By Pastor Jean Bruno Nzey
At the Evangelical Center for Revival, people from seven French-speaking countries gather to worship together. They are Haiti, Congo-Brazaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Chad, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic. When English speakers are present, we are equipped to provide a translation. We are very vocal in our worship and praise of the Lord. We feel free to move, jump, and dance in the presence of God. Many of us use a variety of musical instruments. We regularly organize conventions, retreats, and events. This discipleship allows us to discover new talents, encourage people to get involved in ministry and give ourselves to service for the kingdom of God.
When the Romans conquered Gaul (modern-day France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland) in 2 BCE, the Gaulish language was slowly replaced by a crude verbal dialect of Latin. This new Romance language, which means “to speak in Roman fashion,” replaced Gaulish as Latin conquerors, and later Frankish immigrants mingled. Although the French may disagree, French is simply Latin badly mispronounced by Germans. More than 300 million people speak French today, and it is the official language in more than 25 countries. French and English are the two official languages of the Olympics.
The unique pronunciation of French, which makes it harder to learn than Spanish, German, and Italian, is due to some of the letters having different functions based on their position in a word or a sentence.