Well, the number would have been far lower than that (lower than 50% most likely) prior to the standardization of Parisian French and the institution of a national education system in the second half of the 19th Century. But feel free to blame that subtly on Muslims too if you like.
Switzerland has not 66%... this seems to be the percentage for German-speaking ones (I'm a French-speaking Swiss and I can tell you we represent less than 1/4 of the total population).
According to Wikipedia, there are 22% French-speaking Swiss people.
Just follow the source. It says: "No distinctions are made between native speakers of French and those who learnt it as a foreign language, between different levels of mastery or how often the language is used in daily life."
Many people learn both French and German, And sometimes Romansh or Italian, just for ease of life for someone who has a different first language. For quizzes like these it's complicated because Switzerland has 4 main languages.
Missed Luxembourg despite it being obvious. Missed Morocco and Equatorial Guinea - I was under impression the only widespread European language there was Spanish. Having read more I now see I was very wrong in the case of Morocco.
I've heard that the Swiss are very multilingual. German, French, Italian, and Romansch are all official languages, so they probably learn more than one in school.
So are most Europeans. When you are surrounded by countries that speak a language other than your own, you tend to learn those languages in school. (This holds true for "territories" of European countries as well).
France still has an excellent image in Lebanon, especially within the Maronites. They saw France as their protector during the nineteenth century and then France created Lebanon to be their homeland.
I knew Lebanon because there are quite a few French-speaking Lebanese here in Montréal. In fact, I've often heard that there's more Lebanese people living outside of Lebanon than in their actual country.
Have you even looked at the source given at the top (I suspect not). And the quiz is not about first language speakers, so the stat about Switzerland is likely to be correct (the Swiss being famed multi-linguists).
Just about all Europeans and a surprising number of Africans and Latin Americans are multi-lingual. We seem to be one of the few "civilized" countries which tenaciously clings to our mono-lingualism as if it were a badge of honor.
I wouldn't say that all Europeans are multilingual. Most Europeans still only speak their language and maybe English fluently. Many older generations in most European countries don't speak English at all. Also, most people who come from non-English countries need English (the world language) to co-exist with other cultures in this world.
You are absolutely right. Also I do not believe that the percentage of french speakers in some of these countries like Equatorial Guinea for example are more than in a country like Guinea (formerly known as French Guinea)
Or you could just believe that despite Colonial Times, sometimes places that aren't France stop being like France? Maybe?
And sometimes stuff is weird in Geopolitical history and the complicated network of foreign influence across time and different nation, setting aside that it's with something as tangible as language?
Actually, French seems to be on the way out in Lebanon, replaced by English. Virtually all signs, billboards etc. are in English. Only the old street-naming signs from colonial days seem to be in French. And in cafes etc., when you're clearly not a local, you'll be addressed in English, not French.
The source says 6% for Rwanda, so not even close to being included. English has been replacing French as the main international language in Rwanda since the war and genocide in the 1990s.
Very surprising not to find Rwanda, Burundi, Mali or Burkina Faso here... In those countries the education starting from high school is often only in French, so even if it's only a minority I was expecting an highest turnout. Same for Madagascar
Same here. I travelled quite extensively in Africa and there's no way Equatorial Guinea or CAR are up there while Burkina Faso isn't... But hey those are figures from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. I guess they didn't do they job properly.
As a casual observer you likely have sampling bias. The people you are most likely to encounter are going to have better language skills than average. Only about 15% of Rwandans attend high school. Also, Rwanda is switching to English, so it will probably never make this list.
I'll take a look next time we update. I imagine that more African countries will be added to the list over time as formal schooling increases. Although there's also a chance that schools would choose to teach in English instead, which is the no-brainer move in terms of making your economy more competitive.
They still use the French (Latin) alphabet though. I've always found it weird that they chose to adopt that, given that they have a history of rejecting foreign influence (France, the US, China).
Neither were a lot of the answers in this quiz but Ghana is surrounded by French speaking nations and contains a lot of immigrants from those countries so while it isn't enough to make the list it would still be a perfectly reasonable guess.
The Vatican doesn't seem to like to keep records of anything, but I'm willing to bet 1/4 of their population can speak French. 100% of the population is at least bilingual. Easily the most polyglot nation on Earth.
Was really surprised Burkina Faso isn't on there! But after looking it up: despite it being the official language of business only 15% of the population speak French.
Fun, the President of the "victims" still says it was better when the French were there, because at least they had infrastructures, railways, roads and hospitals
There are many countries who suffered at the hands of colonial France. Anyway, your point is silly. Creating public infrastructure in your colonies because you want to create new trade markets does not forgive the various massacres, genocides, and lack of human rights during the Age of Imperialism. Heck, France committed atrocities as late as the 1960s whilst trying to hold onto Algeria. Putting victims in quotation marks makes it sound like you think it's OK to do awful things to thousands of human being as longs as you make the economy better.
It's official, but apparently only 15% of the people actually use it on day-to-day basis. As it is part of the education system, I think you could argue it's likely more than 25% would be able to speak/understand French?
According to Wikipedia, there are 22% French-speaking Swiss people.
And sometimes stuff is weird in Geopolitical history and the complicated network of foreign influence across time and different nation, setting aside that it's with something as tangible as language?
As a Belgian I can say that only 40/45% of the country has French as mother tongue, the other 55/60% speaks Dutch ;-)
didn't think so much in Portugal though
Thanks, QM!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRmYeVJ58Fk