[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]

Originally Posted by 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!

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]

Originally Posted by Douai

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:
[youtube]Q_iTDjpsU_g[/youtube]

[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]

Originally Posted by AllezParisAllezPSG

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]

Originally Posted by Breakwood

An interesting news report:
[youtube]Q_iTDjpsU_g[/youtube]

That was interesting.Do you know how old that report is?