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French is a Romance
language spoken around the world by around 90 million people as
first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about
another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with
significant speakers in 54 countries. Most native speakers of the
language live in France, where the language originated. The rest
live essentially in Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Francophone
Africa, Luxembourg, and Monaco. Most second language speakers of
French live in Francophone Africa, arguably exceeding the number of
native speakers. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is however
the Francophone country with the largest population. |
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