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161-632: The exact term "marine" is not found in many languages other than English. In French-speaking countries, two terms which could be translated as "marine", but do not translate exactly: troupes de marine (marine troops) and fusiliers-marins (marine riflemen) and fuzileiros navais in Portuguese ( lit.   ' Naval fusiliers ' ). The word marine means "navy" in many European languages such as Dutch, French, German, Italian and Norwegian. “Naval infantry” may also refer to sailors forming both temporary and permanent infantry units, such as

322-784: A 300-man Naval Commando Force. The BIMs were located at La Unión and Usulután . The Salvadoran Marine Corps uses green pixelated and green woodland uniforms. The Finnish Nyland Brigade ( Nylands Brigad ) in Ekenäs is the home of the Finnish Coastal Jaegers — the Kustjägarna (in Swedish) / Rannikkojääkärit (in Finnish). The Brigade is part of the Finnish Navy , and the only Swedish-speaking unit within

483-744: 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

644-431: 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,

805-568: A core asset of French expeditionary capabilities, they are highly trained soldiers and noted for their professionalism and strong esprit de corps . With a strength of over 17,000 men as of 2022, the Troupes de Marine consist of 26 regiments and amount to around 15% of the French Army. The Troupes de marine were formerly known as the Troupes coloniales , with origins dating back to

966-726: A decree dated 7 July 1900 the renamed troops were placed under the Département de la Guerre and were thus rebadged, now as part of the French Army , under one name – the Troupes coloniales , retaining the anchor badge as a reminder of their naval heritage. The Troupes coloniales were composed of two distinct corps. One was the colonial forces in metropolitan France, composed of Europeans who had voluntarily enlisted for successive service engagements of five years duration. These regulars (as opposed to conscripts ) were assigned in small contingents to undertake tours of duty in

1127-555: 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

1288-601: A new naval infantry company, ~160-strong ( Satnija mornaričko-desantnog pješaštva ) was formed again in 2018 as a part of the Navy Flotilla and is located in Ploče . The Cuban Revolutionary Navy ( Marina de Guerra Revolucionaria or MGR) maintains a small marine battalion called the Desembarco de Granma . The Guard Hussar Regiment ( Gardehusarregimentet or GHR) maintains a marine squadron (only by name) which

1449-722: A newly created corps of the French Navy which subsequently merged with the Naval Engineer Corps (responsible for the construction of naval ships) during the Second World War. In 1905, the strength of the Troupes coloniales stationed in (the 19 military districts of metropolitan) France was marked at 2,123 officers and 26,581 other ranks. The strength maintained in the colonies amounts to 1,743 officers, 21,516 European troops and 47,868 native soldiers. By

1610-467: A nickname whose origin is disputed. It could come from bigue dehors which was the order given for loading the guns on a ship. It could also come from bigorneau ( winkle in English), either due to their toughness and unwillingness to desert their positions in combat or because their duties usually had them stuck on coastal rocks. The nickname used by Marsouins and Bigors for the other branches of

1771-696: A novel weapon which changed sea warfare to their advantage — they equipped their ships with the corvus , a long pivoting plank with a beak-like spike on the underside for hooking onto enemy ships, possibly developed earlier by the Syracusans against the Athenians during the Sicilian Expedition of the Peloponnesian War . Using it as a boarding bridge, Roman infantrymen were able to invade an enemy ship, transforming sea combat into

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1932-586: A number of independent companies and platoons, for security protection at naval bases, other shore installations and the Ministry of Defense. The Viña del Mar and Talcahuano detachments contribute to the Amphibious Expeditionary Brigade (Brigada Anfibia Expedicionaria). There is as a group of Marine Infantry commandos (Grupo de Comandos IM), which together with the group of naval tactical divers (Agrupación de Buzos Tácticos) are part of

2093-705: 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

2254-494: 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

2415-587: 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

2576-526: 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

2737-941: 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

2898-536: A single infantry battalion was raised. This was expanded in 1880, but seven years later, the corps was merged with the existing coast artillery, to form a Naval Artillery Regiment. A series of reorganizations followed until responsibility for coastal defense was passed to the Argentine Army in 1898. Between 1935 and 1938 the marines reappeared in the form of five battalions of Marine Infantry, serving both on board ship and in coastal defense fortifications. In 1968,

3059-604: A single marine corps in 1769. Some colonial units were created at the same time, organized along the same lines of artillery and infantry units. After 1786, the Marine units were often reduced to artillery units, except for some short-lived infantry regiments (1792–1794). These units fought for France during the French Revolutionary Wars and in all the Napoleonic Wars . The colonial expansion of

3220-728: A soldier of the French Foreign Legion (representing the besieged garrison) and a marine infantryman (representing the relief column) solemnly presented arms on the anniversary of the relief of the beleaguered French post. The French Navy itself, due to the trouble it was having in obtaining naval infantry detachments from the Ministry of the Navy, established the Fusiliers Marins in 1856. The Fusiliers-Marins were initially composed of sailors, senior rates and naval officers who undertook special infantry training to form

