LYCOS RETRIEVER 
French Language: English
built 201 days ago
French spelling generally reflects the language as it was spoken four or five centuries ago and is therefore a poor guide to modern pro-nunciation. Silent letters abound, especially at the ends of words (hommes is pronounced um; aiment pronounced em) but a normally silent final consonant is often sounded when it is followed by a word that begins with a vowel. In this process, known as liaison, the con-sonant becomes part of the first syllable of the following word, so that the sentence il est assis (he is seated) is pronounced e-le-ta-se. Although French pronunciation is governed by fairly consistent rules, the actual sounds of the language are quite difficult for the English speaker, and a good "French accent" is something not easily acquired.
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The provision of the Charter that has arguably had the most significant impact mandates French-language education unless a child's parents or siblings have received the majority of their own primary education in English within Canada, with minor exceptions. This measure has reversed a historical trend whereby a large number of immigrant children would attend English schools. In so doing, the Charter has greatly contributed to the "visage français" (French face) of Montreal in spite of its growing immigrant population. Other provisions of the Charter have been ruled unconstitutional over the years, including those mandating French-only commercial signs, court proceedings, and debates in the legislature. Though none of these provisions are still in effect today, some continued to be on the books for a time even after courts had ruled them unconstitutional as a result of the government's decision to invoke the so-called notwithstanding clause of the Canadian constitution to override constitutional requirements. In 1993, the Charter was rewritten to allow signage in other languages so long as French was markedly "predominant."
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French is along with English one of the two official languages of Canada at a federal level, though Provinces may choose their own provincial official tongue. Nearly a quarter of Canadians speak French as mother tongue. French native speakers are mainly located in the Eastern part of the country, epecially in Quebec, where French is the only provincial official tongue and in New Brunswick where it is co-official with English. Due to the geographical distance and close contacts with English as well as a will to ward it off, Canadian French has developed some particularities.
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French vocabulary is largely derived from latin origin and shares many words with other Romance languages. Speakers of English will recognize many familiar words. Even if you just speak another Indo-European language, you will get at least 15% discount on vocabulary acquisition in French.
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French is a romance language spoken over the world by more than 260 million people, making it the 5th most spoken language, and the 3rd most spoken of the Romance languages behind Portuguese and Spanish. It has at times been considered the "language of the world", though in recent years English has in some ways superseded this role. French is an official language in many others countries around the world.
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About 7 million Canadians are native French-speakers, of whom 6 million live in Quebec [3], and French is one of Canada's two official languages (the other being English). Various provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms deal with Canadians' right to access services in both languages, including the right to a publicly funded education in the minority language of each province, where numbers warrant in a given locality. By law, the federal government must operate and provide services in both English and French, proceedings of the Parliament of Canada must be translated into both these languages, and most products sold in Canada must have bilingual labels.
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