#French Language Day

[thrdnarrative]

Dancing on the beach in The Gambia

[rabbitcruiser]

French Language Day

French Language Day is on March 20 and we’re more than excited to celebrate with some French culture, language, and history as we ask…parlez vous Francais? Even if you don’t speak the language there’s a lot of aspects of French culture to learn about. This occasion is meant to respect multilingualism and cultural diversity. When most people think of French they think of France, but it’s actually Africa that has the most French speakers. There are an estimated 120 million Africans from 29 countries that speak the language alongside their indigenous languages.

History of French Language Day

The French language comes from Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. France was known as Gaul during that time and they were conquered by the Romans in the first and second century BC. At that time, they spoke Gaulish which is a Celtic language, but that was replaced by Latin from the Romans. In the fifth century, Germanic tribes invaded Gaul and they were Romanized as well. As a result of these outside influences, modern French owes its origins to Celtic, Germanic, but most of all to Latin.

Old French was spoken by the ninth century to the thirteenth and it was different from Latin. The Oaths of Strasbourg is the oldest known document that uses Old French and it had varying dialects including Francien, a dialect that was used near Paris. In the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, Middle French was used with expressions from Latin, Greek, and Italy. A group of French poets known as the Pléiade, inspired the French to strengthen their language and literature.

The seventeenth-century marked the modern period of French and in 1635, Cardinal Richelieu founded the French Academy. The purpose of this was to maintain the sanctity of the language and its literature. The language evolved over time with artistic movements like romanticism and realism, but in large, it has stayed true to this period.

In 2010, the UN’s Department of Public Information made French Language Day official to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity. The day is also used to promote the equal use of all six official languages throughout the UN which are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. March 20 is also recognized as the International Day of La Francophonie that celebrates the anniversary of the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation (ACCT) that began March 20, 1970.

French Language Day timeline

2010 Language Days

French Language Day is made official by the UN to celebrate multilingualism.

1635 French Lit

Cardinal Richelieu founded the French Academy to maintain the sanctity of the language in literature.

842 The French of Old

The Oaths of Strasbourg is the oldest known document that uses Old French.

5th Century AD Epidemics

Gaul is conquered by the Roman Empire and the language Gaulish gives way to Latin.

French Language Day FAQs

What is World Language Day?

World Languages Day is a worldwide career expo that connects over 1,000 high school and college students to businesses and professions that value global skills.

Why do we celebrate Francophonie

International Day of La Francophonie celebrates the anniversary of the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation that began March 20, 1970.

Do people in Canada speak French?

French is the mother tongue of an estimated 7.2 million Canadians, which is 20% of the population.

French Language Day Activities

Learn French

Have French cuisine

Join the discussion

French is known as one of the most romantic languages for a reason. Find out by trying it out for yourself! There are a plethora of French language learning guides online to practice with. You can make this a group activity and challenge a friend to try learning it as well and see how well you do in conversation with one another.

France is also known for its exquisite cuisine. Try your hand at cooking (and saying) some of the meals that they’re most known for. There’s soupe à l'oignon, cassoulet, chocolate soufflé, and more. If cooking isn’t your thing, you can go to an authentic French restaurant and share your experience with pictures on social media to spread the word.

The United Nations organizes dialogues all over the world as part of their UN75 initiative to hear from diverse groups about their hopes, fears, and experiences. Join the discussion by providing your own opinions, or listen to other voices to get a better grasp of global perspectives.

Five Facts About French Language Day

Recognized language

Social media ranking

Simplicity

Fast growth

Wide-spread

French was one of the first two working languages used by the United Nations.

French is the sixth most common language on the internet.

French is one of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers.

French isn't the most commonly spoken language, but it's a fast-growing language.

French is spoken on five different continents.

Why We Love French Language Day

It celebrates culture

Multilingualism is important

Know your French history

There’s no denying that the French language is a beautiful one. A long list of talented poets, writers, and artists are French and their works have lasted the test of time. By honoring the French Language Day, you also show respect to the hard-working artists that have put so much beauty out into the world.

French Language Day is a show of support for multilingualism and accepting diversity. The day reminds us to respect other communities and cultures and to act in cooperation with one another. Language can be a bridge between worlds.

Oftentimes, there are incorrect beliefs about a country, but you can never know the full story unless you investigate. France has an important history that has affected and has been affected by many other countries. We owe it to ourselves to understand these truths so that collectively we have a broader and more cultured mindset.

Source

[frenchlanguageday]

Soulignons les multiples opportunités et le dynamisme de l’espace francophone, tout en encourageant ainsi la créativité, l’innovation et l’entrepreneuriat comme leviers de création d’emplois pour la jeunesse.

