France and its culture.

France is a unique country. With its romantic language, first of its kind art and architecture, and world known food, France is very far from an ordinary, run of the mill country.

The French language is a member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. It is know as the language of lovers. French is spoken as a first language by more than 70,000,000 people, mainly in France, then Belgium, Switzerland, in former French and Belgium colonies in Africa and Canada. This language ranks only second, after English as a national language, and is the official language in over 33 countries around the world. Along with English, these are the only 2 global languages. French is one of the most useful languages for jobs and for some regions, and is the only foreign language that can be useful throughout the world as well as in the United States. Of the 300 or so international job offerings in the US State Department, required or preferred French, which ranked the highest. Of the various types of professional positions for which international organizations recruited five French speaking people according to the fact sheet released by the UN Employment Information Unit Bureau of International Organization Affairs U.S. Department of State. French is the foreign language spoken by our largest trading partner, and in 2000 the United States exported more to countries having French as a national language than to countries having any other language. After serving as an international language in diplomacy and commerce as well as among educated people during the last few centuries, it still enjoys great prestige culturally and is one of the languages used officially by the United Nations.

France would not be France without its beautiful world-renowned sense of the arts, culture, and its architecture. As we all know, France has produced many world-famous painters, sculptors, and architects. Impressionism, a type of painting technique, which involves a series of dots forming a picture, was developed here. Among French Mannerist painters and sculptors include Pablo Picasso, Monet, Jean Clouet, Francois Boucher Jean Fragonard Jean Goujon and German Pilon, just to name a few. After these great works were developed, Paris which is said to be the center of education, government, communication, banking, business affaires, and most importantly tourism, became the chief art center of Europe. The culture in France has extremely affected and influenced the entire Western world. France first received cultural preeminence in Europe during the Middle Ages. The Wealth of the French Crown provided a subsidization of the art, attracting to Paris many of Europe's most talented artist and creators. After the 20th Century hit, French cinema assumed a leading world position. With thanks to the nouvelle vague (new wave) group of film directors. The French take great pride in their culture and preserve it by showing the rest of the world its fineries. The infrastructure in France is amazing. In the older cities of France it's like walking through a fantasyland. This country is well known for its great Gothic churches. Some and most were even built from the 12th to the 15th century. Particularly significant buildings are the abbey church at Saint-Denis, Sainte-Chapelle, and the cathedrals Amiens, Chartres, Paris, and in Reims. There are many Renaissance structures, which include the palace at Fontainebleau and the famous Chateaux of the Loue River Valley. Almost every building there is enormous and profligate. Many buildings today have not been changed or torn down because people wish to preserve the beauty and elegance of the cities and their long living buildings. Several 19th century buildings are the Second Empire Paris Opera of Charles Garnier and the Eiffel Tower, the symbol of Paris, of Monsieur Eiffel. Many buildings now are signs of modern art. One famous monument found in Paris is the Arc de Tromphe, which stands 164 feet tall by 147 feet wide. This was ordered to be built by Napoleon himself in 1806.

Food trends come and go but the French cuisine will always remain a classic. This statement was a logo for a fine French cuisine restaurant and is very self-explanatory. The French take much time and pleasure with their food. They care for it like no other county, as if it were a precious thing in the world. In France, food is an artwork; it's a self-expression of its chef. Here, many dishes were created and taken and usde all over the world, such as the Peach Melba, croissant, and hundreds and hundreds of other dishes. France is one of the top cheese consumers of the world and it is easier to believe when told that over 400 different types of cheeses are offered here. Along with cheese, wine originated in France also. This country is not only the birthplace of wine but also the system of Appellation d'Origine Contolee labels. There are unspeakable amounts of diverse Wines, Chardonnays, and Champagnes to choose from when in the country. Something very different from anywhere else in the world originated here, as we Americans would say, the French eat snails. Well in more appropriate terms, snails are a delicacy and would be referred to as Escargot. Long ago, French chefs wrought a culinary revolution by developing the first true French sauce, the idea of a sauce spread across the conteint and was used everywhere but of coursewas never as good as the original French sauce.