3381-451: A system of «levées» (selective conscription) in the various sea ports, similar to the «  marine press  », the naval and marine officers were able to man their ships. However, the system reached its limitations quickly. The recruits often lacked discipline and experience, and were discharged or deserted following their first voyage, wasting months of training. Until 1682 there was a serious shortage of experienced sailors and soldiers in

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3542-547: 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

3703-552: A variety of other, naval roles. Stationed at naval bases or forming marine detachments on board naval ships, they also conduct small scale raiding, maritime boarding operations , security of naval vessels and bases, riverine and coastal missions, mess duty, and field day operations. In addition to their primary roles, they perform other tasks, including special operations and land warfare , separate from naval operations; ceremonial duties and other miscellaneous tasks as directed by their governments. The Marine Fusilier Regiments are

3864-500: A version of land combat, where the Roman legionaries had the upper hand. During the early Principate , a ship's crew, regardless of its size, was organized as a centuria . Crewmen could sign on as naval infantry (called Marinus ), rowers/seamen, craftsmen and various other jobs, though all personnel serving in the imperial fleet were classed as milites ("soldiers"), regardless of their function; only when differentiation with

4025-437: 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

4186-828: Is a land formation of the German Navy . It was formed in Eckernförde on 1 April 2014, succeeding the Naval Protection Force. The Greek 32nd Marine Brigade "Moravas" and the Amphibious Raider Squadrons (known as MAK) of the 13th Special Operations Command are amphibious infantry and maritime operations units maintained by the Hellenic Army and supported by the Hellenic Navy . The brigade traces its origin to 1919 as

4347-571: Is a small force with 1,500 sailors and 800 marines designed to protect the shoreline and inland waterways from insurgent infiltration. The navy will have coastal patrol squadrons, assault boat squadrons and a marine battalion. The force will consist of 2,000 to 2,500 sailors by 2010. Upon its revival in the 1980s the Givati Brigade was intended to serve as the amphibious infantry brigade of the Israel Defense Forces , but this

4508-472: 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

4669-489: 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

4830-430: 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

4991-462: 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

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5152-652: 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

5313-503: 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

5474-404: 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

5635-487: Is military operations in the littoral zone ; operating from ships they are trained to land on and secure key points to around 85 km (or 50 miles) inland, or as far as ship borne logistics can provide. Marine units primarily deploy from warships using boats , landing craft , hovercraft , amphibious vehicles or helicopters . Specialist units are also trained in combat diving/combat swimming and parachuting. As well as amphibious operations, marine troops are used in

5796-469: 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

5957-828: 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

6118-489: Is subordinate to the Brazilian Navy . The marine corps is composed of an operational brigade and some guard and ceremonial duty battalions. The main unit is the brigade-sized Divisão Anfíbia (Amphibious Division). Officers´ ranks and titles are the same as for the rest of the Navy, although officers wear a star above the stripes, instead of the loop worn by surface officers. During the 1970-75 Cambodian Civil War

6279-576: 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 ,

6440-646: Is the Marine Squadron or 4th Training Squadron based in Almegårds Kaserne on the Baltic island Bornholm . The squadron is a part of the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion and trains conscripts . The Ecuadorian Navy maintains a Naval Infantry Corps ( Cuerpo de Infantería de Marina ) headquartered in Guayaquil . Formed on 12 November 1962, it is organised into two security battalions, one in

6601-764: Is the amphibious infantry unit of the Italian Army ( Esercito Italiano ). Its soldiers are called Lagunari and they are the Italian Army Marines. Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade – Japanese marines tasked with offensive amphibious assault to retake islands. The unit was first formed in 2018 and was the first unit of its kind created since the demilitarisation of Japan after World War II . The Korean People's Army 's Light Infantry Training Guidance Bureau has two or more amphibious light infantry/sniper brigades. These brigades are believed deployed to Wonsan on

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6762-553: 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

6923-866: Is the marine corps of South Korea . It was founded as a reconnaissance force just prior to the start of the Korean War . The ROKMC has seen action in several major conflicts. Though theoretically it is under the direction of the Chief of Naval Operations for all practical purposes it operates as an independent branch of the military. Lebanon maintains an elite but very small in number " Navy Commando " regiment. Trained internationally and armed with mostly American and French made equipment and weaponry. Troupes de marine The Troupes de Marine ( lit.   ' Marine Troops ' ) or TDM , sometimes simply referred to as "French Marines" in English, are one of

7084-483: 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

7245-544: Is the navy of The Bahamas. Since the Bahamas does not have an army or an air force, its navy composes the entirety of its armed forces. The RBDF Commando Squadron is a sizable force of 500 Special Marine Commandos. The Special warfare Driving and Salvage ( SWADS ) is special operations force of the Bangladesh Navy . SWADS is trained for the role of naval infantry and it consists of elite soldiers specially chosen form