En 2024, le Sommet de la Francophonie de Villers-Cotterêts aura pour thématique « Créer, innover, entreprendre en français ». Cette orientation souligne les multiples opportunités et le dynamisme de l’espace francophone, encourageant ainsi la créativité, l’innovation et l’entrepreneuriat comme leviers de création d’emplois pour la jeunesse.

Le 20 mars 2024 sera l’occasion de lancer cette thématique riche qui sera ensuite déclinée tout au long de l’année.

[joeyclaire]

[travsd]

For French Language Day: On Rabelais, Gargantua and You

It’s been a while since I’ve trotted out my Trav S.D. Theme Song, as its been a while since I’ve performed anything, what with all manner of ills befalling our nation since, oh, I’ll pluck the random year of 2016. But I’ll be reviving it soon as part of a new burst of upcoming activity and when I do you’ll note a reference in its lyrics to the great French writer François Rabelais (ca.…

[learnelle]

(8/30) What have I learned recently ? -> Learning French is not linear at allll. The first lesson I had with my tutor we were chatting so fluidly but today I really struggled to generate thoughts in French 🥲 It’s okay though, I’m still a lil sick now so the next lesson will go better 📖✨

[punctuation-completionist]

since today is punctuation day, i figured i'd talk with you about my favorite punctuation that is sadly not in unicode

(my apologies if these crop weird)

these six marks were invented by french writer hervé bazin in his essay plumons l'oiseau (or 'let's pluck the bird')

while the essay also had aim to switch the french language to a more phonetic writing system, it also gave us six new punctuation marks!

from left to right and top to bottom these are, the acclamation point, the authority mark, the conviction point, the doubt point, the irony mark, and the love point. so let's go over what these all were supposed to convey! (or at least what i expect they were supposed to)

the acclamation point was meant for praise, goodwill, and enthusiasm (ie "Well done [acclamation point]")

the authority mark was meant to be used in situations where the exclamation was serious and involved a degree of command or urgency (ie "Get in my office right now [authority mark]") i think this— along with the love point and irony mark— shows how a lot of these punctuation marks were a bit like early examples of tone tags, i'll get into it more later

the certitude point was used to show sureness in a fact. (ie "It's absolutely positively true [certitude point]") i think this might be the most useless of the bunch but whatever. i digress.

the doubt point is kind of the opposite of the certitude point, used when you aren't sure of something (ie "It should be done tomorrow [doubt point]") also it should be noted that the example used above is not the only way you'll see the doubt point, some also have it looking like this

the idea of irony marks has been widely suggested, for example the poet/art critic/song writer (i think, this guy's only wiki page is in french and i am guessing a bit on the word 'chansonnier') alcanter de brahm suggested an irony mark that resembled a backwards question mark (not to be confused with the percontation point which indicated a rhetorical question) and belgian inventor (among other things) marcellin jobard suggested a point that looked like an upwards arrow (this △ on top of this |, i can't paste it)

^ de brahm's mark

all that to say, bazin's mark was based off of the greek letter psi (Ψ) which some of you may recognize if you are familiar with the greek language or comics that shall not be named. it's used in situations of irony (ie saying "Wow, that sure was brilliant [irony mark]" if someone did something stupid)

and our last point is the love point, known for being so adorable, and indicating love or affection after a sentence (ie "Thanks a lot bud [love point]")

now we can obviously see that some of these are very similar to tone tags! the love point could be like a /pos, the irony mark is kinda like a /sarc, the authority mark could be like a /srs . i just thought it was interesting i guess. i don't have a point (heh) here exactly except that i guess people might actually need these punctuation marks ? so unicode? give me the love point or give me death

anyways so that's some fun niche history for y'all! hope you enjoyed

[virescent-v]

French Kiss

A/N: This is a combination of two requests I got: a fluffy fic of Emily telling you she has a crush on you and asking you out and a fluffy fic of Emily teaching you another language. Combining them seemed perfect!

Summary: Emily teaches you a little French ;P (Translations for the French is at the bottom!) Word count: 950 Warnings: nada, this is tooth-rotting fluff. :) Well, the only warning might be that I got the translations from Google, so if they're wrong don't yell at me lol Ps: If you haven't seen the tiktok of Paget speaking French....go do that first. 🫠😩🥵😵‍💫

You hated the fact that you never took a foreign language in middle or high school, when it was easier to learn. Now, it felt like grasping the semantics of another language was nearly impossible. 

You let out an exasperated whine, rubbing your temples. “Why does French have to have so many rules?” 

Emily chuckled, rolling her eyes at your antics. “It’s not that bad once you get the hang of them,” she said, rubbing your shoulders. “Quoi qu'il en soit, c'est une belle langue.” 

