Francization

Francization (in American English, Canadian English, and Oxford English) or Francisation (in other British English), also known as Frenchification, is the expansion of French language use—either through willful adoption or coercion—by more and more social groups who had not before used the language as a common means of expression in daily life. As a linguistic concept, known usually as gallicization, it is the practice of modifying foreign words, names, and phrases to make them easier to spell, pronounce, or understand in French.

According to the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the figure of 220 million Francophones (French-language speakers) is underestimated because it only counts people who can write, understand and speak French fluently, thus excluding a majority of African French-speaking people, who do not know how to write.

In 2014, a study from the French bank Natixis claimed French will become the world's most-spoken language by 2050. However, critics of the study state that French coexists with other languages in many countries and the study's estimates are prone to exaggeration.

The number of Francophones in the world has been rising substantially since the 1980s. In 1985, there were 106 million Francophones around the world. That number quickly rose to 173.2 million in 1997, 200 million in 2005, 220 million in 2010 (+10% from 2007). and reached 274 million in 2014. Forecasts expect that the number of French speakers in Africa alone will reach 400 million in 2025, 715 million (readjusted in 2010) by 2050 and reach 1 billion and 222 million in 2060 (readjusted in 2013). The worldwide French-speaking population is expected to quadruple, whereas the world population is predicted to grow by half.

Africa

Africa has 32 French-speaking countries, more than half its total (53); French was also the most widely spoken language in Africa in 2015.

However, Nigeria, the most populous country on the continent, is predominantly English speaking.

The Francophone zone of Africa is two times the size of the United States of America (including Alaska).

French was introduced in Africa by France and Belgium during the colonial period. The process of francization continued after the colonial period.

French became the most spoken language in Africa after Arabic and Swahili in 2010. The number of speakers changed very rapidly between 1992 and 2002, with the number of French learners in sub-Saharan Africa increasing by 60.37%, from 22.33 million to 34.56 million people. A similar trend in the Maghreb region is occurring. However, as figures provided by the OIF for the Maghreb region were combined with those of the Middle East, the exact count for the Maghreb countries alone is not possible. In this larger region (Maghreb and Middle East), an increase from 10.47 million to 18 million people learning French was observed between 1992 and 2002.

Consideration should be given to the number of French speakers in each country to get an idea of the importance the French language holds in African as a second language.

Many African countries without French as an official language have recently joined the OIF:
*Cape Verde (official language: Portuguese)
*Egypt (official language: Arabic)
*Ghana (official language: English)
* Guinea Bissau (official language: Portuguese)
*Mozambique (official language: Portuguese)
*São Tomé and Príncipe (official language: Portuguese)

The French language currently plays an important role in Africa, serving more and more as a common language or mother tongue (in Gabon, Ivory Coast, Congo, Cameroon and Benin in particular). The African Academy of Languages was established in 2001 to manage the linguistic heritage.

Francophone African countries counted 370 million inhabitants in 2014. This number is expected to reach between 700 and 750 million by 2050. There are already more francophones in Africa than in Europe.

Asia

Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were once part of French Indochina, part of the French Empire. French culture, in aspects of architecture, culinary and linguistics, has been integrated into the local ones, although the latter remained highly distinct. French used to be the official language and was considerably popular and influential in these colonies, but after they were decolonised and gained independence, the new governments generally removed its influence, by implementing the native language as the only official language in the newly independent states. Currently, the presence of the French language in these countries is more minor than before.

Europe

England

England, and therefore the English language, was deeply francized during the Middle Ages. This was a result of the conquest of England by William the Conqueror from Normandy in 1066, a king who spoke exclusively French and imposed the French language in England. Old English became the language of the poor population and French the language of the court and wealthy population. It is said that during this period, people in England spoke more French than those in France. Today, it is estimated that 50% to 60% of the English language comes from French or Latin.

Cookery gives a good example of this tendency: the names of many farm animals have Anglo-Saxon roots. However, the names of their meat (once exclusive to the wealthy) have Old French origins:

*Pig (Anglo-Saxon) – Pork">Pig">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...