7406-404: Is the same as for other units of the French Army (light beige, plain green or woodland or desert camouflage according to circumstances). Distinctive features are a gold metal fouled anchor badge on a dark blue beret (Marine paratroopers wear red berets and their badge is a composite of the gold metal anchor and the silver wing of airborne units). This is worn either on the beret or embroidered on

7567-492: 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

7728-424: 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

7889-945: Is the special operation forces of Indian Navy . In Indonesia , the main amphibious warfare force and naval infantry of the Indonesian National Armed Forces is the Indonesian Marine Corps of the Indonesian Navy . The Marine commandant reports to the Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Navy . Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the number of marines in the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN) has expanded to 2,600 personnel, in two marine brigades, each composed of three battalions. Their mission

8050-526: Is to provide security throughout the Arabian Sea and free waters, as well as securing routes for Iranian ships in the Gulf of Aden . The Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGCN) maintains several units that may perform marine-type functions. It also has a Takavar naval commando battalion, called Sepah Navy Special Force (SNSF). They are tasked with providing security in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz , as well as conducting anti-piracy missions to assist Iranian ships. The Iraqi Navy

8211-403: Is to say those formerly using horses, or currently armored vehicles) have the privilege of wearing gold spurs for certain occasions. This differs from the usual French cavalry practice of wearing silver spurs. Tradition has it that Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom requested this distinction for the marine troops from Emperor Napoleon III to honor the branch after the Battle of Balaclava in

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8372-439: The Régiment Royal–La Marine and the Régiment de l'Amiral de France founded by Colbert were based in Dunkerque , Le Havre , Brest , Rochefort and Toulon . They wore an off-white/grey uniform with blue facings . The 1670s saw significant changes in the organisation of the new corps, administered by Ministers Colbert and François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois , respectively Naval State Secretary and

8533-409: The 9 Division d'Infanterie de Marine (9e DIMa). This division was the amphibious component of the Force d'Intervention, which was renamed the Force d'Action Rapide (FAR) in 1983. Because of their overseas heritage and their use in the Force d'Intervention , the Troupes de marine were mostly volunteer regulars, as in France, draftees are legally exempt from overseas duty. The conversion of

8694-401: The Force d'Intervention was expanded by adding two airborne brigades and one motorized brigade and formed into the 11th Division d'Intervention , which became the 11th Parachute Division in 1971. The Troupes de marine were removed from this division in 1976 to form a separate intervention force, and the 9 Brigade d'Infanterie de Marine was expanded on 1 January 1976 to form

8855-413: The Troupes Coloniale were trained in amphibious tactics by the Americans and performed amphibious landings at Corsica (6th Moroccan Mountain Division) and Elba (9th Colonial Infantry Division – 9e DIC). Both these divisions also landed in southern France in the follow-on echelons of Operation Dragoon. The French wanted the United States to transport these two divisions to the Pacific to fight against

9016-566: The troupes de marine were used primarily as line infantry . Following the disbandment of the Imperial Guard , under the Restoration , separate marine artillery ( Artillerie de Marine ) and marine infantry ( Infanterie de Marine ) units were created as part of a reorganization between 1818 and 1822. These two corps were popularly known as « bigors » and « marsouins » respectively. Starting in 1831, these two arms ceased to serve on board naval ships and were exclusively armed with regular army equipment and weapons. Their role

9177-408: The 32nd Infantry Regiment but was only in 1967 when it was reorganised and designated as a naval infantry unit under the banner of the 32nd Marines Regiment . The Honduran Navy established at least one 600-man marine infantry battalion ( Batallón de Infantería de Marina or BIM) in 1982. The Indian Army has amphibious units under the Jodhpur-based corps. The Marine Commando Force (MARCOS)

9338-423: The 9th Marine Infantry Brigade (9 Brigade d'Infanterie de Marine) (9 BIMa) of the Troupes de marine was formed a French Force d'Intervention . It was named after and carried the insignia of the 9th Colonial Infantry Division (9 DIC) that had performed a successful amphibious assault on Elba in World War II. The Troupes de marine remaining overseas became part of the Forces d'outre mer . In 1964

9499-418: The Algerian War . The Construction Service of the marine artillery (which designed and engineered the naval artillery guns in the metropolitan arsenals), became an integral part of the colonial artillery following the reorganisation of 1900. In 1909 those colonial artillery officers who specialised in artillery design and manufacture work were transferred into the newly created "Engineers of Naval Artillery ";

9660-481: 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

9821-413: 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

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9982-520: The Cambodian Marine Corps were active but were effectively disbanded by the end of the Cambodian–Vietnamese War . The Royal Cambodian Navy created a force of 2,000 marines in 2007 known as the 31st Naval Infantry Brigade Canada had a history of participating in amphibious operations such as the Normandy landings and the Allied invasion of Sicily . Even though Canada does not have a marine corps, it has units that can carry out Marines-type operations, such as an amphibious-operations trained company of

