Because of the Cultural and Political importance of Paris the dialect of Old French called "Francien" became the most standard form of speech in Paris and its suburbs. By the 14th until the 16th Century the French language was known as "Middle French". To improve and develop their literature and language some French Poets called " Pléiade" where pushing the French because at that time a lot of words where taking from Latin, Italian and Greek.
Only in the 17th Century the French language took its own steps to modernization. Cardinal Richelieu was the founder of the French Academy in 1635 and strived to keep the French language pure as its literature and he was the ultimate judge to approve the usage of the French.
Even if the style of Modern French and its vocabulary is influenced by romanticism and realism, actually until now it only changed a little bit from the "Middle French" period. By ways of widespread education and mass media the French language has been aided in modern times to gain a real standardization. As you see there's a lot of the French language that we didn't even knew.
And believe me! There's still a lot to learn. It isn't a coincidence that over years and years different countries and cultures are striving to attain the goal to speak that very beautiful language.
You could ask yourself: For which purpose?
• A lot of them just want to penetrate the world and history of the French culture with its language.
• Others only want to be able to go and live one day in the ancient villages that are still visited by thousands and thousands of people the day of today.
• Some of them want to gain the knowledge of a language that had and still has its importance in this world.
What ever it is! Nobody can tell me that this "Language of Romance" isn't marvelous…