You squinted your eyes, glaring at her. While teaching you, Emily would consistently throw out random French sentences, hoping the constant exposure would help you. It only further irritated you. “Says the one who’s been fluent in French for most of her life, and who has lived in Paris.” Another eye roll. 

Emily’s smile grew. “J'aime parler une langue que vous ne pouvez pas. Tu es très mignon quand tu es irrité.” 

Another second of glaring might make your face permanently stick like that, so you decided to ignore her. “Moving on,” you said, looking intensely at the notes before you. “Possessive adjectives. Mon, ma, mes for the masculine, feminine, and plural my.” Your face scrunched up, your eyebrows furrowed a little. “Easy. M’s for the my’s.” You felt your tongue peek out in concentration. “Ton, ta, and tes for you.” 

You tapped your finger along the paper, the rhythmic cadence a tactic you hoped would help you remember everything. A loud sigh. “Why do these languages have to have gendered descriptors for everything?” 

Another giggle came from beside you. “Parce que, oie idiote, ce sont les langues romanes!” Emily exclaimed, forcing a more dramatic French accent. 

A loud pause. “Did you just call me an idiot?” 

You’ve never heard Emily laugh so candidly, loud and carefree. It made butterflies erupt in your belly, a deep blush heating up your face – not out of embarrassment, but because you made her laugh, made her nose crinkle and her eyes shine. It was one of your favorite sounds. 

You’ve had a crush on Emily for months, ever since you started working closely to her at Quantico. A shared case between your two units brought you together and you quickly became friends, bonding over similar interests and upbringings. 

You thought of the idea of having her teach you one of the many languages she knows as a way to spend more time together. It was an added bonus that you got to hear her speak another language; something about the way French rolled off her tongue was hypnotizing and…incredibly hot.  She had jumped at the idea and you became hopeful that she might have shared feelings for you. But after weeks of constant texting and a few study sessions, she’s never hinted at feeling anything other than friendship. 

“Absolument pas! Cependant, je pense que vous êtes incroyable. J'adorerais t'emmener dehors un jour.” Emily paused, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth. Hey eyes traveled across your face, taking in everything, like she was trying to profile you. “Comme rendez-vous?” 

You felt the air shift even though you couldn’t understand what she was saying to you. It was in the way that she looked at you, how her dark eyes had grown fond, intimate almost, as if she was trying to stare into your soul. You had an inkling of what she had said, rendezvous being an easy translated word.  

“Ask me in English,” you whispered. 

Emily turned more to you, grasped your hands in hers and looked you in the eye. “Would you like to go out with me? As a date?” 

Your smile was timid, growing as you watched her start to fiddle with your fingers in nerves. “Oui, Emily.” One of your hands came up and brushed hair behind her ear, watching her grin spread. “But I have a question for you first.” 

Emily’s smile turned a little more serious, a hint of nerves creeping back into her expression. You watched as she took a deep breath, steeling herself for whatever you might ask of her. “Ask away.” 

You paused, schooling your features into something you hoped was more serious, letting her sit in her nerves for a second just to mess with her. “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?” 

You watched as Emily’s brain stuttered, her mouth opening for a second before she burst into another fit of laughter, her hand coming up to cover her eyes for a second out of shocked awe. “I’m glad Lady Marmalade taught you something in French, my god.”  

You two laughed together, the tension of finally admitting your shared feelings broken. As you calmed down, Emily gazed at you, all of her feelings for you finally shining through. You felt your entire being warm to the look she was giving you, finally overjoyed in being able to relish in the attention you craved from her. 

As your gazes locked and held, you decided to break out the one other sentence you had been practicing in French. The one sentence you were wishing you would get to use on her. Your hand cupped her jaw, another timid smile gracing your lips. “Puis-je t'embrasser?” 

Emily smirked, inching her face towards you, pulling you closer by your hips, before whispering, “Oui, s'il vous plait.” 

Your lips met in a soft, tender embrace, tongues lightly gliding over one another. It was the first kiss of what you both hoped was many.  

As you broke apart, a quiet giggle traveled up your throat, making you softly shake your head in exhilarated bliss. “I love French lessons.” 

Emily waggled her eyebrows, a mischievous smirk growing. “I can’t wait to teach you more French things.” 

