France has more linguistic diversity than meets the eye. Though French is its official language and is spoken by the vast majority of residents, languages spoken in specific regions and immigrant enclaves bring additional vibrancy to French culture. Though learning these languages for a trip to France isn’t as practical as learning basic French, they can help you build deeper connections with many communities.
Interested in boosting your French skills? Rosetta Stone can help you get conversation-ready with modern, culturally relevant audio and visual lessons. Trust us: it’s way more fun and effective than memorizing flashcards. Learn more about languages spoken in France below or dive right into your first Rosetta Stone lesson today.
What is the official language of France?
French is the only official language in the constitution of the French Republic. 87 percent of French residents speak it as a native language!
This linguistic dominance within the nation’s borders did not happen naturally. There were deliberate efforts after the French Revolution to eradicate minority and regional languages and “promote French unity.”
During this time, public education became compulsory. Students were taught that French was more civilized than the regional languages that they spoke at home and were punished for speaking anything other than standard French.
It’s a dark period within France’s history, which is why it’s so important—even as a foreigner—to learn about the breadth of languages that still exist between its borders.
How many languages are spoken in France?
France is home to 15 living languages. They are:
- French
- Alsatian
- Breton
- Lorraine Franconian
- Occitan
- Oïl languages
- Corsican and Ligurian
- Arpitan
- Basque
- Catalan
- Erromintxela
- French Sign Language
- Luxembourgish
- Shuadit
- West Flemish
Immigration also shapes the linguistic diversity in France. Whether immigrants come from within the European Union, former French colonies, or elsewhere, they bring their own languages and cultural traditions with them. The most significant immigrant languages spoken in France include:
- Arabic
- Portuguese
- Spanish
- Italian
- German
- Turkish
- English
France also values foreign language education from an early age. After all, bilingualism and multilingualism are practical in Europe. The languages that are most commonly taught in French schools are English, Spanish, Italian and German.
Understanding the languages of France
Now let’s take a dive into the most commonly spoken languages in France. We’ll start with the most widely spoken languages first!
French
Like all Romance languages, French evolved from Vulgar Latin, which is what linguists call informal Latin dialects spoken in the Roman Empire. The Celtic languages of Northern Gaul and the Germanic languages spoken by the armies that invaded after the Roman Empire also influenced early French.
French speakers take great pride in their language. That pride is reflected in the structure of the language and how it is governed. Yes, French is a language with its own governing body called L’académie Française. Since the 17th century, they’ve tasked themselves with chronicling and upholding its many intricacies, while also highlighting occasional changes to language standards.
If this seems extreme to you, then you may be new to French! Those who have encountered its many verb tenses and formalities will recognize the innate hierarchy of the language, as well as its love for complexity.
For example, the informal tu (you) and formal vous (you) indicate familiarity and status—it’s considered rude to use the wrong one. Applying the correct use of grammatical gender is also a necessity. In French, every noun has a gender, and every word that modifies that noun has a different ending.
French is so strict that for years, spelling reform and gender neutral language have been at the center of heated debate, both in the academy and among the general public. Less than ten years ago, the grammatically correct way to refer to a woman who works as a doctor was “une femme docteur.” A gender neutral pronoun, iel, is catching on with non-binary francophones and is even listed in the online edition of Le Grand Robert, the most respected French dictionary. However, the academy has not endorsed it and many French politicians have expressed disapproval of it.
German Dialects
Germanic regional languages and dialects spoken in France include Alsatian (Elsässerditsch), West Flemish, Lorraine Franconian (Lothringisch), and Yenish (Jenisch).
Alsatian, the best-known regional German dialect in France, is spoken in the Alsace region, a territory that France and Germany fought over for centuries. The dialect is mostly mutually intelligible with Swiss German. Alsatian is also spoken by a group of about 7,000 people in the United States called the Swiss Amish.
West Flemish is a dialect of Dutch spoken in West Belgium and its neighboring regions in France and the Netherlands. UNESCO categorizes it as a vulnerable language.
Lorraine Franconian is a High German dialect that is spoken in the Lorraine region of France, another region that borders Germany.
Yenish is a German dialect spoken by the Yenish people, a formerly nomadic ethnicity that has settled in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Eastern France. The vocabulary is influenced by Romani and Yiddish.
Arabic
3.6 percent of the French population speaks Arabic as their first language. French colonization was particularly strong in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia and several other Arab countries had degrees of French influence. Today, there is a significant community of immigrants from those countries in France. For that reason, the most common Arabic dialect in France is Maghrebi Arabic.
Stemming from a long history of cross-language influence, here are a few examples of French words that were influenced by Arabic:
| French Word | Arabic Word | English Meaning |
| babouche | بلغة | slippers |
| flouze | فلوس | Money (slang) |
| hasard | زهر النرد | dice |
| jupe | جبة | skirt |
| kif-kif | كيف ـ كيف | The same (slang) |
| maboule | مهبول | Crazy (slang) |
Occitan
Occitan, also known as langue d’oc, is a Romance language primarily spoken in Southern France. Some people also refer to it as Provençal, but that’s actually a dialect of Occitan, and fascinating in its own right. In addition to the South of France, you’ll find Occitan speakers in Monaco, Italy’s Occitan Valley, and parts of Spain’s Catalonia region.