10143-598: The Dardanelles , the Corps expéditionnaire d'Orient was more than two-thirds Troupes Coloniale including the 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th Colonial Infantry Regiments and Colonial Artillery. (The artillery element at Gallipoli did not contain any artillery units from the Troupes Coloniales . ) The Troupes Coloniales were however far more likely to see action in African or Asian land campaigns or, during both World Wars, in France itself. In World War II, one Colonial unit did have "Marine" in its title – The Bataillon d'Infanterie de Marine du Pacifique (BIMP). Two divisions of

10304-539: 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

10465-485: 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

10626-441: The Finnish Defence Forces . The Fusiliers Marins (Naval Fusiliers) and Commandos Marine (Naval Commandos) are naval personnel. The fusiliers marins protect vessels and installations, provide the navy with military training, augment boarding-landing parties and support operations of the Commandos Marine. The Commandos Marine (Naval Commandos) are a seven company Commando formation whose roots can be traced to

10787-441: 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,

10948-420: The Free French Paratroopers of the SAS in August 1944, at the 2 RCP during a parade on 11 November 1944, this regiment for a first time dressed this beret with the insignia of the SAS. However, these paratroopers then belonged to the Air Force. In Indochina, the Infantry Metropolitan SAS Demi-Brigade retained the practice, which was readopted by the 1st SAS Parachute Demi-Brigade in 1948. The red beret, which

11109-555: The French Army , becoming respectively, the 11 , 60 , 43 and 61 regiments of de Ligne in 1791. The Marine Royale was a substantial force in 1671, consisting of 196 naval vessels. Colbert decided to create 100 companies of "guardian-soldiers" intended to form part of the crews of the larger naval vessels ( French : Vaisseau ). However, these men were redirected towards the French Army by Louvois in 1673. Starting from this date, senior naval and marine officers were obliged to separately recruit crews and marines for each ship. Using

11270-439: 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

11431-424: The Lạng Sơn Campaign (February 1885) and the Pescadores Campaign (March 1885). In March 1885 the two marine infantry battalions in Lieutenant-Colonel Ange-Laurent Giovanninelli's 1st Brigade suffered heavy casualties storming the Chinese trenches at the Battle of Hòa Mộc . The French victory at Hòa Mộc relieved the Siege of Tuyên Quang , and was commemorated thereafter in an annual ceremony at Tuyên Quang in which

11592-626: 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

11753-656: The Second French Empire . In 1870, marine artillery and infantry were for the first time regrouped in a grand unit: Blue Division of general Élie de Vassoigne, named after the blue uniforms worn by the soldiers to differentiate them from the line troops. Following the Franco-Prussian War , the marines participated to the construction of the second colonial empire of France . The 21 February 1816, royal ordinance of Louis XVIII re-establishing L'infanterie de marine authorized two regiments. This

11914-768: The Secretary of State of War . The four regiments of the la marine were transferred from the secretariat of La Marine to that of the secretariat of La Guerre . The regiments were no longer directly part of the French Navy although the designation Troupes de marine was retained. During the Revolution , the La Marine, Royal-Marine , Royal-Vaisseux, and the Régiment de l'Amiral ( re-baptized Régiment de Vermandois ) regiments were integrated definitively into

12075-832: The Tonkin Expeditionary Corps included several marine infantry battalions and marine artillery batteries. These units saw service in the Sơn Tây Campaign (December 1883), the Bắc Ninh Campaign (March 1884), the Capture of Hưng Hóa (April 1884), the Bắc Lệ ambush (June 1884), the Keelung Campaign (October 1884 to June 1885), the Battle of Yu Oc (November 1884), the Battle of Núi Bop (January 1885),

12236-638: The Troupes de marine is the Specialized Staff for Overseas and Foreign Affairs ( French : État-major spécialisé pour l'outre-mer et l'étranger , EMSOME), which also directs overseas Foreign Legion forces. The General commanding the EMSOME is nicknamed the "Father of the Marine Corps" (le Père de l'Arme des TDM). The Troupes de Marine include various specialties, which form separate arms in

12397-1098: 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

12558-421: The naval artillery and participate in the boarding of enemy ships. These companies were also in charge of guarding the various sea ports. Despite the fact that the artillery of the marines was limited in numbers compared to those of the infantry marines (fusiliers and grenadiers), the ship's marine artillerymen were the determining factor for the Troupes de la marine , being in charge of displacing and mounting

12719-425: The " armes " (corps) of the French Army, which includes specialties associated with other corps (artillery, cavalry, signals, armour, paratroopers ) but with overseas deployment as a specialisation. The Marine soldiers are known in French as marsouins (" Harbour porpoise "), allegedly because, like porpoises, they accompany ships without really being part of the crew. Marine Gunners are known as bigors ,

