Translate your app into Français
French · ~80M native, ~310M total worldwide
French is official in 29 countries and growing fastest in Africa, where the total Francophone population is projected to double by 2050. It is also the gateway to Quebec — a distinct market with its own language-use laws — and to affluent buyers in France, Belgium and Switzerland who strongly prefer to transact in French.
French around the world
French is spoken by ~80m native, ~310m total worldwide. It is used as an official or working language across 17+ countries and territories.
- France
- Belgium
- Switzerland
- Canada
- Luxembourg
- Monaco
- Ivory Coast
- Senegal
- DR Congo
- Cameroon
- Madagascar
- Mali
- Niger
- Burkina Faso
- Guinea
- Rwanda
- Haiti
What you gain from a French locale
France alone has nearly 70 million consumers with strong online-retail and SaaS adoption.
Francophone Africa is the single largest growth region for French — and mobile-first by default.
Shipping fr-CA is a requirement, not a nice-to-have, for commercial products sold in Quebec.
French-speaking buyers in France, Belgium and Switzerland consistently convert better on localized landing pages than English-only ones.
Shipping French on Localize.to
One fr locale serves France, Belgium, Switzerland and most of Francophone Africa. Add fr-CA (Quebec French) if you have Canadian users — the vocabulary and tone differ enough to matter.
Drop your English source file into the project. Translate into French with a native for fr, and a Quebec native for fr-CA if you split it.
French uses non-breaking spaces before colons, semicolons and guillemets (« »). Your typography should respect this — most Localize.to users bake it into the translator style guide.
Quebec's language law requires French to be at least as prominent as English for commercial services. A polished fr-CA locale is not optional there — it is the legal baseline.
Common questions
If you have Canadian users or plan to, yes. Quebec French has distinct vocabulary, a different formal-register feel, and a regulatory expectation that a French version exists and is first-class.
Very slightly, mostly in numbers (septante, nonante). Standard fr covers them without issue.
Already larger than France by population, and projected to exceed 700 million speakers by 2050. It is the most strategically important French-speaking region for the next 20 years.
Ready to reach Français speakers?
Create a project, add French as a target language, and ship your first localized build today.