judicial review of their findings against her. Mark Forbes, director of Icon Reputation, said to Guardian Australia that he believed Berejiklian's legal challenge was likely an attempt to "redress reputational baggage" for potential future business or political opportunities. In July 2024,
9196-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
9317-594: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
9438-675: The extension of the Inner West Light Rail from Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill ; the introduction of the Opal card ; commencement of construction of the Sydney Metro Northwest . and closure of Newcastle railway line between Wickham and Newcastle to allow the Newcastle Light Rail to be built in its place. Despite receiving the support of Barry O'Farrell to succeed him, and despite having
9559-521: The federal government asked Roy to resign his Quebec position to avoid conflicts of interest. Canadian provinces have also appointed agents-general (called delegates-general by Quebec beginning in the 1970s) to other countries and major cities. Following a military coup in Nigeria in 1966 , the federal system was abolished, and the posts of the agents-general of Nigerian regions in London were subsumed in
9680-516: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
9801-915: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
9922-829: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
10043-405: The governments of the colonies they represented. Starting in 1886, Quebec and the federal Canadian government also appointed agents-general to Paris. The first, Hector Fabre , was dispatched by the province of Quebec but was asked by the federal government to represent all of Canada. He and his successor, Philippe Roy , continued to represent both Quebec City and Ottawa in France until 1912 when
10164-536: The highly transmissible Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the community. Subsequent plans to reopen when 50% of the eligible population were vaccinated against COVID-19 were highly criticised by the public and did not go ahead. The decision to not prevent residents of Sydney regional and interstate travel resulted in the spread of COVID-19 to other states, including the Northern Territory , Western Australia and Queensland . It has been suggested that
10285-454: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
10406-479: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
10527-612: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
10648-479: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
10769-583: The leadership unopposed at the ensuing leadership contest held on 23 January. She was duly sworn in as Premier later that day, becoming the second woman to hold the post. The first was Labor's Kristina Keneally , who served in the position from 2009 to 2011. In October 2018, Berejiklian permitted advertising for The Everest stakes to be projected onto the sails of the Sydney Opera House (a move spearheaded by radio broadcaster Alan Jones ), drawing widespread condemnation and criticism from many in
10890-927: The legislation and opened an office in New York City in 1940. When Duplessis returned to power in 1944, his government retained the New York City office and its agent-general but opened no others. In the early 1960s, the government of Jean Lesage began to open additional offices abroad appointing in Paris (1961), London (1962), Rome and Milan (1965) and subsequent governments opened offices in Chicago (1969), Boston, Lafayette, Dallas and Los Angeles (1970), Munich and Berlin (1971), Brussels (1972), Atlanta (1977), Washington (1978), Mexico City and Tokyo (1980), Beijing and Santiago (1998), Shanghai and Barcelona (1999), Mumbai (2007), São Paulo (2008) and Moscow (2012). In 1971,
11011-475: The migration of Maltese to the Northern Territory and north-west Australia" was presented to the parliament . Strickland, who was Governor of Western Australia (1909–1913) suggested former Colonial Secretary and Agent-General of Western Australia in London, Sir James Connolly . The position was discontinued with the suspension of the constitution in November 1933 and was replaced by a Trade Commissioner, who
11132-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
11253-529: The numbers to win the premiership in a partyroom ballot, Berejiklian chose not to run for the leadership of the New South Wales Liberal Party. On 17 April 2014, Mike Baird was elected Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party, and hence Premier, following O'Farrell's resignation, with Berejiklian elected as Baird's deputy. In a subsequent ministerial reshuffle, in addition to her existing responsibilities, on 23 April 2014 Berejiklian
11374-652: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;
11495-534: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
11616-429: The part-privatisation of the state's electricity network. Following the resignation of Mike Baird as NSW Liberal leader and Premier on 19 January 2017, Berejiklian announced her intention to succeed him as the leader of the Liberal Party, and hence to become the 45th Premier of New South Wales. Baird endorsed Berejiklian as his successor, declaring that she would be "an outstanding Premier... No doubt about it." A deal
11737-471: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
11858-443: The report and spoke in support of Berejiklian included James Griffin , Pru Goward , Tim James , Matt Kean , Philip Ruddock and Natalie Ward . Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton defended Gladys Berejiklian, saying she was "not corrupt" but was engaged in a bad relationship. Berejiklian's proposed lawsuit against ICAC was backed by federal Nationals leader David Littleproud and Kean. It has been reported that