12880-465: The "marine" detachments aboard ships and conduct small scale landings. Unlike their anglophone contemporaries, they are graded by naval rates rather than adopting army ranks . In 1890 the Ministry of Colonies was separated from that of the Ministère de la Marine . This raised the question of to which authority the troupes de Marine , who only now served in the colonies, should be responsible. By

13041-506: 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;

13202-523: The 19th century saw the extensive use of French sailors and marines serving together in Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and West Africa. The troupes de marine were tasked with insuring the French presence in its Asian, African, and American colonies. The revolutionary period saw a definite division in 1792 between the reconstituted troupes de marine and the ships of the navy. Under Napoleon,

13363-781: 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

13524-637: The 3rd Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment , JTF2 that specializes in combat diving and amphibious reconnaissance , the Naval Tactical Operations Group that specializes in maritime interdiction , and the Naval Security Team that can provide force protection for amphibious forces. Several authors have written a number of articles in various Canadian professional military journals since 2019 proposing/discussing

13685-740: The Amazon River area and the other on the Pacific coast. There is also a commando battalion based on the Galápagos Islands . The 111th Independent Mechanized Brigade (formerly the 130th Marine Amphibious Brigade) of the Egyptian Army can conduct amphibious assault operations. There is also the 153rd Commando Group with three Marine Commandos Battalions (515th, 616th, 818th) controlling 12 Marine Commandos Companies. The El Salvador Navy included two 600-man Marine Infantry Battalions ( Batallon de Infanteria de Marina or BIM), and

13846-758: The Baltic, Sea of Azoff and the Crimea (1855–56), Ki Hoa in China (1860), and the Battle of Puebla in Mexico (1863). Their most famous battle was Bazeilles (1870) in the Franco-Prussian War. The Troupes de marine fought in the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885) and during the period of undeclared hostilities in Tonkin (northern Vietnam) that preceded it. Between June 1883 and April 1886

14007-648: The British WWI-era 63rd (Royal Naval) Division (an infantry division made-up of Royal Navy sailors on a semi-permanent basis) or the Imperial Japanese Naval Landing Forces (ad-hoc formations of Imperial Japanese Navy sailors temporarily pressed into service as infantry). In the early days of naval warfare , there was little distinction between sailors and soldiers on a warship . The oarsmen of Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman ships had to be capable of fighting

14168-703: 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

14329-917: 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,

14490-545: The Crimea (1854) where marine infantry saved British troops from destruction . The officers and senior non-commissioned-officer can wear, in special circumstances, a sword as a part of their dress uniform. This sword has a straight-edge blade, in contrast to other Army Corps' curved sabers and thus similar to those of the Royal Marines and the rest of the British Armed Forces. Since the Second World War,

14651-538: 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

14812-679: The Escuadras de Galeras del Mediterráneo ( Mediterranean Galley Squadrons) in 1537, progenitors of the current Spanish Navy Marines (Infantería de Marina) corps, making them the oldest marine corps still in active service in the world. The English noun marine is from the adjective marine , meaning "of the sea", via French marin ("of the sea") from Latin marinus ("of the sea") itself from mare ("sea"), from Proto-Indo-European *móri ("body of water, lake") (cognate with Old English mere ("sea, lake"), Dutch meer , German Meer , all from Proto-Germanic *mari ). The word marine

14973-452: The French Army into a smaller professional force led to the French Army's decision to make the brigade its largest formation and the 9 Division d'Infanterie de Marine was reduced in size on 1 July 1999 and became the 9th Light Armoured Marine Brigade (France) ( 9 Brigade Légère Blindée de Marine ) and then back to the 9th Marine Infantry Brigade ( 9ème Brigade d'Infanterie de Marine ) in 2016. The Troupes de marine are one of

15134-520: The French Army is biffins (slang for ragmen). The name originated in the nineteenth century when sailors of the Fleet and Marine Infantry and Artillerymen, proud of their own smart appearance, accused the soldiers of the Army of being slovenly by comparison. The Legion is excused this nickname, probably reflecting a special relation between Marsouins and legionnaires. The modern Troupes de marine uniform

15295-846: The French Navy's Troupes de la marine . The French colonies were under the control of the Ministère de la Marine (the equivalent of the British Admiralty ), accordingly, Marines defended the colonies. Renamed Troupes d'Outre-Mer then Troupes de Marine during the dismantling of the French Union (1958), their origin can actually be found in the Compagnies Ordinaires de la Mer ( French : Compagnies Ordinaires de la Mer ) ( Ordinary Sea Companies ), created in 1622 by Cardinal Richelieu . These companies were used to embark on royal naval ships to serve

