French is a Romance language which 175 million people speak worldwide. Although originating in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland, today it is spoken in countries all over the world including Algeria, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Haiti, Lebanon, Madagascar, Martinique, Monaco, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia, Vietnam and officially in a total of 29 countries. It is regarded as one of the most beautiful and romantic languages in the world and as a foreign language is the second most frequently taught language in the world after English.
Like the Spanish, the Italian language is again described as a language of romance and is spoken by over 60 million people mainly in Italy, Sicily and the Vatican city . However, in Switzerland, Italian is classed as a official language with it being in the top four main languages.
We often think of Italian as a old language and that is because it is. It is the only 'romance' language that keeps its contrast between long and short consonants. Contrasting between long and short consonants was a characteristic in the language of Latin and that association is why we consider Italian as being an old language. Though Italian is similar to Spanish it is closer iin many ways to French - it is affectionately sometimes called il parlar gentile (the gentle language) by its speakers.
