英文从法文借的字相当多，法文单字大量倾入英文开始于1066年诺曼人征服。诺曼征服之后二百年，法文诺曼语方言的分支，也就是盎格鲁诺曼语，是英国宫廷的官方和文学用语。当文学用的英语因乔叟（Chaucer）的作品而成功地再度出现时，英文已经和法文借字严重地混合了。早期的这些法国借字，其特色在于将这些字完全改为英文发音，因而常常辨认不出来。
When go to France，it is very important to learn its language.French culture is profoundly allied with the French language. The artful use of the mother tongue，and its defense against perceived decline or corruptioncorruption n.腐败，贪污，堕落 by foreign terms，is a major preoccupation for some persons and entities.
The Académie francaise sets an official standard of language purity；however，this standard，which is not mandatory，is even occasionally ignored by the government itself： for instance，the leftwing government of Lionel Jospin pushed for the feminization of the names of some functions (madame la ministre) while the Académie pushed for some more traditional madame le ministre.
Some action has been taken by the government in order to promote French culture and the French language. For instance，there exists a system of subsidies and preferential loans for supporting French cinema. The Toubon law，from the name of the conservative culture minister who promoted it，makes it mandatory to use French in advertisements directed to the general public. Note that contrary to some misconception sometimes found in the Anglophone media，the French government neither regulates the language used by private parties in noncommercial settings，neither makes it compulsorycompulsory adj.必须做的，必修的，被强迫的，被强制的，义务的 that Francebased WWW sites should be in French.
France counts many regional languages，some of them being very unrelated to standard French such as Breton and Alsatian. Most of them are from the same language group (IndoEuropean languages)，and some regional languages are Romance，like French，such as Provencal. Many of them have some enthusiastic proponents among the people；however，the real importance of local languages remains subject to debate. There is also a language completely unrelated to French，Basque. In April 2001，the Minister of Education，Jack Lang，admitted formally that for more than two centuries，the political powers of the French government had repressed regional languages，and announced that bilingual education would，for the first time，be recognized，and bilingualbilingual adj.能说两种语言的 teachers recruited in French public schools. The real importance of local languages remains subject to debate.
Transport of France
法国的交通
法国素有“空中中转站”之美称。世界上仅与巴黎有空中往来的声调已达480多个，80多个国家的170多个航空公司与巴黎机场有直接业务往来，法国也被公认为拥有欧陆规划最完善的铁路系统，虽然起步较英国晚，但后续发展突飞猛进，无论就乘客享受的舒适程度或行车速度，法国铁路业的表现实在令人咋舌，TGV的研发成功更是傲视全欧。此外，巴黎的地铁及公交网络亦十分稠密。
航班
巴黎有两个国际机场：戴高乐机场(RoissyCharles de Gaulle)和奥利机场(Orly)。从巴黎市中心前往机场可以乘坐机场班车、出租车或奥利地铁(Orlyval)，国有企业法国航空公司(Air France)的航线涵盖了绝大部分距巴黎一小时左右的大城市，以及一些外省之间的城市。
铁路
实惠、快捷并舒适，火车是在法国出行的首选交通方式。法国的铁路网极其发达(尤其是从巴黎出发)，它依靠高速火车(TGV)或TER(地区快速列车)连接了所有城市的交通。
火车票价的差异取决于座位的舒适度(火车上有两个舱位)和出行的时间(是否高峰时间)。有很多有利于国外旅客的特价预订方式(Europass，Eurodomino，InterRail)，这些特价只能出发前在您自己的国家获取；每小时300公里的时速，TGV高速火车是法国一项引以为自豪的尖端技术，既准点又舒适，高速列车极大地缩短了各大城市之间的距离，并创造了时间上的记录：1小时从巴黎到里尔(Lille)，巴黎到马赛(Marseille)或巴黎到波尔多(Bordeaux)只需3个小时，2个小时从巴黎至雷恩(Rennes)，车票必须预订，但上车前临时购买车票也可以。
公路
法国的公路网非常发达，总长将近一百万公里，其中近8000公里为高速公路。高速路一般来说是要收费的，在高峰时间(一般为周一至周五的早上7点30至9点和晚上17点30至19点30)，注意在大城市的出入口和市中心交通常常异常拥堵，在假期开始的日子里，在一些“敏感”的地方交通十分拥挤。
水运
法国的内河航道8568公里，1993年内河货运量60亿吨公里。法国的75%的进口物资和20%的出口物资是通过海运，主要港口有马赛港和勒阿弗尔港。
France naturally has a system of large，navigable rivers，such as the Loire，Seine，and Rhone that criss cross the country and have long been essential for trade and travel.
The first important human improvements were the Roman roads linking major settlements and providing quick passage for marching armies. These routes these roads followed are copied today by many modern highways and railways.
Throughout the middle ages improvements were sparse and mediocremediocre adj.普普通通的 and transportation became slow and cumbersome. The early modern period saw great improvements. There was a proliferation of canals connecting rivers (like the Canal du Midi）. It also saw great changes in oceanic shipping. Rather than expensive galleys，wind powered ships that were far faster and had far more cargo space became popular on the coastal trade. Transatlantictransatlantic adj.大西洋彼岸的 shipping with the New World turned cities such as Nantes and Bordeaux into major ports of international importance.
Railways
Even in France，where，because of water transport，railways were of lesser importance than in other nations，railways were still an extremely important area of economic development. Despite already having a well developed water transport system，by 1875 railways were carrying four times as much cargocargo n.船货，(车、船、飞机等运输的)货物 as canals and rivers combined.
French railways started later，and developed more slowly than those in other nations. While the first railway built in France was in operation in 1832，not long after the first line had opened in Britain，French progress failed to keep pace over the next decade.