La Langue Française: Losing Numerous Speakers?

[Douai]

I heard that French is significantly losing it's influence around the world, because of English.Is it true that more and more Africans in typical French speaking areas (such as Côte d'Ivoire) are learning English in school instead of French?

[Nanbawan]

It might be true, the current pushing for influence by the US in the Gulf of Guinea might drive that.The way the globalised world works and its perceived rules is also an incentive since it's obvious France does not have the means anymore to support development in its former zone of influence.

The paradox is that France is still the country that pledges the most in that area but yet again, our tradition makes us sponsor states instead of private initiatives unlike the US who appear to do both. Given the quality of state governance in many African countries...So in the end, leaders from former colonized parts of Africa may be playing on both fields ; keeping interesting ties with France but on the other hand enhancing their chances in the global economy as well. Pragmatic if you ask me. Now, on other accounts like culture it might be short sighted. Time will tell.

Yet, not everything is so dark : a country like Ghana makes efforts for their citizens to learn French because they are surrounded by French speaking countries. The use of French as regional and international language does not seem to be dead yet despite the more or less clear - and natural - will of having more distance from France's political influence and the so-called Françafrique system.

[ilv2]

not too knowledgeable about the linguistic evolutions in africa, but the french language is doing well close to home - i.e. canada. Too bad a portion of them are so caught up in the whole idea of nationalism that they forget that francophone minorities exist in other provinces as well, and thus ignore a golden chance to further increase the importance of the language.

[AllezParisAllezPSG]

i still things its amazing that a 7 hr drive north of here people speak french... and when it welcomes you to quebec in french and you see verything in km, you really do realize that you are in a different world... montreal is very multi-lingual w/ its french and english "quartiers"... but you go to quebec, and it's a whole different story

you have pockets of french speakers in ontario, new brunswick, nova scotia, new foundland, labrador, even if they are all a minority...

and i won't even mention the cajuns down south in louisiana... i might have understood one word...

i feel overall in french speaking countries in africa, they still widely speak french (ivory coast, senegal, togo, guinea etc)... where it has completely vanished is indochina, where only the oldest generation in cambodia or vietnam speak some... the younger generation is all english...

[Breakwood]

In the Quebec school system, the only children that are able to attend English schools are those whose parents went to English Schools. Everyone else must attend French schools.

In Ontario, every student must at least take one high school French course. There are elective courses for every other year in high school that students can take if they wish. As well in Ontario you can be enrolled in French Immersion (like me) where your schooling is split in half english and french from grade 1 up to grade 12.

There is also a french public school system in Ontario, where parents can send their children for free, if they would prefer their children study in French. I wish I had gone to the French school system when i was in elementary school as my French would've become much stronger, but oh well!

[Douai]

In the Quebec school system, the only children that are able to attend English schools are those whose parents went to English Schools. Everyone else must attend French schools.

In Ontario, every student must at least take one high school French course. There are elective courses for every other year in high school that students can take if they wish. As well in Ontario you can be enrolled in French Immersion (like me) where your schooling is split in half english and french from grade 1 up to grade 12.

There is also a french public school system in Ontario, where parents can send their children for free, if they would prefer their children study in French. I wish I had gone to the French school system when i was in elementary school as my French would've become much stronger, but oh well!

Do you feel that the Office québécois de la langue française is doing a good job of promoting the language and protecting it from English influence in Canada?

[Breakwood]

Do you feel that the Office québécois de la langue française is doing a good job of promoting the language and protecting it from English influence in Canada?

In Quebec I think they've gone overboard, trying to protect the language. In the late 70's the National Assembly (Yes that's is what they call the Quebec legislature) passed Bill 101 making French the only official language in Quebec. (New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada!)

The OQLF started going overboard after this bill was passed. Up untill 1988, all signage in Quebec had to be only in French, with no other language visible. The Supreme court ruled this to be unconstitutional in 1988, although the Quebec government was able to delay this ruling to 1993 by using a loophole in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Finally in 1993 after the UN intervened the bill was amended to say that French must be the predominant language when another language is visible on a sign.

To be fair however, all laws and government documents in Quebec are published in French and English and courts can be held in either language. In the far north, on the native reservations court can be held in Cree or Inuktituk aswell.

Today all road signs in Quebec are only in French, even in Montreal where the largest amount of Anglophones live. This is quite different that in Eastern and North-Eastern Ontario, where the road signs are bilingual, in order to serve the large Francophone populations in these regions.

An interesting news report:
Q_iTDjpsU_g

[guignol]

bigger than american influence in old french west africa is the chinese presence... and the fact that english is more useful for global relations generally than french.

that said, i think the area will remain francophone for a good while for two reasons:
1) french is still the lingua franca within the country between different local languages, and it will take generations for that to change
2) french is an important part of their Culture. senghor, kourouma and other major african authors have all written in french, and a sign of higher education in these countries is the quality of their spoken french, which if often superior to that heard in the hexagone.

A last note: today is la journée internationale de la Francophonie
As you can see here: http://www.google.fr/

[from the plaines]

and i won't even mention the cajuns down south in louisiana... i might have understood one word...