15456-752: The French Navy. The Marine units were recreated at the end of the 17th century by re-organization of the infantry units dedicated to guarding military harbors (the Warden-Soldiers Companies or compagnies de soldats-gardiens , created in 1671) and the artillery units dedicated to coastal battery service (Bomb Companies or compagnies de bombardiers , created in 1689), naval artillery training (Apprentice Gunner Companies or compagnies d'apprentis-cannoniers , created in 1689) and naval artillery administration (Artillery Commissaries or Commissaires d'artillerie , created in 1631). The infantry and marine artillery units were briefly merged into

15617-550: The French Overseas Territories. They now provide the ground combat elements of French amphibious task forces and are specifically trained for that purpose. The 9th Marine Brigade (9 Brigade Légère Blindée de Marine (9 BLBMa)) is twinned with the 3 Commando Brigade of the Royal Marines , organising the exchange of officers and sharing training and exercises. The Sea Battalion ( Seebataillon )

15778-484: 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

15939-466: The Infantería de Marina was reorganized as a separate corps within the Navy. The marine and naval infantry designations are not applied to Australian Defence Force units, although some Australian Army units specialise in amphibious warfare, including 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment which has provided an amphibious light infantry role from 2012. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF)

16100-604: The Japanese and later retake French Indochina, but transport was a problem. The Troupes coloniales distinguished themselves in both World Wars. The most decorated regimental colors of the French Armed Forces are those of the Colonial Infantry Regiment of Morocco (RICM) and the regimental colors of the 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment 2 RIMa. After 1945 the decolonization wars involved

16261-562: The Marines: in the name of God, long live the colonials! This expression is believed to have originated with the famous missionary Charles de Foucauld who, when rescued by colonial troops, exclaimed "In the name of God, the great colonials!". Annual ceremonies celebrating the marine troops take place on 31 August and 1 September – the anniversary of the Blue Division. On 31 August detachments of all marine units parade at Fréjus where

16422-513: The Museum of Marine Troops is located. On 1 September veterans hold a ceremony at Bazeilles in Ardennes. As a naval symbol since ancient times, the anchor appeared on the uniforms of French sailors from the late eighteenth century. The Marine Infantry and Artillery troops adopted this insignia at the same time and it remains the modern symbol of the Troupes de marine . The headquarters of

16583-746: The Navy's Special Operations Command (Comando de Operaciones Especiales). The People's Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps (PLANMC) is a service branch of the PRC navy and is therefore under the command of the PLAN Headquarters. The PLANMC are divided into six brigades. The majority of the PLANMC's personnel is based in the South China Sea . The Colombian Marine Corps is a part of the Colombian Navy . The modern marine corps dates from

16744-604: The Second World War. The Commandos Marine have evolved to be broadly comparable to the British Special Boat Service, with whom they exchange officers. Troupes de Marine ("Marine Troops"), are a branch of the French Army , renamed from the Troupes Coloniales who served in France's overseas territories to maintain or expand French interests. The modern Troupes de Marine have units permanently based in Africa, in addition they man bases in

16905-675: The Troupes as their official symbol because of the former links to the French Royal Navy. Following France's defeat in the Seven Years' War , these troops, along with the rest of the Marines, were transferred to the French Army under the Choiseul ministries, and after their emancipation at the end of 1760, they retained a large number of officers issued from the Ministère de la Guerre , which would reproduce and compensate for

17066-471: The anchor insignia of the Marines. When not being worn the kepi is expected to be positioned so that the anchor is always visible. The "traditional" epaulettes used by the TdM are gold for officers and NCOs and wool of "daffodil" yellow for other ranks. This colour and pattern is derived from the historic epaulettes of the light infantry formations in mainland France. The officers of marine "mounted" units (that

17227-526: The army was required, were the adjectives classiarius or classicus added. The Roman Navy 's two fleet legions , I Adiutrix and II Adiutrix , were among the first distinct naval infantry units. The first organized marine corps was created in Venice by the Doge Enrico Dandolo when he created the first regiment of ten companies spread on several ships. That corps participated in

17388-459: The blue uniform was reissued for regular personnel in 1930 and is still worn by bandsmen. This traditional uniform gave the nickname of "the Blue Division" to the Troupes de marine units involved in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War . The pith helmet was worn overseas during the colonial period, with blue, khaki or white uniforms according to circumstances. Until the early 1960s a dark blue calot (forage/side cap) with red piping and anchor badge

17549-710: The colonial troops in Indochina , Algeria , and Madagascar . Following 1962, operations in Africa were undertaken by the again renamed troupes de Marine and the Légion étrangère which were the only units mainly or entirely composed of "engaged" (non-conscript) soldiers. This was also the case in Tchad and in Lebanon and the former Yugoslavia before metropolitan troops started also to recruit volunteer soldiers. The cessation of obligatory military service after 2001 permitted

17710-425: The conquest of Byzantium (1203–1204), later officially called "Fanti da Mar" (sea infantry) in 1550., Venice also had dedicated naval expeditionary corps of naval infantry recruited primarily from Dalmatia from the local population called the Oltremarini (overseas troops) Later, Spanish King Carlos I assigned the naval infantry of the Compañías Viejas del Mar de Nápoles ( Naples Sea Old Companies) to

