French is a globally significant Romance language with more than 25 countries designating it as an official language. Within France and Corsica more than 56 million people speak French as their first language. In Canada over 7.7 million people speak French, mainly in Quebec.
Other regions where French is spoken include Belgium (4.5 million), Switzerland (1.9 million), Monaco (10,000), and the United States (1.3 million), especially in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Moreover, about 228 million people in Africa use French as a first or second language, and it is used by millions of people in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia as their principal international language.