French is spoken by more than 260 million people on five continents. It is the official language, or one of the official languages, of 70 nations. It's also the second-most commonly studied foreign language, after English. France maintains the world's largest network of overseas cultural institutions. French is one of the official (and working) languages of the United Nations (including UNESCO), the European Union, the International Olympic Committee, NATO, OECD, and the International Red Cross.