17871-415: The creation of a Canadian Arctic amphibious capability, including the adaption of one to three Canadian Army infantry battalions to provide the required landing forces. The Chilean Marine Corps is a branch of the Chilean Navy . Specialized in amphibious assaults, the corps is built around four detachments based along Chile's long coasts at Viña del Mar, Talcahuano, Punta Arenas, and Iquique. There are also

18032-404: 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

18193-459: The deployment of the remainder of the French Army in overseas operations. With France divesting itself of its colonies, on 1 December 1958 the title of Troupes d' Outre-Mer (Overseas Troops) replaced that of Troupes Coloniales . Finally, on 4 May 1961, the historic designation of "Troupes de marine" was readopted, this time for all the Troupes Coloniales . They became a major component in France's Forces d'Intervention . In July 1963

18354-402: The east coast and Namp'o and Tasa-ri on the west coast. In organization and manpower, they are reduced versions of the regular light infantry brigades with a total strength of approximately 5,000 men organized into ten battalions. Each battalion has about 400 men organized into five companies each. Some amphibious brigade personnel are trained as frogmen . The Republic of Korea Marine Corps

18515-448: 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

18676-489: 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

18837-413: The equipment of naval vessels of the fleet , illustrating their capability during the Siege of Sevastopol while aiding the heavy artillery pieces ( to constitute a siege artillery ) to disembark from the naval vessels under the orders of Admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly . Honored since 1855, with the return of their staff of 1846, the marines demonstrated their capability during the expeditions of

18998-653: The establishment of two rifle companies in 1936. While remaining a small force, the corps saw service during the civil war between Conservatives and Liberals of 1946–58 and provided volunteers for service in the Korean War . By the 1960s it had been expanded to a battalion of marine infantry plus five independent companies. Croatian Navy formed naval infantry companies during the Croatian War of Independence (1991–5), esp. on islands ( Hvar : Zvir Company, Korčula : Mixed Detachment etc.) and one in Pula (Vanga Company, saw action in relieving Siege of Dubrovnik and in Operation Maslenica ). As they were all dissolved during 2000s,

19159-406: 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

19320-439: 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 ,

19481-492: The front of the kepi . The modern full dress includes a dark blue kepi , yellow fringed epaulettes (official colour name is daffodil) and a navy blue cravat (scarf worn around the neck). A red waist sash is also sometimes worn by certain units with a history of colonial service in Africa and Indo-China. Historically, the uniform consisted of a blue kepi with red piping, double breasted navy blue tunic, lighter blue trousers, and yellow epaulettes. Worn by all ranks until 1914,

19642-715: 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

19803-401: 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

19964-424: 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

20125-501: 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 ,

20286-428: 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

20447-422: The late 19th and earlier 20th centuries. One problem of this system was the differences between the training and equipment required for colonial and European warfare. Service conditions in turn would differ between the various colonial territories in Africa and South East Asia. The two types of colonial troupes were however successfully employed in World War I and World War II , as well as the Indochina War and

20608-454: The losses endured assisting the colonies during the American Revolutionary War . An evolution in the mentality of the troops and an increasingly pronounced separation between the marines and their officers followed. A tentative close-up merger was attempted by two naval ship corps and their troops in 1786 with the companies of naval gunners assigned to ships of the Navy; however, the experiment came to little conclusion. The separate companies of

20769-476: The major components of the French Army and comprise several specialties: infantry , airborne , armoured cavalry , artillery , engineering , and transmissions (signals) . Characterized by their fundamental vocation for service beyond the seas, including in French overseas territories and, formerly, in French colonies , the Marines have taken part in all French military campaigns since the corps' foundation, both on home soil and in theaters of operations around

20930-505: The marine infantry regiments of the Algerian Navy and they are specialised in amphibious warfare . The RFM have about 7000 soldiers in their ranks. Established in 1985. The Argentine Marine Corps ( Infantería de Marina de la Armada de la República Argentina or IMARA) is a part of the Argentine Navy . Argentine marines have the same rank insignia and titles as the rest of the navy, although enlisted personnel have their own parade uniform. The Argentine Marine Corps dates from 1827 when

21091-534: The national armed forces branches. They receive special training in the United States. Even though Bolivia is landlocked, Bolivian politics have always aspired to regain its coastline from Chile , after losing access to the Pacific coast in the 1879-1880 war with Chile . Because of that, Bolivia still maintains a naval force. The Bolivian Naval Force includes about 2,000 naval infantry personnel and marines. These are organized into seven small battalions. The Corps of Naval Fusiliers ( Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais )

21252-412: The naval guns under the orders of the respective marine artillery officer in charge. In the 18th century, they constituted the Compagnies Franches de la Marine who essentially spread to Nouvelle France (in particular: these marines were recruited in Europe, with marine officers recruiting them on the spot due to an excellent knowledge of the local environment). Since then the anchor has been with

