The Democratic Republic of the Congo has the largest concentration of French speakers in all of Africa, and has the largest population of any country with French as the official language. This means that even France doesn’t contain as many Francophones as this former Belgian colony.
Which African country speaks the most French?
Of these countries, Gabon comes in first as the African country with the greatest percentage of French speakers (80 percent) with Mauritius taking second at 72.7 percent and Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal tying for third with 70 percent.
Which country has the most French speakers?
Unsurprisingly, France boasts the highest number of native French speakers, although its not the most populous country to have French as an official language: The Democratic Republic of Congo has a population of 77 million, compared to 62 million in France.
What country speaks French in Africa?
Like many African nations, Mali is a multilingual country. The official language is French, Bambara is the lingua franca, the national language, and the most widely spoken language. English and French are de facto official languages.
How many African countries speak French?
French remains the sole official language in 11 African countries, and the second official language in 10.
Why is French so common in Africa?
The French language was brought to the African continent through colonialism. During the 1950s and 60s, France and Belgium lost control of their African colonies, however, French is still spoken in at least 29 African countries. … There is so much to learn about this magnificent continent!
Is French declining in Africa?
French has been most visibly hurt in the last few decades in Africa. … Its decline has continued, including the recent closure of French schools, as Arabic and English become the standard. More dramatically, in Zaire, in 1997, fueled by anti-French sentiment, the French language was replaced with native languages.
Is French dying?
It’s not that French is dead or even dying on the global stage. French is still one of the official languages of the UN, Nato, the International Olympic Committee and Eurovision. But the days of its global pomp, when it was the language of international diplomacy and spoken by much of the global elite, are long gone.
Which language is spoken most in world?
English is the largest language in the world, if you count both native and non-native speakers. If you count only native speakers, Mandarin Chinese is the largest. Mandarin Chinese is the largest language in the world when counting only first language (native) speakers.
What’s easier French or Spanish?
Spanish is arguably somewhat easier for the first year or so of learning, in large part because beginners may struggle less with pronunciation than their French-studying colleagues. However, beginners in Spanish have to deal with dropped subject pronouns and four words for “you,” while French only has two.
What is the oldest African language?
Afrikaans is one of the official languages of South Africa. It belongs to the West Germanic branch of the Indo-European family. It evolved from the variety of Dutch which was spoken by Dutch settlers in South Africa.
Which is the best English speaking country in Africa?
According to the report by World Linguistic Society, Uganda has the best English speakers in Africa . According to the study carried out, the majority of Ugandans can articulate English words fluently, than any other English speaking country in Africa.
What percentage of Africa speaks French?
High birth rates. There are 300 million French speakers worldwide today, up almost 10% since 2014, and a recent survey showed that 44% of them live in sub-Saharan Africa.
What is the most spoken language in Africa?
The most spoken language in Africa is Swahili which is said to have between 100 and 150 million speakers. Known as a ‘Bantu’ language, Swahili apparently originated from other languages like Arabic.
How many countries does Africa have?
How many countries are there in Africa? 48 countries share the area of mainland Africa, plus six island nations are considered to be part of the continent. All in all, there are 54 sovereign African countries and two disputed areas, namely Somaliland and Western Sahara (see the list of African countries below).
Which African country has the second most French speakers in the world?
Instead, an African nation, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, tops the list with a total of more than 77 million people. France ranks second, with approximately 67 million people. Madagascar and Cameroon, with 24 million and 23 million people, respectively, rank fourth and fifth.