107-449: The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies ( French : Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques ), abbreviated INSEE or Insee ( / ɪ n s eɪ / in- SAY , French pronunciation: [inse] ), is the national statistics bureau of France . It collects and publishes information about the French economy and people and carries out
214-744: 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
321-560: A New Year address of his own on the same day. In March 2000, Putin was elected as president in his own right. South Africa's Nelson Mandela lit a candle in his former cell at Robben Island at the stroke of midnight. Athens held a fireworks display over the Acropolis and a televised choir sang the Olympic anthem , a Byzantine anthem and the Greek national anthem . In Giza ,
428-431: 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,
535-644: A concert by American musician George Clinton . Sydney , the host city of the 2000 Summer Olympics , held a large fireworks display hosted by Eddie McGuire centering on the Harbour Bridge , with the locally famous graffito Eternity being recreated. For the first time in its history, the Sydney Opera House precinct was almost completely cordoned off from the public. Instead, tickets costing as much as A$ 2,000 each were being sold for Opera House parties. However, public transport and access
642-608: A concert entitled The Twelve Dreams of the Sun with music by Jean-Michel Jarre was held on the Pyramids . At the time, most Egyptians were observing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan . In Jerusalem , and particularly at the Mount of Olives , fears that doomsday fanatics "...could try to trigger an apocalypse prompted one of Israel's biggest peacetime police operations." Paris was
749-423: A diverse range of memorabilia was created, including souvenir postage stamps. As with every New Year's Eve, many events were timed with the stroke of midnight in the time zone of the location. There were also many events associated with the dawn on 1 January. An international television broadcast called 2000 Today was produced by a consortium of 60 broadcasters, while an alternative program Millennium Live
856-529: A flame dedicated to the history of Chinese civilization . In Hong Kong, at eight minutes to midnight, film star Jackie Chan led a group of singers, and at the stroke of midnight, a fireworks display began. In the Philippines, millennium parties simultaneously began in different parts of the country. President Joseph Estrada and top government officials joined celebrations at the Rizal Park (which
963-555: 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
1070-725: A marathon 19-hour broadcast called Millennium Eve: Celebrate 2000 , while the BBC in the United Kingdom headed an international 28-hour event known as 2000 Today . Rio de Janeiro held a special party led by Gal Costa at minutes to midnight. South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands became the first place in the Americas to celebrate the millennium but with no people on it, all of the British inhabitants chose to spend
1177-676: A midnight service was held consisting of a choir recitation of Hallelujah . On the Chatham Islands ( UTC+13:45 ) there was a Māori blessing . "As they faced the Pacific Ocean, a beacon was lit and school children sang." In Auckland , a fireworks display on the Harbour made New Zealand the first industrial nation to celebrate the year 2000, being just west of the International Date Line. Fiji hosted
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#17327651446441284-642: A millennium song for Singapore, entitled Moments of Magic . Fireworks for the Vietnamese New Year in February were cancelled; in turn, Ho Chi Minh City organized a countdown party on 31 December at 10 pm, culminating in fireworks which began at midnight. In India ( UTC+5:30 ), on New Year's Eve, fireworks were observed in the capital New Delhi. This was overshadowed by the return of Indian Airlines Flight 814 's passengers and crew, who arrived home from Afghanistan after being held hostage for
1391-430: A new Times Square Ball made of Waterford Crystal was commissioned and organizers expected a total attendance exceeding two million spectators. Times Square staged a series of live performances lasting nearly 24 hours, from 6:30 a.m. on 31 December to 6:10 a.m. on 1 January, with performances and musical styles from all over the world representing the countries that were entering the year 2000 at each hour. The ball drop
1498-653: 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
1605-494: 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
1712-587: 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
1819-526: 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
1926-885: 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
2033-464: A series of concerts ( NHK 's Kōhaku Uta Gassen at NHK Hall , Johnny's Countdown Live at the Tokyo Dome ) and a fireworks display. At midnight, temple bells across Japan were rung 108 times to "dispel the evils of mankind". The Japanese heavy metal band Seikima-II played its last concert "The Doomsday" before its first breakup on 31 December. A major part of the band's fictional storyline
2140-547: 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
2247-728: A week. One way the new millennium was celebrated in India was with the grand opening of the Thiruvalluvar Statue a 41 m (133 ft) stone statue in Kanyakumari , Tamil Nadu, depicting Valluvar , a Tamil speaking poet, philosopher and author of the Tirukkural , a book on morality. Both Valluvar and the Tirukkural are treated with reverence by Tamil speakers regardless of political or religious background with
