The Languages of France reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Languages of France

French is the only official language of France.

In addition, several historical regional languages are still spoken, to some extent. Some of them are sometimes called patois, but this term (roughly meaning dialect) tends to be considered as derogatory. Also, because of the history of immigration of France, several other languages are spoken by a substantial percentage of the population.

In April 2001, the Minister of Education, Jack Lang, admitted formally that for more than two centuries, the political powers of the French government had repressed regional languages, and announced that bilingual education would, for the first time, be recognized, and bilingual teachers recruited in French public schools. The real importance of local languages remains subject to debate.

The 1999 Report written for the French government by Bernard Cerquiglini identified 75 languages that would qualify for recognition under the government's proposed ratification of the European Charter for Regional and Minority languages.

Although ratification was blocked by the Constitutional Council as contradicting the Fifth Republic's constitutional provision enshrining French as the language of the Republic, the government continues to recognise regional and minority languages to a limited extent (without supporting them, protecting them or granting them official status) and the Délégation générale à la langue française has acquired the additional function of observing and studying the languages of France and has had "et aux langues de France" added to its title.

The languages of France include:

Overseas areas (see Administrative divisions of France for details) French Sign Language is also recognised as a language of France.

See also:

External links