Why does france talk french?

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Cabal

Because it was the language of the kings. French was spoken in their lands, the Ile de France which is the region where Paris is situated. French became the official administration language around the 14th or 15th century (or maybe earlier, too lazy to check it up) when it replaced latin. There were plenty of other languages in France at that time but clerks had to learn French and noblemen learned it too because it was the language of the king.
When the revolution arrived five official languages were recognised, French among them. But by the 19th century with the advent of universal education it was decided to make French the official (and only) language of France. The teachers sent to the back country had to teach the little tots to read and write and to learn French, and to learn to have nothing but disdain for their parents language. Speaking the local language in school was harshly punished. In two generations most of the local languages were wiped out. Even modern Breton - of which the Breton people are so proud - is only a reconstituted language taking words and grammar from five different local Breton languages.
You still have some local languages surviving in the countryside, Picard, Alsatian... and you can now take courses in the officially recognised local languages like Provencal or Breton, but noone speaks them as first language anymore. We are all French speakers.

angelguy_paris

Did you know that 60% of English words are in reality French words?

Vladimir ILL

There was french long before France was achieved such as it is today -

Basically the southern half was colonized by romans and this gave the Langue d'Oc -

The language of the northern half was a mixture of latin, gaellic, norman ( viking ) frankish and alemanish - it was called the Langue d'oil
( oil which turned to the modern "oui" ) -

If the best french is spoken in the middle of France, along the Loire - Anjou, Poitou and Tourangeau country is not pure random -
This line was the front line on which Langue d'oc and Langue d'oil did their junction and combined mutually - hence the common french which was adopted in the very small France of that time -

You must know that until 1900 and without school for everybody the high french was spoken in Paris, and the highest bourgeoisie of big cities - otherwise there were everywhere " parlers " which nobody could understand except the natives - in 1800 in Marseille, only about 50 persons could understand the parisian french - in Marseille people spoke a peculiar kind of provenÃ§al - which was one of the under-species of Langue d'oc - and this comparable everywhere, in Normandie, Picardie, Auvergne, Limousin etc etc

Rillifane

Modern day French is derived mainly from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire which governed the area of what is now France after its conquest by Julius Caesar in the 1st century BCE through the 4th century CE. Prior to the Romans, the people had spoken a Celtic language. Latin subsequently became the language of the educated, the powerful, and eventually the Church.

Although France was incorporated into the Empire of the Franks, a Germanic people, after the collapse of the Roman empire of the West it was the Frankish language that was absorbed into Latin dialect that became the common speech in France.

kl55000

Why do Japanese speak Japanese ?
Why do German speak German ?
Why do English speak English ?

It is just the way is it.

david464014

Simple answer -

1 Every community develops its own language.

2 The larger and more powerful it is, the more territories get sucked in.

3 French is what they spoke in those parts at the time.

4 France became a major World power a thousand years ago, so their language was planted everywhere.

5 49 countries, today, speak French as a native language.

dhbemis

You may have to do some more research on this, but I think 200-300 years ago or so, there were lots and lots of regional dialects around France. There was an effort made by government leaders (maybe Napolean Bonaparte?) some time in the past to make parisian "standard" french the national french dialect. Two of the old world french dialects that remain today are Basque and Breton. I have over-simplified this and may even have some details wrong, but it's pretty close. My answer doesn't explain how the french language got to france in the first place... others have answered that already.

Roppongi_Hills

parce qu'on est des gros cons.

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