11979-471: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
12100-690: The spill. The trio called off the spill the next morning, after the trio claimed to have received "further concessions" on amendments to the bill, meaning their amendments would be considered in the debate in the Legislative Council. The bill eventually passed Parliament with amendments on 26 September 2019 and came into force as the Abortion Law Reform Act 2019 on 2 October 2019. In October 2020, as part of her evidence to an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) inquiry, Berejiklian admitted that she had been in
12221-518: The title of agent-general was officially changed to delegate-general although previous title is still often used, particularly for the government's representative to London. As of 2024, the Government of Quebec has 35 offices abroad, including 9 delegates-general. Source: Historic Jamaica . With the granting of responsible self-government to Malta in 1921, a proposal of the government of Lord Strickland to appoint an agent-general to " encourage
12342-466: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
12463-776: The toughest restrictions in NSW had further restrictions such as night curfew put in place. The discrepancy in enforcement between different suburbs in the LGAs of concern attracted controversy, with some suggesting the restrictions were unrelated to the levels of transmission and rather, population demographics. Berejiklian also faced criticism when she stopped attending daily press briefings as COVID-19 cases, hospitalisations and deaths were predicted to peak. On 1 October 2021, New South Wales' ICAC announced an investigation into whether Berejiklian breached public trust or encouraged corrupt behaviour during her relationship with Daryl Maguire. With
12584-679: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
12705-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
12826-485: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
12947-536: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
13068-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
13189-564: Was a former director of the Orange Free State Railways . The Transvaal Colony sent an agent-general from the establishment of responsible self-government in 1907 until the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. Solomon then served as the first South African High Commissioner in London from 1910 to 1913. The Cape Colony sent separate agents-general until the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. The Colony of Natal sent separate agents-general until
13310-400: Was abundantly clear to me, to all Cabinet and to all Government that we no longer needed an agent-general's office in London. That was a throwback to colonial days - to the days when it was important to have garden parties and to participate in ceremonies. Quite frankly, little or no benefit accrued to New South Wales by participating in such a process." The Agent-General's Office was replaced by
13431-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French
13552-716: Was born in Jerusalem , Mandatory Palestine. Berejiklian spoke only Armenian until she was five years old, when she began learning English. She remains fluent in Armenian. She has remained involved in the Armenian-Australian community , serving a term on the Armenian National Committee of Australia . In 2015, she attended a commemoration ceremony in Yerevan for the 100th anniversary of
13673-819: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
13794-627: Was established after the appointment of the first Agent-General on 1 May 1864. In June 1932, the Agent-General's Office was abolished as a cost-cutting measure and was replaced by the New South Wales Government Offices, London, to be headed by an "Official Representative". The title was renamed Agent-General in 1937, but was left vacant from 1939 to 1946 due to the Second World War . From 1972 to 1993,
13915-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
14036-471: Was in turn replaced by a Commissioner-General in 1947. Prior to the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the four constituent British colonies of southern Africa all sent agents-general to London, coinciding with the establishment of responsible self-government in each colony. The Orange River Colony sent an agent-general from 1908 until the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. Brounger
14157-652: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
14278-594: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
14399-426: Was struck between the moderate, centre-right, and right factions of the Liberal Party, facilitating the moderate Berejiklian's rise to the leadership, with conservative Dominic Perrottet as her deputy. The next day, ministers Andrew Constance and Rob Stokes —Berejiklian's only serious leadership challengers—decided not to contest the leadership, and instead opted to endorse Berejiklian. This left Berejiklian to take
14520-545: Was sworn in as the Minister for the Hunter. Berejiklian was appointed as Treasurer of New South Wales and Minister for Industrial Relations following a cabinet reshuffle announced on 1 April 2015 by Premier Baird, after the 2015 state election . As Treasurer, Berejiklian oversaw New South Wales's return to surplus. This was the first time New South Wales had been declared debt-free in more than 20 years. She also oversaw
14641-570: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
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