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French is Fun!

Our Favourite French Quotes

"Même la nuit la plus sombre prendra fin et le soleil se lèvera."

– Victor Hugo

 Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.

"Avoir une autre langue, c'est posséder une deuxième âme."

– Charlemagne

To have another language is to possess a second soul. 

"Vouloir, c’est pouvoir."

– French Proverb

To want is to be able to.

 

Fun French Facts!

How many of these did you already know?

01

There are over 310 million French speakers in the world!

This includes people from across Europe and France, Congo, Algeria, Morocco, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Canada and Haiti. French is also unsurprisingly an official language in over 29 different countries.

02

French is one of the official languages of the Olympics.

In 1894, the modern Olympic Games was voted upon in Paris, designating Athens and Paris as the first two hosts in 1896 and 1900.  The two official languages of the Olympics became English and French. Sorry, Greece!

03

Ballet uses French terms.

If you love ballet, you probably already knew this! King Louis XIV brought ballet to his court at Versailles, and since then ballet terms and positions were taught in French:

  • sauté – to jump

  • tendu – to stretch

  • assemblé – to assemble

  • chaseé – to slide

  • coupé – to cut

  • croisé – crossed to the audience (front)

  • de coté – to the side

  • demi-detourné – half turn (towards the back foot)

  • pirouette – turn

04

French doesn’t have any words starting with “W”!

This may seem strange to English speakers, but French words generally do not begin with a “w”. Words like “weekend”, “Wifi”, and “WC” have all entered the French lexicon from English.

05

French wasn’t the original language spoken in France!

French is part of the Romance language family, which is derived from Latin. During the Iron Age, France was part of the region of Gaul, where people spoke Latin. Most locals didn’t speak French until after the French Revolution! Different regions spoke their own dialects, resulting in confusion and lack of communication. To address this problem, the government made French the common language.

06

Liberté, égalitié, fraternité

‘Liberty, equality and fraternity’ (or brotherhood) is the national motto of France. It first appeared around the time of the French Revolution and today you’ll see it on coins, postage stamps and government logos often alongside ‘Marianne’ who symbolises the ‘triumph of the Republic’.

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