French is a romance language originating from Latin that has come under influence from other languages, including Arabic and German through centuries of contact. French is spoken as a first language by approximately 77 million people and by a total of 128 million if one includes second language speakers. It is the official language of France and about 20 nations as well as one of the official languages of the European Union.

There are several dialects of French including Cajun, African and Swiss, but the two most prominent are those spoken in France and in the Canadian province of Quebec. The Académie Française was created in 1634 still exists to police the language and regulated the adaptation of foreign words and phrases. The Académie Française ensures a unified official French language, but there is still some diversity in regional accents and words.

Some in France debate the preservation of the language and the influence of English, especially concerning to international business and popular culture. Toubon Law has been enacted in 1994 by the French government mandating the sole use of the French language in official government publications, public education, advertisements and legal contracts. The law does not regulate non-commercial communication or web pages from individuals or private companies.

About 12 percent of the world's francophones are Canadian and French is one of Canada's two official languages, English being the other. By law, the federal government must operate and provide services in both English and French and all Canadian products must be labeled in both languages. About 22 percent of Canadians speak French as a first language and 18 percent are bilingual.

The viaLanguage Solution

viaLanguage provides accurate, quality French to English and English to French translations quickly for reasonable rates. The following are just a few of the reasons that we are the preferred French translation source for so many companies.

• We employ experienced, native-speaking translators to ensure precise translations for your target audience.
• Translation involves more skill than just knowing how to speak source and target languages. Therefore, we carefully select our translation and localization teams for their subject matter experience, knowledge of dialects and culture of the audience.
• viaLanguage has the expertise needed to make sure your translated documents, web pages and brochures are formatted properly.