{"product_id":"0676977340","title":"The Story of French","description":"\n\u003cp\u003eA fascinating exploration of the historical and cultural development of the French language from the bestselling authors of \u003cb\u003eSixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003cbr\u003eImagine a language that is watched over by a group of forty “Immortals,” a language with rules so complex that few people ever completely master it, whose status as the world’s lingua franca has been declining for two centuries, whose use in global institutions is waning and whose speakers are so insecure they pass laws banning the use of other languages and spend millions of tax-payers’ dollars to make sure it gets used in literature, music and film. Now imagine a language that is second only to English for the number of countries where it is spoken officially, surpassing both Spanish or Arabic, a language that is the official tongue of two G-7 countries and three European nations, that is employed alongside English in most international institutions and that is the number-two choice of language students across the planet – a language with two million teachers and 100 million students worldwide, and whose number of speakers has tripled in the last fifty years. \u003cbr\u003eThis paradox is the backdrop for \u003cb\u003eThe Story of French\u003c\/b\u003e, in which bilingual Canadian authors Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow unravel the mysteries of a language that has maintained its global influence in spite of the ascendancy of English. Mixing historical analysis with journalistic observation, and drawing on their experiences living in and travelling to French-speaking countries, they explore how the French language developed over the centuries, how it came to be spoken in the Americas, Africa and Asia, and how it has maintained its global appeal.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eCategories:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eArts \u0026amp; Photography\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Criticism\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\u003cli class=\"category-tree\"\u003eCriticism\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReference\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\u003cli class=\"category-tree\"\u003eWords, Language \u0026amp; Grammar\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePolitics \u0026amp; Social Sciences\u003cul class=\"category-tree\"\u003e\u003cli class=\"category-tree\"\u003ePolitics \u0026amp; Government\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eBook details\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Barlow, Julie,Nadeau, Jean-Benoît\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e hardcover\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eEdition:\u003c\/strong\u003e First Edition\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Knopf Canada\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/strong\u003e English\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 496\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9780676977349\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Knopf Canada","offers":[{"title":"Used - Very Good","offer_id":49311296946366,"sku":"0676977340-3","price":8.97,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0640\/9689\/5166\/files\/41EF1A2XE0L._SL500.jpg?v=1792085356","url":"https:\/\/shop.sustainablebooks.com\/products\/0676977340","provider":"Sustainable Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}