SYLVIANE NUCCIO

36 Fun Facts About France

August 2, 2013 Facts About France

36 Fun Facts About France-Here we are guys, I’ve reach my 100th post on my travel blog today!

I had already celebrated my 100th post, 0n my writing blog, and a couple of weeks later on my personal development blog, and today it’s this baby’s turn.

I know I could have looked through the blog and gather my 10 most popular post or something like that, but I’m keeping this for the end of the year.  On this 100th post I wanted to just do something fun, and thought about gathering 36 fun facts about France.

It’s always fun to me to do research and gather facts about France, and put them together.

Now, I’m not sure if they are really ALL fun, but here they are, divided in 4 sections.

Fun Fact about French Language

1)  French used to be the official language of England between the 11th and 14th century.  Today French is still the official language of 30 countries, and the United Nations. Did you know this?

2) French is the language has 21 verb tenses.  There are 12 in English if you’re stretching it.  Yes, we learn them all in French class, even though 3 or 4 of them are basically never used anymore.

3)  Some 75 million people speak French as a first language. Yep, I’m one of them.

4)  American Actress Jodie Foster speaks fluent French with no American accent. I was shocked when I saw that! She is 100% bilingual. Did you know that?

5)  French is the second most taught language as a second language after English, and it’s taught is just about every country of the world. I’m not too surprised on that one.

6)  French used to be the diplomacy language across all Europe until mid 20th Century.  This could be one of the reasons why there are quite a few French expressions and words in the English language.

Fun Facts about People

7)  The name France comes from the Franks, the first people settling in France.  They were a Germanic tribe, but French people come from one of the most diverse backgrounds such as Celts, Romans, Basques, Danish, and maybe more.

8)  The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was the first human right declaration of the world. For ALL people of the earth, regardless of race or ethnicity.

9)  8% of the population of France is made of immigrants.

10)  20% of French live in and around the Paris region.

11)  France has the highest female life expectancy of the European Union, and third highest for males.

12)  French have the lowest incident of obesity in the world. French eat well, but they are very disciplined when it comes to eating as well.

13)  France is the biggest alcohol consumer per capita in the world. Now, that’s not a surprise, but again there are no more drunks in France than anywhere else.

14)  French greet family and friends with a kiss on the cheek, even men. The numbers of kisses vary according to regions. See my friend Annie Andre’s post about that!

15)  Someone once said, “French are Italians in a bad mood.” Fun, and kind of true too, at times.

Fun Facts about Numbers

16)  France has one of the highest wealth taxes in the world. Yep that’s why some super wealthy move to Switzerland or Russia.

17)  About 100 million tourists visit France each year.  France is one of the top visited countries in the world.

18)  France has about 40,000 castles still standing.

19)  France has over 300 varieties of cheese.  Almost one new cheese per day.  I love them all!

20)  An average 2 cook books are published every day in France. Well, that makes sense.

Fun Facts Country Leadership

21)  France is a wine maker since Roman times, well over 2,000 years ago. No wonder they are experts at this.

22)  France is the world’s leader in luxury goods such as cosmetics, perfumes, brand name clothing, and gourmet food.

23)  France is the number one European country producer of nuclear electricity, and second after the United States.

24)  Charles de Gaulle Airport, in Paris is the 6th largest airport in the World and one of the busiest.

25)  he French company Bic “ball pens” was the first world mass manufacturer.  Billions of Bic pens have been sold over the world.

26)  France has the highest number of ski resorts in Europe.

27)  One of France Mountain, Le Mont Blanc, is the highest mountain in all Europe.

Fun Miscellaneous Facts

28)  France has about two more hours of day light than the US, with or without day light saving. It’s still day light at 10 PM in June and July. I missed that.

29)  The slang word “salut” is very common in France and means both hi, and bye.

30)  France has won more Nobel Prizes for Literature than any other country.

31)  France is known to be rather weak in sports except for soccer, cycling, and car racing Formula 1, where they are experts.

32)  French inventions include Braille, the parachute, the sewing machine, the submarine, and more…

33)  The last time a man was executed by the guillotine was in 1977.  There is no longer a death penalty in France since 1981.

34)  The Eiffel tower was build only as a temporary exposition item to be dismantled, but is still standing today, 124 years later. It’s the most recognizable building on the planet.

35)  The Statue of Liberty was made in France and gifted to the US.   A small reproduction of the Statue of Liberty can be seen in Paris.

36)  French presidents used to be re-elected every 7 years until 1995.  It’s now every 5 years.  French president Francois Mitterrand was president for 14 years.

So, there you have it. I hope you had as much fun reading those 36 fun facts about France as I had writing them down.  Let me know your feedback on that.

