The Institut de Langue Française was founded in 1986 in Paris.
The ILF is located just 300 meters from Parc Monceau and not far from the Champs-Elysées avenue.
By attending our French classes, you will be well placed in the heart of the french cultural heritage and majors french economic activities. You can also easily discover Parisian lifestyle and the french capital city.
For more than 30 years the ILF has specialized itself in teaching French as a Foreign Language (FFL). Our priority is to offer our students a high quality education with a team of qualified and experienced teachers, graduates from french universities.
The Institut de Langue Française (ILF) is dedicated to anyone wishing to improve or deepen their knowledge of French language and culture from their personal or professional points of view.
KEY POINTS OF THE INSTITUT DE LANGUE FRANÇAISE (ILF)
- ILF is located in a beautiful and typical Haussmannian building in the heart of Paris.
- The ILF method is innovative with qualified and experienced teachers.
- With a wide variety of general French language courses (from beginner to advanced levels).
- Specialization courses in French (spelling, grammar, conversation, business, etc.).
- ILF offers specific programs: Au Pair, evening classes, summer school, private lessons, children’s classes.
- Classes are about 15 people per class.
- We can prepare you for the DELF, DALF and TCF exams.
- After 3 months of course and after validation of your level ILF gives you a certificate of attendance: Certificate and / or Diploma.
- ILF offers you to participate in cultural activities
- ILF can help you with your accommodation according to your budget: carefully selected host families, residences, apartments and hotels all located in Paris.
SOME GOOD REASONS TO LEARN FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
French as an International Language
One of the missions of the Institut de Langue Française is to promote the teaching of French as a foreign language. Born from Latin language, French replaces it as an international language in the seventeenth century before leaving its place to English since the end of the Second World War. In 1685, Pierre Bayle wrote that French was “the point of communication of all the peoples of Europe”. The main cause of this French hegemony is the power of the French state at this time. On March 6, 1714, the treaty of Radstadt marking the end of the War of Spanish Succession was written only in French. French remains the international language par excellence until 1919. Georges Clemenceau accepts that the Treaty of Versailles ending the First World War be written in French and in English. Since then, English has been gaining speakers to the detriment of French. At the beginning of the 21st century, French still retains many of its prerogatives. If international organisations can accept more than one official language, only one language should be the reference language in case of conflict. In this area, French resists.
For example, the attempt to impose English instead of French as the reference language of the International Olympic Committee was rejected. Rule 24 of the Olympic Charter always states: “The official languages of the IOC are French and English. (…) In the event of any discrepancy between the French text and the English text of the Olympic Charter and any other IOC document, the French text shall prevail unless something else is expressly stated. There are even international organizations where the only official language is French: the Universal Postal Union in particular. On the other hand, English is clearly preferred to French in terms of scientific publications or speeches at the UN, for example. In the European Union, the dominant position of French is also eroding.
If French manages to maintain its institutional positions, its daily use as a working language is lost, reinforcing the image of decline since 1919. However, the number of speakers has started to increase since the 80s and it is even expected that the number of francophones exceeds that of anglophones in the 2030s. In 2050, it is expected that francophones will represent 8% of the world’s population, while the anglophone population will represent only 5%

French, as an Official Language
French remains one of the official languages of many international organizations: it is the second official language of the OECD, headquartered in Paris and one of the six official languages of the United Nations and UNESCO (with English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, and Arabic). French is the official language of many other international institutions.
French, as Business Language
French is also one of the two working languages of the United Nations, as well as all its agencies. French is one of the three working languages of the African Union. It is also one of the three main working languages of the European Union or the European Commission with German and English. In 2001, 56.8% of the pages received by the European Commission were written in English, and 29.8% were written in French. There is a policy to promote French in the European Union, with the “Multi-annual Plan of Action for French” put in place in 2002 between the French government, Luxembourg and the French Community of Belgium with the support of the French International organization of Francophonie.

French as a Foreign Language
It is also the fastest growing language on the entire African continent (as an official language or as a foreign language). French is taught in many universities around the world and enjoys a particular influence in the diplomatic, journalistic, judicial and academic worlds. French is the second most widely taught foreign language in the European Union schools (with Spanish only at distant fourth). With the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the European Union since January 2007, French is in front of German as the most widely taught foreign language in the Union after English. In general, French remains one of the most taught languages in the world.
Due to the special case of an important Spanish-speaking language bloc in Latin America, the only continent where the Spanish language is found significantly (apart from Spain itself), the United States is the only major English-speaking country in the world where French is not the first foreign language taught, which here has been Spanish since the 1980s; it was previously French. In other English-speaking countries (Ireland, English-speaking Canada, etc.), French maintains the privilege of being the first foreign language taught and far ahead of other languages.