What Languages Do Young French Learn?

Methodology

This map aims to visualize the distribution of languages taught across French departments. Below are the detailed steps explaining the process from data collection to the final visualization.

1. Data Collection

The language education data was extracted from the dataset published by the French Ministry of National Education on schools and their language offerings. The dataset includes the following information per department:

Department name
Language taught
Number of schools (counted per language)
Deviation from the national average (calculated per language)

2. Data Processing

To establish a national context, I calculated the average share of schools per language taught nationwide. This ratio is then compared to each department’s specific data to determine whether a language is over- or under-represented.

2.2 Deviation from the average

For each department and each language, I computed a deviation from the national average. This deviation is then used to color-code the departments.

The deviation is expressed as a percentage, making it easier to visualize over- and under-representation in each department.

3. Technical Implementation

3.1 Interactive Map

I used react-leaflet to render the map and display department-level information.

3.2 Graph Integration

The bars for each language are generated using chart.js, allowing for a dynamic and interactive display.