French is one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world; it stands as the fifth most-popular language in the world, behind only English, Mandarin, Hindi, and Spanish. As a result, companies wishing to engage with speakers of this incredible language must invest in French localization services. Yet, how did the French language spread throughout the globe and why is it a necessary language to translate and localize for in over 29 countries?
The Origin of French Localization: The French Empire
According to the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development, the territory of the French Republic not only consists of Metropolitan France (includes Corsica) as many people believe, but also consists of five overseas regions, five overseas communities, and two special territories as well. These additions to the French Republic came to be through colonization. The French Colonial Empire rose to the global stage in the early 16th century and began colonizing the world due to economic and commercial competition with neighboring European nations such as Great Britain. The Colonial Empire would give perks such as French citizenship to those who voluntarily accepted the French language and culture in order to encourage usage.
By the time the empire reached its peak in the 20th century, it had reached five other continents additional to its own, becoming the second largest empire in the world right behind the British. After the fall of the empire, colonies had the chance to shift their status with the new colonial organization in the late 20th century, which left some to be independent of the empire, and others to still remain a part of France. However, despite colonies claiming independence, the French language and culture still carries on into what we see today, which often requires French translation and localization services.
Pidgins, Creoles, And French Localization
According to the Organization Internationale de La Francophonie that collectively accesses global data to provide updated access to the Francophone world, there are 321 million French speakers worldwide as of 2023, ranking fifth as the world’s most spoken language including both first language and second-language speakers. French is now the official language of 29 independent nations and the unofficial language of those who have major French-speaking populations as well as those who use it for administrative purposes.
What are pidgins and Creoles? Pidgins are new language varieties, or localized languages that developed between both European languages and non-European languages within trade colonies between the 16th and 19th centuries. These language varieties played the role of a lingua franca, but not as vernaculars outside of business transactions. However, a pidgin has no native speakers. Only when the pidgin reaches the second generation of speakers does it become a creole in which is learned as a first language. Of course, language localization naturally occurs, gradually changing the original language variety over time to be indistinguishable from the outside. Today, there are around 100 creole languages in total worldwide, in which approximately 25 are French based, which means the base lexifier comes from 17th or 18th century colonial French. Due to the large variety of creole languages, there are now over 15 million speakers of some form of French-based creole languages across the globe, requiring effective localization and translation services.
French Localization Helps Your Business Go Global
Thus, finding language service providers like Language Connections for your business is one of the most important factors to successfully reaching your audience on a global scale. As we have seen with French as the fifth most spoken language in the world, the sum total of language varieties that exist within this mother language extends far beyond standard French. Whether your business target is a French-speaking population in Singapore or a country that uses French as their official language like Vietnam, using professional business translation services to accommodate the specific linguistic variations of your target markets is of the utmost importance when choosing to do business abroad. Language Connections offers a multitude of services to fit your business’ need to branch out into world markets through our expert localization service providers who always meet the localization industry standards you need to succeed.
About Language Connections:
Language Connections is one of the top language service companies in the US. Over the last 30 years, we’ve focused on providing the best business translation services, interpreting services, as well as interpreter training and customized language training programs. In addition to top-tier corporate language training, we offer certified corporate interpreters and professional business translation services in 200+ languages. Our network includes linguists with backgrounds in all major industries. They’re ready to meet your needs, whether they’re for technical translation services, legal translation, government translation services, international development translation services, education translation services, life sciences translation, or something else. Reach out to us today for a free quote on our cost-efficient and timely translation services, interpreters, or other linguistic services.
Language Connections Inc.
2001 Beacon Street, Suite 105,
Boston, MA 02135
Phone: +1-617-731-3510
Email: service@languageconnections.com