Editing French language (section)

==== Southeast Asia ====
{{See also|French language in Vietnam|French language in Laos|French language in Cambodia}}
French was the official language of the colony of [[French Indochina]], comprising modern-day [[Vietnam]], [[Laos]], and [[Cambodia]]. It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Richardson |first=Michael |date=16 October 1993 |title=French Declines in Indochina, as English Booms |language=en |work=[[International Herald Tribune]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/16/style/IHT-french-declines-in-indochina-as-english-booms.html |url-status=live |access-date=2018-11-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009172258/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/16/style/IHT-french-declines-in-indochina-as-english-booms.html |archive-date=9 October 2018}}</ref> In colonial Vietnam, the elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as "[[Tây Bồi Pidgin French|Tây Bồi]]" (now extinct). After French rule ended, [[South Vietnam]] continued to use French in administration, education, and trade.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chiman |first=Aly |date=1 February 2007 |title=The Role of English in Vietnam's Foreign Language Policy: A Brief History |url=https://www.worldwide.rs/en/role-english-vietnams-foreign-language-policy-brief-history/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225034415/https://www.worldwide.rs/en/role-english-vietnams-foreign-language-policy-brief-history/ |archive-date=25 February 2021 |access-date=26 February 2021 |website=worldwide.rs}}</ref> However, since the [[Fall of Saigon]] and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as the other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language.<ref>Kirkpatrick, Andy and Anthony J. Liddicoat, ''The Routledge International Handbook of Language Education Policy in Asia.'', [[Routledge]], 2019, p. 192</ref>
All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF).