French language taught in Bulgarian as well as in Arabic, Spanish and English.


French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did languages such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Catalan and others. French is an official language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie, the community of French-speaking countries. It is spoken as a first language in France, the Canadian province of Quebec, the region of Wallonia in Belgium, western Switzerland, Monaco, certain parts of Canada and the United States, and by various communities elsewhere. As of 2015, 40% of the francophone population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the fourth most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union.

French remains one of the most important diplomatic languages. It is one of the official languages of the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, the International Olympic Committee, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Organization of American States, the Eurovision Song Contest, the European Space Agency, World Trade Organisation and the North American Free Trade Agreement. It is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Médecins sans Frontières, and Médecins du Monde. Given the demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, Forbes released an article in 2014 which claimed that French “could be the language of the future”.

French is a court language. It is one of the official languages of the main international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies such as the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Caribbean Court of Justice, the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court, the World Trade Organization Appellate Body, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the European Court of Human Rights.