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Town sign in Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of Rechmaya, Lebanon. French is a common language in Lebanon, with about 40% of the population being Francophone. [1] A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used within government, [2] and is often used as a prestige language for business, diplomacy and education.
Lebanon's native sign language is the Lebanese dialect of Levantine Arabic Sign Language. English is the fourth language by number of users, after Levantine, MSA, and French. Most Armenians in Lebanon can speak Western Armenian, and some can speak Turkish.
Beaufort, a French crusader castle, Lebanon. In the 13th century, the king of France, Louis IX pledged to protect the Maronites. [2] In the 16th century, Francis I of France forged an alliance with the sultan of the Ottoman empire, Suleiman the Magnificent; the Ottomans controlled the region and granted the French monarch the role of "protector of eastern Christians". [2]
Almost 40% of Lebanese are considered francophone, and another 15% "partial francophone," and 70% of Lebanon's secondary schools use French as a second language of instruction. [138] [139] The use of Arabic by Lebanon's educated youth is declining, as they usually prefer to speak in French and, to a lesser extent, English.
As the Lebanese people historically call France la tendre mère (English: The Tender Mother), not only is speaking French in Lebanon common and encouraged, [citation needed] but it is also a self-identification with the French liberal and cultural spirit that was mainly the result of the French colonial period and educational, Christian ...
The majority of Lebanese people speak Lebanese Arabic, which is grouped in a larger category called Levantine Arabic, while Modern Standard Arabic is mostly used in magazines, newspapers, and formal broadcast media. Lebanese Sign Language is the language of the Deaf community. There is also significant presence of French, and of English.
"Most Christian Lebanese, anxious to dissociate themselves from Arabism and its Islamic connections, were pleased to be told that their country was the legitimate heir to the Phoenician tradition", Kamal Salibi observes, instancing Christian writers such as Charles Corm (died 1963), writing in French, and Said Aql, who urged the abandonment of ...
France is one of Lebanon's main trading partners, and more than 4,500 French companies export to Lebanon. [7] In 2015, French direct investment in Lebanon totaled €534 million. [7] Nearly a hundred French companies operate in Lebanon in various sectors such as in the agricultural, telecommunications, retail, petroleum industry and financial ...