“…an excellent book … stuffed with surprises, insight and humor.”
The Independent

“…a well-told, highly accessible history of the French language that leads to a spirited discussion of the prospects for French in an increasingly English-dominated world.”
The New York Times

When I was three, I was fluent in French. Then my francophone Belgian granny died and my mother stopped speaking French at home. At 11, I had to start again with avoir and être like my schoolmates. All the same, French has never sounded like a foreign language. I adore the melody of its vowels, even if I cannot convincingly replicate them. My active French is functional. Passively, I am a francophone. Read more »

During the 2004 presidential primaries, Senator John Kerry, a fluent French speaker, dropped a remark to an inquiring journalist for French television. Life on the campaign trail, he said, was “affreux” — that is, “awful” or “dreadful.” Not “terrible,” the obvious word, but “affreux,” a more subtle choice. Read more »

Who knew that at the time of the French Revolution, the vast majority (about 75 per cent) of the population of France did not speak fluent French? Read more »