___________________ 

Translations: 

- “Quoi qu'il en soit, c'est une belle langue.”  - Regardless, it’s a beautiful language. - “J'aime parler une langue que vous ne pouvez pas. Tu es très mignon quand tu es irrité.” - I like speaking a language you can’t. You’re very cute when you’re irritated. - “Parce que, oie idiote, ce sont les langues romanes!” - Because, silly goose, it’s the romance languages! -”Absolument pas! Cependant, je pense que vous êtes incroyable. J'adorerais t'emmener dehors un jour.” - Absolutely not! However, I do think you’re amazing. I’d love to take you out sometime. -“Comme rendez-vous?” - As a date? -Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?” - Do you want to sleep with me tonight? -”Puis-je t'embrasser?” - Can I kiss you? -”Oui, s'il vous plait.” - Yes, please. 

[anartisticdreamer0]

despite how the day is ending, i am so thankful for how accepting and kind the community was to me in my intro post for the day and it was really nice. i’m glad we did the language day, and i hope we do it again in the future!

as for the admin situation, I HOPE THE WORKERS GET WHAT THEY ARE DUE, PAY THESE GUYS. <3

[murderousink23]

03/20/2023 is International Day of Happiness 😃🌏, World Storytelling Day 📚🌏, World Rewilding Day 🐗🌏, National Astrology Day ⭐🌏, Trees are the Key Awareness Week 🌳🌏, National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 🇺🇲, National Ravioli Day 🇺🇲, French Language Day 🇺🇳, Spring Equinox 🌱🌏

[valiantcoffeelove]

Saturday 16th | 1/100 days of productivity

meet my friend at the art exhibition at 2pm

french flashcard revision [15m]

french lesson [30m]

flashcard making [5m]

japanese comprehension training [15m]

dutch placement test on new study app [15m]

daily journaling [10m]

begin rewriting borrowed art history notes [?]

art history flashcard revision [10m]

Thank you for everyone who welcomed me into the studyblr community! I hope to stay here for a while 🤍

-Siloh

[frenchlanguageday]

Créer, innover, entreprendre en français.

En 2024, l'OIF souhaite inscrire les célébrations de la Journée internationale de la Francophonie sous le thème « Créer, innover, entreprendre en français ».

[justplaggin]

finally stepped foot on the sacred grounds of miraculous ladybug

[issialou]

Les quelques headcanon que j'ai à propos de q!Aypierre.

1. Ce n'est pas ma propre headcanons à proprement parler mais le chat/communauté d'Aypierre, sont en fait des espèces de IA. Certaines sont spécialisée dans la création de musique, le photoshop, la programmation, le build, la programmatipn... Aussi elles aiment bien espionner ce qui se passe sur l'île lorsque q!Aypierre est en train de "dormir" pour ensuite gossip avec lui. C'est comme ça qu'il sait certaines choses qui sont arriver lors qu'il était absent. Q!Aypierre peut communiquer avec ses IAs avec ou sans ses lunettes.

2. Q!Aypierre a une forme très légère de prosopagnosie à cause de la première opération/Mind transfert de la Fédération. Ca qui explique pourquoi Q!Pierre a des difficultés de reconnaître les habitants de l'île et même lui-même sur les tableaux au musée.

3. Q!Aypierre est bi ou pansexuel (c'est surtout parce que je suis moi même bisexuelle et que j'aime lorsqu'il y a de la représentation bi et pan).

4. En fait, lorsque q!Aypierre va dormir c'est souvent un des moments où Ayrobot prend le contrôle du corps et peut en profiter pour grinder des ressources, créer des machines ou build des salles.

5. Q!Aypierre est l'un des rares mortels dont q!Etoiles est devenu ami avec. Q!Aypierre semble aussi être un espèce de magnets à cubitos humoïdes et plus ou moins mortels et il semble former plus facilements des amitiés plus profondes qu'avec des humains mortels (l'exemptipn notable étant Maximus).

[slippinmickeys]

https://www.tumblr.com/slippinmickeys/739056460497141760 wait you met blue? 🥺🥺

I did! She came over, begged at my table, I talked to her, pet her on the head, David called her back over, and I sat and silently screamed for ten minutes until CC came and joined them and I silently screamed even louder. I remember discussion boards back in the day reposting my story and questioning it’s authenticity and it was the most Twitter thing to happen before there was Twitter. I texted @admiralty-xfd during the whole thing, and my mom called in the middle of it and I couldn’t say a word and she was very uok? I explained later and she was like “oh, neat” without much conviction. 🙃

[minhosimthings]

Minho: *staring at Jisung*

Minho: tu es plus jolie que les étoiles ce soir. J'aime de toute mon âme

Jisung: what

Jisung: what does than mean?

Minho: figure it out, you're smart aren't you?

Jisung: It was an insult wasn't it?

Minho: tf no

Minho: there's no way in hell I would complement you in a language you understand. *Walks away*

Felix, leaning towards Jisung: he's gay for you dude.