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#17327651446442354-437: 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
2461-472: 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
2568-489: 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
2675-430: 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
2782-462: 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
2889-413: Is composed of around 16,100 IRIS in total, of which 650 are in the overseas departments. There are 3 types of IRIS unit in use; residential IRIS (pop. between 1,800 and 5,000), business IRIS (containing more than 1,000 employees) and miscellaneous IRIS (specific large zones which are sparsely inhabited and have large surface areas (leisure parks, ports, forests etc.). The following is a list of directors of
2996-652: 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
3103-503: 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
3210-404: 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
3317-405: 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
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3424-828: 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
3531-576: 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 ,
3638-553: 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
3745-483: 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
3852-846: Is the responsibility of MINEFI , the French Ministry of Finance. The current director is Jean-Luc Tavernier. However, Eurostat considers INSEE as an independent body, although its independence is not written in the law. Research and teaching for the INSEE is undertaken by GENES or Group of the National Schools of the Economy and Statistics (French: Groupe des Écoles Nationales d'Économie et Statistique ) which includes: INSEE gives numerical indexing codes (French: les Codes INSEE ) to various entities in France: The INSEE
3959-492: 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
4066-424: 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
4173-764: 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
4280-462: 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
4387-539: 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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4494-485: 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
4601-559: 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,
4708-877: 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
4815-626: 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
4922-630: The Peace Tower . Fireworks were launched from the CN Tower in Toronto. Blues singer Richard "Hock" Walsh planned to have a concert with Rita Chiarelli on 31 December to celebrate the new millennium but died just hours before the concert was due to take place. In Montreal , thousands attended a Celine Dion millennium concert at Molson Centre , which concluded her Let's Talk About Love World Tour . In New York City's Times Square ,
5029-578: The Roxy Theatre in Atlanta , Georgia, the band Gov't Mule played three sets for a concert at the theatre to celebrate the millennium. At the first set, during the last few minutes before 2000, the band played their song "Towering Fool" which was then followed by a brief "Countdown Jam" for the remainder of the old year. Immediately after the millennium started, the band sang a cover of King Crimson 's song " 21st Century Schizoid Man " (the first time
5136-1012: 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
5243-401: The Washington Monument lit up at midnight. Washington was also the world's largest Y2K command center despite GMT being the coordinated time zone. In Havre de Grace, Maryland , a spoof of the New York ball drop using an eight-foot long, five-foot high wood-and-plastic foam lit duck instead of a ball was started to celebrate the millennium and has been done again every year since. In
5350-426: The " River of Fire ", went along 4 miles (6 km) of the River Thames . In Cardiff , Wales, Welsh band, Manic Street Preachers held a concert at the Millennium Stadium . Named, 'Manic Millennium' it was attended by 57,000 fans and led to the release of Leaving the 20th Century . The final song A Design for Life was broadcast live worldwide. The Irish national radio and television organisation RTÉ produced
5457-422: The "first territory", "first land", "first inhabited land" or "first city" to see the new year. The US Navy submarine Topeka positioned itself 400 metres (1,300 ft) underwater, straddling both the International Date Line and the Equator . At Caroline Island in the mid-Pacific, renamed as "Millennium Island", the Republic of Kiribati claimed the first land to see the new millennium. In Tonga ,
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#17327651446445564-455: 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;
5671-440: The 2000 in the name referred not only to the upcoming millennium year but to the target size of 2,000 residents per basic unit. Since 1999, IRIS has represented the fundamental unit for dissemination of infra-municipal data in France and its overseas departments and regions . Towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants, and a large proportion of towns with between 5,000 and 10,000 inhabitants, are divided into several IRIS units. France
5778-544: The 20th century, and the 200th decade , and the start of the 3rd millennium , the 21st century, and the 201st decade (although the start and end points of such periods was then, and continues to be, disputed ). Countries around the globe held official festivities in the weeks and months leading up to the date, such as those organised in the United States by the White House Millennium Council , and most major cities produced firework displays at midnight. Equally, many private venues, cultural and religious centres held events. and