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15 thoughts on “36 Fun Facts About France”

  1. Hi Sylviane,

    Congratulations on reaching your 100th one, and I can well imagine the feeling 🙂

    Not to mention that you’ve already reached the same score on your other blogs, which is commendable indeed!

    Coming to the post, these are surely interesting fun facts, and all of them seem so new to me. Oh yes…French is the second most language taught even in our country, though kids are given an option whether they would like to choose that over our mother tougue and we have lots of kids speaking French here too 🙂

    Gosh! 40,000 castles still standing – that must be making it a place worth visiting! Wonder as to how many have you seen? Also, with two more hours of day light – you must be having more time to work in hand, or perhaps the nights must be earlier than the US then? Statue of Liberty was made in France – that’s sure news to me!

    Thanks for sharing these amazing facts with us, about which I’d no idea at all. Have a nice weekend 🙂
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    1. Hi Harleena,

      Thank you, I’m sure glad I’ve pasted the 100th post mark on all my blogs now 🙂

      Yes, I’ve heard that French is taught in India, indeed. That’s great.

      I’ve seen a dozen castles or so. And I’m talking about the big famous ones which are mostly located in central France.

      Nights fall over an hour later than in the US in France and Sun also rise over an hour earlier. It’s starts of day light at 4:00 AM in the summer. I used to love that.

      Sure, the Statue of Liberty is French. A gift from France to the US.

      I’m glad you’ve learned some new things, here 🙂 Thanks for coming.
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  2. Congrats on your 100th post Sylviane.

    Fun facts, many of them I didn’t know, but alot of them I did. Why? Did you know that I took 11 years from French from 4th grade to college? I used to speak pretty fluently, but now I’ve forgotten most of it. I can read it a little, understand a little, but most of it’s all gone. I’m sure if I went back to it, I’d pick it up again quite quickly, but there’s not much use for me to speak French anymore! 🙂 Along with learning the language, we had to learn the culture.

    As a kid I always wanted to go to France. Maybe still one day will go! 🙂

    Your post took me back a bit though. Thanks for the memories.

    Barbara
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  3. Hi Sylviane,
    I always love reading your posts, they are always so interesting. I have trouble thinking of subjects to write about on one blog, I don’t know how you do it with three. I would love longer day light. That’s what bums me out in winter. Very cool facts. Thanks for sharing. Have a great day.
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    1. Hi Lisa,

      Well, the secret is that I love to write. I write all the time, not only for me but for clients as well. for inspiration, I do a lot of reading,and other things which tips I write about on my writing blog 🙂

      I sure love those longer days too. I miss that a lot. In the summer it’s day light at 4:00 AM and I love that too. As you can tell, I’m not a night person.

      Thanks for coming and I’m glad you enjoyed this.
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  4. Hi Sylviane

    I cannot believe how quickly the weeks fly. I swear I only saw last Friday’s two days ago 🙂

    Congratulations on your 100th post. As you know I love this blog.

    They are interesting facts. Now I would challenge the alcohol consumption. I think Australians would be right up there or a per capita basis but anyway better the French own that one.

    I think it is interesting that French is still the second most taught language. I know when I was at school we had no choice but French. Now many Australian kids learn Japanese or Chinese. French is always still on offer.

    Thanks for sharing this Sylviane.

    Sue
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    1. Hi Sue,

      I know week go by fast, indeed.

      Well, the alcohol consumption per capita is what I found when I researched it. Now if you take the “per capita” out of the picture, I’m sure some larger countries have way more alcohol consumption.

      I didn’t even know that French was taught basically in all the countries of the world.

      I’m glad that you like this blog. I’m very attached to it too 🙂 Thanks for coming, Sue.
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  5. Congratulations on your 100th post here too Sylviane! That’s truly a milestone for all three of your blogs, you must be so proud. I know I would be!

    Now this was a fun post sharing different facts about France. So I know my sister took French in school but I took Spanish. I know but I knew more Hispanics then French people at that time so it just seemed logical.

    So I like the fact that they have the highest female life expectancy. That’s pretty cool.

    The Statue of Liberty was made in France? Really? So I did learn something new reading this one so thank you for entertaining me for a short time. I enjoyed that.

    ~Adrienne
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  6. Hi Adrienne,

    Well, if I was from Texas, I would have certainly have chosen Spanish over French. Makes sense, Adrienne.

    I’m always amazed how some time Americans don’t know things that I thought they did 🙂 Yes, the Statue of Liberty was design by the same guy who designed the Eiffel tower, Gustave Eiffel. Then there’s a long story around the statue of Liberty, but yes, it was designed by French and built in France and gifted to the US.

    I am happy, yes, to have reached 100th post on all my blogs now, but not entirely satisfy as I am still not happy with my traffic. But working on it 🙂
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  7. Fantastic facts of France, Interesting really. By the ways congrats from my side too on your 100th blog Sylviane !!!

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