Yea you are right there, when i first starting listening to Cajun music it threw me for a loop. But all and all its nice to see that in that area they are trying to really protect the culture there. Seeing how in the first part of last century they tried to destroy it....again.

[Douai]

An interesting news report:
Q_iTDjpsU_g
That was interesting.Do you know how old that report is?

[Breakwood]

I'm not sure, but judging by the gas price, it's no more than 2 years old.

[AllezParisAllezPSG]

Just watched the french news which I TIVO every evening... had a reportage on francophonie worldwide (they said 200 million people are francophone in the world making it the 9th most spoken language in the world) and they specifically spoke about vietnam, interesting because i mentioned it in my post yesterday... go to the link below and you'll find on the right one of the report called Vietnam: la france se perd
http://jt.france2.fr/20h/

enjoy

[Mexican_Texan]

Let me put it this way...I have to attend a seperate high school to take my french class...and there are four people in that class.

[Nanbawan]

Let me put it this way...I have to attend a seperate high school to take my french class...and there are four people in that class.

Wow ! C'est pas gagné ! :eek: ;)

[Douai]

Let me put it this way...I have to attend a seperate high school to take my french class...and there are four people in that class.

Yeah, but isn't that class in Texas?Many Americans hate France and the Southern states are especially intolerant of anything that isn't anglo-saxon protestant.

[Mexican_Texan]

Yeah, but isn't that class in Texas?Many Americans hate France and the Southern states are especially intolerant of anything that isn't anglo-saxon protestant.
Spanish and German classes have plenty of students. Besides, it's Houston, not some hick Texas town. It's basically the most diverse place I've ever been to.

[guignol]

at my old HS in california the only languages offered in the 70's were spanish and french. these days you can learn spanish of course, and also german, russian and japanese... but not french. when the french teacher retired he simple wasn't replaced. but i think the whole issue of the iraq war played a part in the decision.

[Pike]

I heard that French is significantly losing it's influence around the world, because of English.Is it true that more and more Africans in typical French speaking areas (such as Côte d'Ivoire) are learning English in school instead of French?

As an American living in Cote d'Ivoire I can without a doubt that this is false. While, English is taught at the secondary level, it isn't that well understood. This is true even with professionals (for example, I am lucky to have a doctor here who can speak a little English, but mostprofessionals know very little, if any, Engish.

In response to other posters:
The United States influence is extremely limited. The French, Indians, Lebanonese and Vhinese own many of the business in Cote d'Ivoire. You can also include the South Africans as well. In fact, my english language cable provider is DS TV out of South Africa.

If Gbagbo can somehow get elected (provided if they actually have elections)or someone with a similar to his philosophy, we may see McDonalds yet! America is not a major trading partner with Cote d'Ivoire and I don't expect that to change anytime soon,... its too bad, Ivorian coffee is soo much better!

Cajuns:
As it turns out, I am a native of New Orleans. Iam also a social studies teacher. Its not surprising that "french" speakers have trouble understanding cajun french. Its a much older version of french. I know that sounds backwards, but think about it. Languages evolve over time. The smaller the society, the more resistant the society is to change.

Oh... one more thing,... People in New Orleans do not speak french. Movies will show people speaking french, but it isn't true unles they are not native to New Orleans. BUT they all know what "laissez Le bon temp rouler" means, although, we never actually say it anymore. We just like to tell people we do.

[Douai]

Thanks Pike for that information.That was interesting to find out about Côte d'Ivoire.Yeah, I knew that most people in Louisiana don't currently speak French.I have heard that legislation has been proposed to revive French there.


Its not surprising that "french" speakers have trouble understanding cajun french. Its a much older version of french. I know that sounds backwards, but think about it. Languages evolve over time. The smaller the society, the more resistant the society is to change.

Its almost the same for Québécois French.I even read somewhere that the interintelligibility between Québécois French and Metropolitan French is even further than the interintelligibility between American English and British English.

[Pike]

Yeah, I knew that most people in Louisiana don't currently speak French.I have heard that legislation has been proposed to revive French there.

Well, I didn't intend the comment to be specifically at you, but poster in general. I wanted to crush a myth before its gets started. :D

I haven't heard anything about reviving french. Because of the large hispanic community in the La., many schools ofer spanish. Who knows, it would be interesting. I know the state welcoming signs are in french & english.



Its almost the same for Québécois French.I even read somewhere that the interintelligibility between Québécois French and Metropolitan French is even further than the interintelligibility between American English and British English.

Well, British & American English is pretty close. There are some spelling diiferences, but they are relatively minor. (labor/ labour, defense/ defence, organization/ organisation). There are pronounciation differences, like
Laboratory
(Am: La- bor- tor- e/ Br: La- bor-a-tor-e)<sorry I don't know the official pronouncation keys.
For the most part you can easily figure out what theperson is saying, even though it slightly pronounced differently. It tok me for ever when a student of mine was talking about a cemetary (Cee ma terry, he said semi ta rie)