This week's France in Focus is all about French, the fifth-most-spoken language in the world. French is thriving abroad, with the majority of speakers in Africa, and the total number could more than double over the next few decades. Also, as English words creep into everyday conversations, we go to the Académie Française to talk to Sir Michael Edwards, who is the first British member of this temple to the French language.

Finally, we tell you how to learn French the easy way. If the idea of learning irregular verbs is overwhelming, we can help you!

By Stéphanie CHEVAL , Joanna COCKERELL , Emilie KAMINSKI , Cyril VANIER , Georges YAZBECK