Languages of France

Languages of France
Regional languages and their dialects in Metropolitan France
Official languages	French
Regional languages	Alsatian; Catalan; Corsican; Breton; Gallo; Occitan; some languages of New Caledonia; Occitan; some Walloon; Basque; (West Flemish dialect); Franco-Provençal; Lorraine Franconian; French Guiana Creole; Guadeloupean Creole; Martiniquan Creole; Oïl languages; Réunion Creole; some twenty languages of New Caledonia, Yeniche, the Maroon creoles and Amerindian languages of French Guiana
Main immigrant languages	Berber, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Turkish, German, Chinese, Vietnamese, Dutch, Tamil, English
Main foreign languages	English (39%) Spanish (13%) German (8%) Italian (5%)
Sign languages	French Sign Language
Common keyboard layouts	AZERTY, QWERTY, QWERTZ

The languages of France include the French language and some regional languages. The French language is the only official language of France according to the second article of the French Constitution, and is by far the most widely spoken.

Several regional languages are also spoken to varying degrees as a secondary language after French, such as German dialects (Alsatian 1.44%), Celtic languages (Breton 0.61%) and other Gallo-Romance languages (Langues d'Oïl 1.25%, Occitan 1.33%). Some of these languages have also been spoken in neighbouring countries, such as Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy or Spain.

The official language of the French Republic is French (art. 2 of the French Constitution) and the French government is, by law, compelled to communicate primarily in French. The government, furthermore, mandates that commercial advertising be available in French (though it can also use other languages); see Toubon Law. The French government, however, does not mandate the use of French by private individuals or corporations or in any other media.

A revision of the French constitution creating official recognition of regional languages was implemented by the Parliament in Congress at Versailles in July 2008.

The 1999 Report written for the government by Bernard Cerquiglini identified 75 languages that would qualify for recognition under the government's proposed ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. 24 of those languages are indigenous to the European territory of the state while all the others are from overseas areas of the French Republic (in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and South America).