Over the years the French government has tried to put the brakes on English encroaching on French and creating the feared ‘franglais'. But many say English seems to be winning the battle between the two languages. Not so fast, say the authors of a new book. It's called "The Story of French." Adeline Sire has more.

If you think you don't speak French, think again.

You've probably ordered pie ‘ à la mode', bought a flower ‘bouquet', gone to a beauty ‘salon' or a saloon.

And you've most likely uttered the words pedigree, budget and view. Those words came from the same Latin vernacular that gave rise to French. Many French words were injected into English when the British Crown was, in fact, French.

Remember William the Conqueror? He's the Norman duke who invaded England in 1066 and ruled the country until his death 20 years later. And he ordered that French be spoken at the court. French remained the language of the ruling class for 300 years. Perhaps the best example of that is the British Crown's motto "dieu et mon droit."

And that's why the authors of the book "The Story of French" claim that the French language has survived, not in spite of, but thanks to, the prominence of English. And more than survived, they say it's thrived.

Barlow: "We argue that it's the second global language after English. There're 33 countries that have French as an official language as opposed to 45 for English."

That's Julie Barlow. She co-wrote "the Story of French" with her partner, Jean-Benoit Nadeau.

Barlow: "In the last 50 years the number of French speakers in the world has tripled and there are more french speakers today than there ever are been.. Partly because the population has grown and the number of speakers has grown in proportion. But it hasn't declined in any way. It's not the language that it was in the 18th and 19th century when it was the language of diplomacy and the primary international language, yet at the same time today it still is an important international language."

Barlow says close to half of all English words come from French. Yet French has an image problem.

Barlow: "This attitude of it being the language of the elite, which it was in England between 1066 and the end of the 14th century..this has remained really strong in English culture with the result that at the same time that English speakers admire French, it also explains the francophobia that's inherent to the English culture, too.

The book's authors argue that one reason France lost its cultural and linguistic influence over time is it almost literally missed the boat on colonizing the new world. In any case, Barlow doesn't buy the argument that some make that English is doing better now because it's more versatile.

Barlow: "The idea that English has become a world language because it's more useful for business and more flexible I think, is a load of crap to tell you the truth. English has become the world language for geo-political reasons. The French said exactly the same kind of bologna when their language was the pre-eminent language in the world."

Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoit Nadeau don't consider themselves defenders of all things French, in fact, they're Canadian. Nadeau is French-Canadian and Barlow, is a native English speaker. She says French-Canadians in particular have good reason to be concerned about the well-being of their language.

Barlow: "Quebec is surrounded by a sea of English speakers unlike France, so there is a little bit more flexibility, a little less emphasis put on purism here. Of course for a long time there wasn't any literature produced in French here so car mechanics and manuals came with vocabulary in English, and that produced a mix of English and French that's gone on for a long time."

Canada now recognizes French and English as its official languages. And Barlow says Quebecers have become militant about finding French words to replace English expressions. Even though many in France resent the incursion of English, they still see its appeal.

Barlow: "The French tend to use English to sound a bit chic, they pick up English words to sound like they're fashionable. Here using English is more of a mark of ignorance, in Quebec than anything chic so people tend to have a more defensive attitude about it."

That's why the French use English words like ‘le shopping' while Quebecers say the French equivalent ‘magasiner'. ‘Week-end' in France is .. ‘le week-end' but it's ‘fin de semaine' in Quebec. Barlow says Quebec generates much of the new vocabulary for the French-speaking world. That includes the former French colonies in Africa. Algeria, for example, counts 15 million French speakers. But Barlow says, as French colonizers withdrew from Africa, funding for education began to disappear.

Barlow: "English is not a threat to French in those countries. The real threat is the lack of money available for education. Because the west Africans in Francophone countries, they're dying to learn and learn French."

French is in no danger of disappearing, but Barlow says France needs to do more to promote its language.

Barlow: "I think the French need to consider themselves leaders of a world language of a world language an I think that it could take many shapes. I'd like to see the French being more open and more interested in links with the francophone countries than they are at the moment"

And perhaps step one in that direction would be publishing "The Story of French" in French. As of today, it's only available in English. The French version comes out in the fall.