French enjoys a special status in the world of languages. It is spoken as an official language in 41 countries. Most of these countries form the Francophonie. It is also the official language in several international organizations like the European Union, World Trade Organization, International Olympic Committee, NATO, FINA, FIA, UCI, FIFA, United Nations, International Court of Justice, IHO, International Political Science Association etc. In the 18th and 19th centuries, French was at its epitome. With the passage of time, English became the leading language for communication at the international level. French is one of the few languages that is spoken in five continents.
In France, several other languages are spoken. Regional languages that are spoken in metropolitan France are high German varieties (Alsatian and Lorraine German), Occitan (Gascon, Provencal), Oil dialects (Picard, Poitevin-Saintongeais), Breton, Basque, Catalan, Corsican and Franco-Provencal.
Some languages that are spoken in the overseas departments and territories are Creole languages, Amerindian languages, Polynesian languages, New Caledonian languages and Comorian.
The immigrants to France speak a range of languages such as Portuguese, Maghreb Arabic, Turkish, Chinese, Vietnamese, languages of Sub-Saharan Africa etc.
An interesting fact to note is that, many French people can speak at least one foreign language. English, Spanish, German and Italian are few languages that are spoken. Most of the families that reside near the borders are bilingual.
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