Friday, April 22, 2011

Practice or Learn French Outside of France

While France is the number four destination for U.S. students studying abroad, France is not the only place to practice or learn the French language. According to Fast Learn Language, there are 136 million French native speakers worldwide. French is the official language of countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean.
In Europe, French is the official language in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Monaco. In Africa, French is the official language in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Cameroon, Mali and Rwanda (to name a few). French is also the official language of Lebanon, Haiti and Quebec, Canada.
This goes to show that French is a ubiquitous language. Even if you haven’t taken French throughout your schooling, it is possible to learn French abroad! GoAbroad has a compilation of places to learn French consisting of 182 organizations, which offer 386 language school programs.
So if you are looking to practice your French language skills (or pick some up), think outside the box! As much as I love France, studying abroad in these other places sounds just as enriching and exciting!

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