Official language after unifying the country in 221 BC. Classical Chinese would remain the standard written language for the next 2000 years. Standardization of the spoken language received less political attention, and Mandarin developed on an "ad hoc" basis from the dialects of the various imperial capitals until being officially standardized in the early twentieth century. According to an undated chart by the American pro-English-only organization known as U.S. English, 178 countries have an official language at the national level. Among those, English is the most common with 67 nations giving it official status. French is second with 29 countries, Arabic is
Languages of Egypt English. In 2009-2010 about six million people learned French in Egypt, and this number increased to 8 million in 2013. As of 2014 most persons in Egypt using French have studied it as a foreign language in school. The first French-medium schools in Egypt were established in 1836. By the end of the 19th century it became the dominant foreign language in Egypt and the lingua franca of foreigners; this was especially the case in Cairo. During the period of the British colonization of Egypt French was actually the medium of communication among foreigners and between foreigners and Egyptians; the