French Language In The United States
The French language is spoken as a minority language in the United States. According to year 2000 census figures, 1.6 million Americans over the age of five speak the language at home, making French the fourth most-spoken language in the nation behind English, Spanish, and Chinese (when both the Cantonese and Mandarin dialects are combined). Three major varieties of French developed in the United States: Louisiana French, spoken in Louisiana; New England French (a local variant of Canadian French spoken in New England); and the nearly extinct Missouri French, historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois. More recently, French has also been carried to various parts of the nation via immigration from Francophone regions. Today, French is the second most-spoken language in four states: Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Read more about French Language In The United States: French Ancestry, Dialects and Varieties, Newer Francophone Immigrants, Francophone Tourists and Retirees, Language Study, Francophone Communities, Counties and Parishes With The Highest Proportion of French-speakers, Seasonal Migrations, French Newspapers in The United States, French Radio Stations in The United States, French Schools in The United States
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“Madam, I may be President of the United States, but my private life is nobody’s damn business.”
—Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886)
“Such is the nature and make-up of the French that they are only good at the start. Then they are worse than devils, but, given time, they’re less than women.”
—François Rabelais (1494–1553)
“My God! The English language is a form of communication! Conversation isn’t just crossfire where you shoot and get shot at! Where you’ve got to duck for your life and aim to kill! Words aren’t only bombs and bullets—no, they’re little gifts, containing meanings!”
—Philip Roth (b. 1933)
“The United States is just now the oldest country in the world, there always is an oldest country and she is it, it is she who is the mother of the twentieth century civilization. She began to feel herself as it just after the Civil War. And so it is a country the right age to have been born in and the wrong age to live in.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“The mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation.”
—William McKinley (1843–1901)