It’s only recently that Occitan was declared its own language. Because of its close ties to Catalan, it was widely considered a dialect of the language up until the 19th century.
For those interested in the details, Occitan has six dialects—Provençal, Auvergnat, Limousin, Languedocien, Gascon, and Vivaro-Alpine—and all are classified as endangered by UNESCO’s Red Book of Endangered Languages.
Use of Occitan declined in the 14th century as the French royalty took over the territory and again during the French Revolution, when the new republic saw regional languages as a threat to the unity of the French people.
Fun fact: Poetry by Medieval troubadours was often in Occitan because it was understood by educated people wherever they traveled! There is no written standard for Occitan today, and instead the language has several competing norms.
Basque
Basque, known as Euskara by its own speakers, is the last surviving Paleo-European language to originate in the Basque Country, which stretches from Northern Spain to Southwestern France. It is their primary spoken language.
Basque is a language isolate, meaning it has no surviving linguistic relatives and its relationship to other extinct pre-Indo-European languages is unclear. There are five historic Basque dialects spoken across Spain and France:
- Biscayan (Spain)
- Gipuzkoan (Spain)
- Upper Navarrese (Spain)
- Navarrese–Lapurdian (France)
- Souletin (France)
Today, the majority of Baque speakers use the standard dialect, Euskara Batua. Though the language was suppressed in Spain during the Franco regime, it experienced a renaissance in the 1960s. There are 72,000 total Basque speakers in France today!
Catalan
Basque isn’t the only language that is spoken in parts of Spain and France. Since languages that pre-date modern borders don’t often fit neatly inside them, it makes sense that the neighboring countries would share a minority language or two.
Catalan is most commonly associated with Spain’s Catalonia region, but it is the official language of Andorra and Valencia, where they call it Valencian. It is spoken in the Eastern Pyrenees region of France, Spain’s Balearic Islands, and Italy’s Alghero region.
Like more widely spoken Romance Languages, Catalan evolved from Vulgar Latin. Though Catalan has no official status in the rest of France, it is an official language of the Pyrenees-Orientales department. Some signs in the region are printed in both languages and Catalan is an elective language in schools.
Regional Oïl Languages
The Oïl languages include Standard French and its closest relatives, primarily spoken in the north of France, southern Belgium, and the Channel Islands. All of these languages share a common ancestor with the Standard French we know today and contributed loanwords as it developed. The regional langues d’oïl spoken in France include:
- Berrichon
- Bourguignon-Morvandiau
- Champenois or Campanois
- Franc-Comtois
- French
- Gallo
- Lorrain
- Norman
- Picard
- Poitevin-Saintongeais
- Walloon
- Angevin
Altogether, they are spoken by 1.25 percent of the French population. Usage of these languages steeply declined during the French Revolution’s crackdown on regional languages, but they survive in some rural areas. There are literary magazines that continue to publish work in these regional languages.
Italian dialects
There are several Italian dialects spoken in France.
Corsican, also known as Corsu, is related to Italian and primarily spoken on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica. These two languages are so closely related that some linguists consider Corsican an Italian dialect instead of its own language. It was the official language of the island before France acquired it in 1768. Today, about 24 percent of Corsica’s residents can speak it, but very few speak it as their native tongue. However, publishing new literature in the language is seen as a vital part of the language’s preservation.
Ligurian, also known as Genoese, is another relative of Italian with a presence in France. It is spoken in northern Italy, parts of France’s Mediterranean coast, and in Monaco. Though there are few Ligurian speakers today, the language has a long history of poets and had a wide range in Medieval times because Genoan traders spread it as they traveled.
The native language of Monaco is a Ligurian dialect called Monéganesque. It nearly died out in the 1920s before the government made a point to preserve it in the years that followed. Today, native Monégasque speakers are rare, but many residents of Monaco speak it as a second language.
Breton
Breton is a Celtic language spoken in the Brittany region. It is the only Celtic language that is widely spoken on the European mainland. It is also the only living Celtic language that doesn’t have official language status in the country where it’s spoken.
The language was brought to France by migrating Britons in the middle ages. As of 2018, there are 210,000 Breton speakers in France. UNESCO classifies it as “severely endangered.” However, there have been many revival efforts over the years. The most recent of these efforts include placing bilingual signs for regional events, creating a symbol called the Spilhenning for Breton speakers to identify themselves to each other, and requesting Breton language versions of popular websites.
There’s one bonus you might recognize: Songs with Breton lyrics were entered in the Eurovision contest in 1996 and 2022! With such a strong following, it was an awesome way to provide more visibility for the language.
Explore France with Rosetta Stone
France is home to a plethora of languages, all of which contribute to its diverse and fascinating cultural fabric. Whether you’re looking to uncover historical ties in your own past or better understand France’s makeup in the present, you can now confidently pinpoint what languages are spoken throughout the country!
To deepen your understanding of French history and culture, consider taking the next step: learn French with Rosetta Stone. Our goal isn’t to have you memorize phrases. Instead, our immersive, bite-sized lessons go above and beyond to prepare you for real-life conversations. Plus, our TruAccent speech recognition engine uses data from thousands of native speakers to help you perfect your pronunciation. Why wait?
Written by Luca Harsh
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