Oui, monsieur! This is the day to celebrate the French language!
Categorized as a musical language, French is often considered to be one of the most beautiful languages in the world.
As part of the family of romance languages, French is related to other languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. But anyone who has tried to read or speak it knows that it has its own special flair about it.
French Language Day offers a perfect opportunity to show appreciation and love for this language that is often as pleasing to the ear as it is to the heart.
How to Celebrate French Language Day
Try Speaking French
One of the best ways to begin celebrating French Language Day is to try speaking some French, of course.
Those who have very little experience might want to start with a few common words, and those who may have taken French in school can brush off some vocabulary and try using it again.
Or, it might be fun to consider some words in English that have French roots, such as croissant, etiquette, crochet and rendezvous.
Watch a French Film
An excellent way to get on board with French Language Day, even for folks who aren’t fluent in French, is to listen to it being spoken.
But unless a person happens to have a French friend, it might be easier to do this by engaging with a French language film. To understand what’s going on, turn on the subtitles in English but listen along in French.
Listen to French Music
Show some love and appreciation for French Language Day by listening to and enjoying some French music throughout the day.
Make a little playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, or another platform with favorite artists that sing in the French language, including some of these songs and albums:
- Careless Love by Madeleine Peyroux (2004)
- La Vie en Rose by Edith Piaf (1947)
- Joe le taxi by Vanessa Paradis (1987)
- L’amour by Karim Ouellet (2012)
French Language Day Timeline
Strasbourg Oaths Mark Earliest Old French Text
The Strasbourg Oaths, mutual pledges between Louis the German and Charles the Bald, were recorded in a Romance vernacular that scholars recognize as the oldest surviving text in Old French.
Council of Tours Encourages Use of the “Rustic Romance”
The Council of Tours ordered sermons to be preached in the “rustica romana lingua,” acknowledging that ordinary people no longer understood Latin and paving the way for French as a distinct written language.
Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts Makes French the Language of Law
King Francis I issued the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts, requiring legal acts and judicial records in France to be written in French instead of Latin, cementing French as the kingdom’s administrative language.
The Académie Française Is Founded to Standardize French
Cardinal Richelieu secures royal letters patent creating the Académie Française, tasked with fixing rules for grammar and usage and compiling an authoritative dictionary to regulate the French language.
First Edition of the Académie Française Dictionary Appears
After decades of work, the Académie Française publishes the first edition of its Dictionnaire, a major step in codifying spelling, vocabulary, and norms for standard French across the kingdom.
French Becomes Dominant Language of International Diplomacy
At the Congress of Berlin and other 19th‑century conferences, French was routinely adopted as the working language of treaties and negotiations, reinforcing its status as the principal language of diplomacy.
Niamey Convention Founds the Francophone Agency
The signing of the Niamey Convention in Niger created the Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique, precursor to the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, to promote the French language and cultural cooperation worldwide.
History of French Language Day
French Language Day was started in 2010 through an initiative of the United Nations Department of Public Information.
The purpose of the day is to raise awareness and respect for the culture, history and achievements of the six major languages of the people of the world. The other five official languages of the United Nations include Arabic, Russian, Chinese, English and Spanish.
French is a fascinating language because not only is it a working language of the UN but it is an official language in Europe, Africa and North America. It is spoken in some capacity on all of the continents of the world, and that is certainly worth celebrating!
It was decided by the UN that French Language Day would be observed on this day as it is the anniversary of the International Organization of La Francophonie. This is the organization that represents French-speaking countries and was founded on March 20, 1970.
French Language Day: A Global Voice Shaped by History
From medieval oaths and royal decrees to international diplomacy and a growing presence across continents, the French language has played a powerful role in politics, culture, and global communication.
These facts highlight key moments that shaped French into one of the world’s most influential and widely spoken languages.
A Medieval Oath Marks the Birth of Written French
One of the earliest known texts in French is the Oaths of Strasbourg from 842, a political alliance sworn by Charlemagne’s grandsons in two vernaculars so troops could understand them.
The Romance version, distinct from Latin, shows French already emerging as a separate language more than a thousand years ago.
A Royal Decree Made French the Language of Law
In 1539, King Francis I issued the Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterêts, requiring legal acts and court proceedings in his realm to be written “en langage maternel françois” instead of Latin.
This decree helped standardize French, spread it through administration and justice, and laid the foundations for its later role as a model of clear legal prose.
French Was Europe’s Default Diplomatic Language for Centuries
From the 17th century until well into the 20th century, French functioned as the primary language of international diplomacy in Europe.
Landmark treaties such as the Treaty of Rastatt (1714) and even the Treaty of Versailles (1919) were drafted in French, reflecting its prestige in courts and chancelleries long before English took over as the dominant diplomatic language.
French Has a Global Footprint Centered in Africa
French is spoken on every inhabited continent, but its demographic future is most strongly tied to Africa.
The International Organization of La Francophonie estimates hundreds of millions of French speakers worldwide, with a majority projected to live in sub‑Saharan Africa by mid‑century, as populations grow in countries where French is used in education, administration, and media alongside local languages.
An Academy Has “Policed” French Since the 1600s
The Académie française was founded in 1635 under Cardinal Richelieu with a mission to fix the rules of French, compile a dictionary, and guard the “purity” of the language.
Its members still vote on new words and official spellings, and the Academy regularly publishes opinions on anglicisms and neologisms, giving France one of the most formal language-regulation bodies in the world.
French Helped Reshape English Vocabulary After 1066
Following the Norman Conquest, centuries of French-speaking rule flooded English with new words, especially in government, law, the military, cuisine, and the arts.
Modern linguistic analyses suggest roughly 30 percent of the words in large English dictionaries are of French origin, creating pairs like “ask / question,” “help/aid,” and “kingly / royal” that mark different registers of formality.
From Quebec to Dakar, French Comes in Many Flavors
French is not monolithic: Quebec French preserves older pronunciations and vocabulary, wide varieties of African French have distinctive intonation and borrowings from local languages, and Louisiana French and Haitian Creole evolved along their own paths from colonial-era French.
Linguists treat these as a continuum of regional varieties that keep the language dynamic while remaining broadly mutually intelligible.