5885-474: 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
5992-510: 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
6099-614: 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,
6206-460: The Casa de Correos building in Puerta del Sol Square. In Stockholm , the band Europe performed a concert to celebrate the new millennium. This was the first concert played by the band since 1992 when they went on hiatus, and they were brought back together due to a request to perform such a concert. For the first and (so far only) time, both of their lead guitarists, John Norum and Kee Marcello played together, as both of them had accepted
6313-408: 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
6420-416: 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
6527-456: The INSEE since it was founded: French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) 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
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#17327651446446634-423: The SGF on 11 October 1941. The new organization was called the SNS or National Statistics Service . As part of this reorganization, six new offices were created in the Northern (occupied) zone whose regional structure is maintained today in INSEE. René Carmille created an Applied Sciences School (predecessor of the current ENSAE ) to specially train members for the SNS. Carmille worked for Vichy France but he
6741-490: The Tirukkural considered the most important work written in Tamil. Moscow's government and the Russian national government had sponsored parties across the city. Celebrations were held at the Spasskaya Tower to ring in the new millennium. The President of Russia Boris Yeltsin unexpectedly announced his resignation during his annual Presidential New Year Address . For the rest of the day and into 2000, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin served as Acting President, and he gave
6848-426: The band sang the song at a concert) to welcome the 21st century. The concert was released as an album titled Mulennium though not until 2010. At the Sacsayhuamán archaeological site in Cusco, Peru 1,500 performers reenacted the Incan tradition of the Festival of the Moon. Chicago celebrated the millennium by hosting a fireworks show on Navy Pier , along with celebrations at homes and in Grant Park , as
6955-415: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Millennium celebrations The millennium celebrations were a worldwide, coordinated series of events to celebrate and commemorate the end of 1999 and the start of the year 2000 in the Gregorian calendar . The celebrations were held as marking the end of the 2nd millennium ,
7062-404: 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
7169-448: 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
7276-489: 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
7383-406: 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
7490-432: The focal point of celebrations in France where searchlights and 20,000 strobe lights for the event were installed on the Eiffel Tower . They remained in operation until June 2003, when they were replaced by another installation. On 18 April 1999, Switzerland approved of a new constitution in a referendum and it came into effect on midnight 1 January. In Madrid , star-shaped balloons were set up at midnight on top of
7597-439: 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 ,
7704-829: 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
7811-541: The island celebrated being the first place in North America to welcome the 21st century. Meanwhile, in Bermuda, celebrations were marked as the first Caribbean nation to crossover to the new millennium reached its highest at midnight. In Ottawa , Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien presided over celebrations on Parliament Hill , which included artistic performances and a midnight fireworks display launched from
7918-519: 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
8025-479: 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
8132-612: 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 ,
8239-479: 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
8346-586: The metropolis and overseas France ( L'Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques pour la métropole et la France d'outre-mer ). IRIS is the name for France's unit of division of geographical regions for the purposes of taking a census . In order to prepare for the dissemination of the 1999 French population census, INSEE developed a system for dividing the country into units of equal size, known as IRIS2000, now known simply as 'IRIS'. The acronym stands for 'Ilots Regroupés pour l'Information Statistique' ('aggregated units for statistical information') and
8453-515: The midnight celebrations back at GMT time. Argentina's celebration was centered in Ushuaia , the southernmost city in the world, with a tango performance by Julio Bocca and Eleonora Cassano , broadcast on ARTEAR ( El Trece )'s El Día del Milenio and worldwide through the BBC-led 2000 Today . In Newfoundland ( UTC−3:30 ), a concert was held that was broadcast to thousands of Canadians as
8560-420: 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
8667-679: The offer of playing with the band that night. The two songs performed, " Rock the Night " and " The Final Countdown ", the band's two biggest hits, had extra meaning due to the night they were sung on. In Vatican City , Pope John Paul II led a blessing in St Peter's Square. In London, attention focused around Big Ben , as well as the opening of the Millennium Dome with which Prime Minister Tony Blair , his wife Cherie, and Queen Elizabeth II attended. A huge fireworks display, called
8774-652: 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;
