French is one of the world's most widely spoken languages. In addition to its general use in France, it is the native tongue in seven cantons, or states, of Switzerland and in the southern half of Belgium. Outside of Europe the language continues to be widely used wherever the French colonial influence was once prevalent for example, in the province of Quebec and in Haiti.    

French is also commonly heard in North and West Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. It is one of the official languages of the United Nations and is used at many international conferences as well as in numerous scientific and cultural publications. No other tongue except English is so widely studied as a second language. The wide use of French and English is out of all proportion to the number of people who speak those languages as native tongues.