Is French on the decline

elodie   Sat Jan 03, 2009 7:34 pm GMT
I'm 3 years old mentally but I'm 40. I'm single and desperate to find a husband.
Ellen   Sat Jan 03, 2009 8:57 pm GMT
Husbands have no value. Let's abolish them.
suffragetta   Sat Jan 03, 2009 9:00 pm GMT
wowo Lesbian pride
Guest   Sun Jan 04, 2009 2:04 am GMT
no, I'm the one who's 3 years old mentally but I'm 40. I'm single and desperate to find a husband. I used the Elodie.
Informer   Sun Jan 04, 2009 3:27 am GMT
Le Français comme une Langue étrangère
Elle est également la langue qui progresse le plus rapidement sur l'ensemble du continent africain (comme langue officielle ou comme langue étrangère). Le français est enseigné dans de nombreuses universités partout à travers le monde et il jouit d'un rayonnement notamment dans les mondes diplomatique, journalistique, judiciaire et universitaire. Le français est la deuxième langue étrangère la plus enseignée dans les écoles de l'Union européenne (l'espagnol arrivant seulement loin derrière en 4e position). Avec l'entrée de la Roumanie et de la Bulgarie dans l'Union européenne depuis janvier 2007, le français repasse devant l'allemand en tant que langue étrangère la plus enseignée dans l'Union après l'anglais. De façon générale, le français demeure une des langues les plus enseignées dans le monde.

En raison du cas particulier d'un bloc linguistique hispanophone important en Amérique latine, seul continent où l'on retrouve de façon significative la langue espagnole (à part l'Espagne même), les États-Unis sont le seul grand pays anglophone du monde où le français n'est pas la première langue étrangère enseignée, laquelle est ici l'espagnol depuis les années 1980 ; c'était auparavant le français. Dans d'autres pays anglophones (Irlande, Canada anglophone, etc.), le français conserve le privilège d'être la première langue étrangère enseignée et loin devant les autres langues.

Les Francophones
Les projections des Nations Unies ont développé plusieurs scénarios afin d'évaluer différentes hypothèses sur l'avenir de la francophonie. Les deux plus plausibles sont la plus optimiste et la plus pessimiste. L'avenir de la langue dépendant énormément du développement de l'éducation en Afrique, le nombre de locuteurs peut donc sensiblement varier. Selon le scénario le plus pessimiste, se basant simplement sur les chiffres actuels et les changements démographiques, les francophones seraient 276 millions de personnes dans le monde. Selon le scénario le plus optimiste, les chiffres seraient totalement différents. Avec l'éducation pour tous et l'importante croissance démographique de l'Afrique, on estimerait le nombre de locuteurs francophones à plus de 680 millions. Bien sûr, cela ne se fera pas sans l'aide des pays francophones du nord. Le poids démographique des francophones dans le monde prendrait alors une toute autre mesure : 8 % de la population mondiale serait francophone en 2050 contre 2,9 % aujourd'hui. Dans la perspective d'une scolarisation des pays du sud, les Africains représenteraient plus de 80 % du nombre total des francophones, tandis que les Européens n’en représenteraient plus que 11 %. Cela démontre l'importance et le poids de l'Afrique dans la francophonie, ainsi que l'importance de l'éducation dans ce même continent.


En Anglais:

French as a Foreign Language
It is also the language that the fastest growing throughout the African continent (as the official language or foreign language). French is taught in many universities around the world and it has a particular influence in the worlds diplomatic, journalistic, legal and academic. French is the second foreign language taught in most schools in the European Union (Spanish only arriving far behind in 4th position). With the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the European Union since January 2007, the French became equal with German once more as the second most widely taught foreign language in the EU after English. In general, French is one of the most widely taught languages in the world.

Because of the particular case of a Spanish language major bloc in Latin America, the only continent where there are significantly Spanish (Spain from the same), the United States is the only major English-speaking country in the world where French is not the first foreign language, which has been Spanish since the 1980s and was previously French. In other English-speaking countries (Ireland, English-speaking Canada, etc..), The French retain the privilege of being the first foreign language taught and well ahead of other languages.


Francophones in the World
Projections of the United Nations have developed several scenarios to assess different assumptions about the future of the Francophonie. The two most plausible are the most optimistic and pessimistic. The future of the language depends greatly on the development of education in Africa, the number of speakers can vary significantly 27. According to the most pessimistic scenario, based simply on the current numbers and demographic changes, the French would be 276 million people worldwide. Under the most optimistic scenario, the figures would be totally different. With education for all and population growth in Africa, we consider the number of French speakers to more than 680 million. Of course, this will not happen without the help of French-speaking countries of the north 28. The francophone population in the world would then take any other action: 8% of the world's population is francophone in 2050 against 2.9% today. With a school of the southern countries, Africans account for more than 80% of the total number of French, while Europeans accounted for no more than 11% 29. This demonstrates the importance and weight of Africa in the Francophonie, and the importance of education in the same continent.
French

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ais
Visitor   Sun Jan 04, 2009 4:11 am GMT
<< The sharp decline of French as a second language or foreign, which began in the 1960s, appears to have been stopped. Some European countries (Finland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Bulgaria, etc..), The Near East (Egypt, Turkey, Israel, UAE, etc..) And America (Brazil, Colombia, Peru , USA, Canada) currently experiencing a sharp increase in students of French as a second language or foreign. >>

Now, the anti-french hispanics in this forum will be having a hard time explaining if French is really in decline and Spanish is taking its place. The sharp decline has come to an end. Therefore the percentage of the would be Spanish speakers as a foreign language in these countries would shrink not just because of this but competition from German, Russian, and Italian too.
Visitor   Sun Jan 04, 2009 4:26 am GMT
<< Statistics say that French is in decline as second language, but is rising as mother tongue. >>

That's true because in Sub-Saharan Africa, French has become the the first language. Something that never happened in other colonial languages.

Again education played a major part in this and also the clarity and precision of the French language.

Francophones who learned English and became fluent gave a remark that they still prefer French because the idea when spoken is understood much quicker and clearly than English. English speaking Africans who became fluent in French also have the same impression that French is less ambiguous and clearer.
alf   Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:20 am GMT
"French" African countries have the highest poverty and lowest human development in the world. Not important and nothing to brag about.
Francophobe   Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:26 am GMT
I'm learning French because I want to live in Burkina Faso.

Lol. Not.
stupidity never ends   Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:35 am GMT
What stupid guys! Shame on you! Why don't you read some more books in French or Spanish, it doesn't matter, instead of wasting time here??
Ending is Never Stupid   Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:42 am GMT
Books are stupid. Let's abolish books.
stupidity never ends   Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:45 am GMT
Books are stupid. Let's abolish books.


You are the best result of the abolishment of books
Ending is Never Stupid   Sun Jan 04, 2009 11:45 am GMT
And you are the living proof of what books can do to a person. You seem to have superiority complex as a result of reading books. So you call other people stupid. It's all the evil influence of books.
Out goes my call for justice! Abolish books! Free humanity!
Visitoro   Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:09 pm GMT
zzzZZZ que de jeu, ces exercices ne sont pas apprendre l'espagnol ... il n'est vraiment pas question de ce qui est dit dans cette enceinte, nous savons tous que le français est la deuxième langue après l'anglais et l'espagnol le plus jamais disparaître.
elodie   Sun Jan 04, 2009 3:36 pm GMT
Do you want to be my husband?