French language

French is a modern European language, a member of the Romance language family, which like others in this group owes much of its structure to Latin, with some influence from the native languages of pre-Roman Gaul. In medieval times, French had evolved into two groups, a northern branch known as the "Langue d'or," and a southerly group known as the "Langue d'Oc." However, after the political influence of the southerly group was crushed by the Albigensian Crusade, the northerly variety became dominant, and is the ancestor of modern "standard' French. French is also spoken in many former French colonies in West Africa and around the wold, including the Canadian province of Québec.