The Alliance française is a non-profit organisation whose mission is to promote French (français, langue française) is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered in speakers only by Spanish and Portuguese. In 1999 French was the 11th most spoken language in the world being spoken by about 77 million people (called Francophones) as a mother tongue, and... French language and The culture of France is diverse, reflecting regional differences as well as the influence of recent immigration. Contents // Work Religion Traditionally a predominantly Roman Catholic country, with anticlerical leanings, France is since the 1970s a very secular country. However, public holidays are still largely traditional Catholic holidays; and knowledge of... culture outside The French Republic or France ( French: République française or France) is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. France is a democracy organised as a... France. Its primary concern is teaching French as a second language. It is headquartered in The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. Paris is the capital city of France, as well as the capital of the Île-de-France région, whose territory encompasses Paris and its suburbs. The city of Paris proper is also a dé... Paris.

The Alliance was created on July 21 is the 202nd day (203rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 163 days remaining. Events 1200-1899 1298 - Battle of Falkirk (1298): Englands Edward Longshank defeats William Wallaces Scottish rebels 1568 - Battle of Jemmingen: Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva... July 21, Events January January 16 - The United States Civil service, is passed January 19 - The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires begins service (Roselle, New Jersey) It was built by Thomas Edison. February February 16 - Ladies Home Journal is published for the first time. February 23 - Alabama becomes the first... 1883 by a group of eminent Frenchmen, including Paul Cambon, Ferdinand de Lesseps Ferdinand de Lesseps (November 19, 1805–December 7, 1894) was a French diplomatist and maker of the Suez Canal; he was born at Versailles. Background The origin of his family has been traced back as far as the end of the 14th century. His ancestors, it... Ferdinand de Lesseps and Louis Pasteur (December 27, 1822 – September 28, 1895) was a French microbiologist and chemist who demonstrated the germ theory of disease and developed techniques of inoculation, most notably the first vaccine against rabies. A famous quote by Pasteur: Le hasard favorise l’espirit prepare English Translation: Chance favours... Louis Pasteur.

It finances most of its activities from the fees it receives from its courses and from rental of its installations. The French government also provides a subsidy covering approximately five per cent of its budget. (This amounted to nearly 665,000 Euro (disambiguation). The euro (€; ISO 4217 code EUR) is the currency of twelve of the twenty-five European Union member states. These twelve states, which form the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), are: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. It is... euros in 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Events January January 1 - Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva becomes the 37th President of Brazil. Pascal Couchepin becomes President of the Confederation in... 2003.)

Close to 400,000 students learn French at one of centres run by the Alliance, whose network of schools includes:

• a centre in Paris
• locations throughout France, which receive foreign students
• 1000 locations in 131 different countries

The branches outside France are locally, independently run " This article or section should include material from Franchise agreement Franchising - from the French for Free, is a method of doing business wherein a franchisor licenses trademarks and methods of doing business to a franchisee in exchange for a recurring royalty fee. The term is commonly used to describe a... franchises". The Alliance française " This article is about brands in marketing. For other uses, see Brand (disambiguation) McDonalds, represented by the Golden Arches, is one of the worlds most famous brands A brand represents the holistic sum of all information about a product or group of products. This symbolic construct typically consists... brand" is owned by the Paris centre.

See also

• The British Council is a partly UK Government_funded cultural relations organisation and a registered charity in the UK. It aims to build mutually beneficial cultural and educational relationships between people in the UK and in other countries, and increase appreciation of the UKs creative ideas and achievements. Its overseas... British Council
• Goethe in der Campagna The Goethe-Institut (GI) is a German non-profit organisation whose mission is to promote German language and culture outside of the German-speaking countries. Its primary concern is teaching German as a second language. It was founded in 1925 as the Deutsche Akademie (DA), and... Goethe-Institut
• Instituto Cervantes

External link

• Alliance française (http://www.alliancefr.org/)