21413-420: 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

21574-460: 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;

21735-570: 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

21896-475: 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

22057-401: 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

22218-407: 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

22379-469: The rest of the Army, including: 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

22540-524: The rowers of opposing ships hand-to-hand; though hoplites began appearing on Greek ships specifically for the boarding of enemy ships. The Roman Republic was the first to understand the importance of professional soldiers dedicated to melee combat onboard of ships. During the First Punic War , Roman crews remained inferior in naval experience to the Carthaginians and could not hope to match them in naval tactics, which required great fleet maneuverability and tactical experience. The Romans therefore employed

22701-406: The sword is very rarely used. The armored, artillery and infantry regiments of the Marines wear dark blue berets with golden anchor insignia. The parachute regiments of the Marines ( 1 RPIMa , 2 RPIMa , 3 RPIMa , 8 RPIMa ) wear a red beret with anchor and wing insignia, except the 1 RPIMa , a Special Forces regiment, where soldiers wear a purple beret. The red beret was first introduced to

22862-413: The time the Troupes were transferred to the Army the unit names changed from "Marine" to "Colonial" while the Fusiliers-Marins remained part of the French Navy. The Troupes Coloniale were still used in occasional amphibious landings but this was because of the ready availability of units normally based near naval embarkation ports or in colonial garrisons. In the World War I Gallipoli campaign in

23023-414: 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

23184-619: 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

23345-508: 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

23506-425: 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

23667-404: The various French colonies outside North Africa. There they served either in blanches (all white) units, or were employed as officers and NCOs in the recruitment, training and leadership of locally recruited indigenous troops ( tirailleurs , cipayes etc.). The proportion of European to "native" colonial troops were progressively reduced as additional locally recruited units were created during

23828-481: 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

23989-402: 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

24150-512: The world. They are stationed in Metropolitan France , in many French overseas departments and territories, as well as in Africa . Historically amphibious warfare specialists, the French Marines were pioneers of professionalization since the late 1960s and are well suited for military campaigns abroad. From Gabon in 1964 to Afghanistan in 2002, and from the First Gulf War in 1990 to Mali in 2013, their units took part in more than sixty military operations over six decades. As they represent

24311-531: 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

24472-400: 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

24633-416: Was increased to three regiments in 1838 and four in 1854. The 1st Regiment was located in Cherbourg, the 2nd in Brest, the 3rd in Rochefort and the 4th in Toulon. In 1890, L'infanterie de marine was increased to eight regiments. L'artillerie de marine , created in 1793, was formed into a single regiment in 1814. A second was added on 8 July 1893. Battles fought in this era included Bomarsund (1854) in

24794-469: 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

24955-433: Was not put into effect. Currently the 35th Paratroopers Brigade is the only brigade that has amphibious abilities as part of its Depth Warfare arsenal together with parachuting and air assault. The San Marco Marine Brigade is the marine infantry unit of the Italian Navy ( Marina Militare ). It traces its roots back to 1550 with the formation of Fanti da Mar in the Republic of Venice . The Serenissima Regiment

25116-439: Was now to serve on land in the new French colonial territories, as well as defending the large naval ports and bases in France itself. The diverse colonial or exterior operations administered by the July Monarchy , essentially conducted by the Marines and their troops, led to the rehabilitation and the increase of the latter in 1846. The revolution of 1848 led to a draconian reduction in size. The Crimean War saw them, along with

25277-407: Was officially introduced as the standard uniform headdress on all Paratroopers in Indochina in 1952 by Général Jean de Lattre de Tassigny (except for the Legion ), became the norm for all airborne contingents of the French Army in 1957, with legionnaires paratroopers retaining their traditional green beret , and the 1 RPIMa which transitioned to a purple beret in 2015. The Feast of

25438-842: Was originally used for the marine-type forces of England ; however, the word marine or marina means "navy" in many European languages, including Dutch, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Danish, and Norwegian. Because of this, exact one-word translations for the English term "marines" do not exist in many other languages (with the notable exception of the Dutch word marinier ). This can lead to misunderstandings when translating. Marine forces in non-English speaking countries typically have names that translate in English to naval infantry or coastal infantry . In French-speaking countries , two phrases exist which could be translated as marine, " troupes de marine " and " fusiliers-marins "; similar phrases exist elsewhere, e.g., in Portuguese Fuzileiros Navais . The principal role of marine troops

25599-411: 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

25760-437: 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 ,

25921-413: Was the usual distinction of the Troupes de marine . The modern kepi is presented to new recruits in a solemn ceremony. It is worn by officers and non-commissioned officers when another headdress is not prescribed. The kepi is entirely dark blue – a very dark blue, often mistaken for black – with a red (privates and corporals) or gold (non-commissioned officers and officers) trimming. All kepis display

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