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French is an Indo-European language of the Romance family whose speakers are called Francophones.
The origins of the French language date back to the introduction of Latin by the Romans to the Celtic-speaking inhabitants of Gaul.
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French is known as the language of Molière, spoken in
France. French was a popular language of the European nobility and is the language in most of France's former colonies and in the French Overseas Territories.
French is the official or co-official language in Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, both Congos, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, France, Gabon, Guinea, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania (de facto), Mauritius (de facto), Monaco, Morocco (de facto), Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland and Togo.