8881-570: The other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French 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
8988-534: 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
9095-647: The periodic national census. Headquartered in Montrouge , a commune in the southern Parisian suburbs, it is the French branch of Eurostat . The INSEE was created in 1946 as a successor to the Vichy regime 's National Statistics Service (SNS). It works in close cooperation with the Institut national d'études démographiques (INED). The INSEE is responsible for the production and analysis of official statistics in France. Its best known responsibilities include: The INSEE
9202-471: 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
9309-471: 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
9416-466: 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
9523-679: 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
9630-568: 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
9737-485: 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
9844-536: 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
9951-402: 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
10058-701: The year 2000 and at the stroke of midnight, Joel sang " Auld Lang Syne ", a song traditionally sung in the western world at the stroke of midnight in the first few seconds of the new year. The concert was released on an album titled " 2000 Years: The Millennium Concert " in May 2000. A millennium celebration was held at Walt Disney World in Florida, primarily at the Epcot theme park. U.S. President Bill Clinton watched with thousands of spectators in Washington, D.C. as
10165-589: Was René Carmille , a pioneer of the use of the calculators , who laid the foundations of the modern organization. In 1940, the Demographic Service ( Service de la démographie ) was created under the Ministry of Finance in order to replace the military recruitment office prohibited by the June 1940 Armistice with Nazi Germany . In order to better conceal its undertakings, the Demographic Service absorbed
10272-702: Was a prophecy stating that they would conquer the world before breaking up in 1999, with the name of the band itself being a pun meaning "the end of the century" in Japanese. Following the conclusion of the concert at 23:59:59 on 31 December (a second before midnight), the band disbanded and could be seen disappearing into a portal of light leaving the stage. The traditional Chinese New Year did not start until 5 February of that year, however celebrations were still held in Beijing alongside fireworks and dragon dances . At midnight, Chinese paramount leader Jiang Zemin lit
10379-679: Was actually a double agent for the French underground. From his position in the SNS he sabotaged the Nazi census of France, which saved untold numbers of Jewish people from death camps. He also used his department to help mobilize French resistance in Algeria. He was caught by the Nazis and sent to Dachau where he died in 1945. The SNS was finally transformed into the INSEE by the law of 27 April 1946, The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Surveys for
10486-461: Was available to view the fireworks on the Bridge, which included a "waterfall" effect. Adelaide 's celebrations were at their Central Business District with a special presentation before the countdown and many fireworks. Adelaide was on UTC+10:30 during daylight saving time. Brisbane 's celebrations were broadcast live on ABC (Australia) and worldwide via 2000 Today . In Tokyo, there were
10593-483: Was broadcast live during ABC 2000 Today with Peter Jennings and Dick Clark in the United States, and worldwide via 2000 Today . Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, in Madison Square Garden , Billy Joel was performing a special concert to celebrate the new millennium. Leading up to the first few moments of 2000, Joel sang a special song titled "2000 Years". After that, there was a brief countdown to
10700-764: Was broadcast on ABS-CBN ), while at the Ayala Millennium Center, Regine Velasquez sang the Philippine Millennium Theme Song, "Written in the Sand" at the top of the Peninsula Manila at about ten minutes to the Philippine midnight as part of the Philippine presentation on 2000 Today (Global Millennium Day broadcast on GMA ). In Singapore, a pop trio consisting of Fann Wong , Tanya Chua and Elsa Lin performed
10807-485: Was cancelled two days before the event. Several countries in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and hence close to the International Date Line made arguments they were the first to enter the new millennium. Variously, the Chatham Islands , New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji and Kiribati all laid claims to the status – by moving the dateline itself, the temporary institution of daylight saving time , and claiming
10914-819: 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
11021-400: 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
11128-708: 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
11235-635: Was preceded by several related statistical agencies in France. In 1833, the Statistics Bureau (French: Bureau de la statistique ) was created by Adolphe Thiers . In 1840 it was renamed SGF or General Statistics of France . Under the direction of Lucien March, the SGF expanded its activities. It began an investigation of consumption habits in 1907, following with periodic investigations on retail prices in 1911. In 1920 Alfred Sauvy introduced competitive entrance exams for SGF recruitment. However, it
11342-594: 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
11449-570: 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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