Nous
ne disposons pas de traduction en français de ce texte, veuillez nous
en excuser.
Sunday,
Oct. 31, 2004
What's the French for "get over it"? Don't bother asking the
defenders of France's lovely and beloved language. A decade after the
government of Prime Minister Edouard Balladur passed a law requiring the
use of French in all government documents, business contracts,
restaurant menus and advertisements, the champions of francophonie again
have their culottes in a twist over the threat posed by the rampant
spread of English. Opposition flared last month over a new proposal to
make English instruction compulsory in French schools. Guardians of the
language issued a manifesto calling on the E.U. to make French its
official judicial language. Even President Jacques Chirac has joined in.
"Nothing would be worse for humanity than to move toward a
situation where we speak only one language," he warned last month
during a visit to Vietnam, a country where nearly 1 million people speak
French as a result of 70 years of colonial rule. Are the French out to
defend cultural diversity — or their own influence and prestige?
About 380 million people speak English as their primary language and
more than 250 million as a second language, versus 113 million and over
60 million respectively for French. Despite France's annual $1 billion
budget to promote French internationally, the language ranks 11th in
terms of number of speakers and is flagging. Though it is still the
primary language at international institutions like unesco, Interpol and
the European Court of Justice — and a working tongue at a score of
others — English dominates international diplomacy and business, and
is the language used on 52% of all websites; just 4.6% are in French.
Across the E.U. (and excluding the U.K.), 92% of students choose to
study English as a foreign language, compared to 33% for French and 13%
for German. Even French multinationals like Alstom and Vivendi have
adopted English as the workplace vernacular. "This isn't about
fighting English, but rather the use and influence of any language at
the cost of all others," says conservative legislator Bruno
Bourg-Broc, leader of a French parliamentary group monitoring the
language's fortunes at home and abroad. "It's about safeguarding
cultural and linguistic diversity by resisting uniformity."
Promoting French language and culture abroad has been an integral part
of the country's policy for centuries. But globalization has diluted
French influence. So has the allure of American pop music and cinema,
which have made English both practical and cool, and a must for anyone
hoping for a career beyond France's borders. So the French establishment
is fighting back in the way it knows best — with passionate
denunciations that deny reality rather than adapt to it. That's why
teachers, unions and legislators are trying to shout down the
government-sponsored report recommending that English be compulsory in
schools for ages 8 and up.
The day after that report came out, three senior French officials took
the battle to Brussels, demanding that French be made the official
language of the E.U. justice system. Arguing that French "reduced
the risks of differing interpretations" in a way no other language
could, the manifesto — authored by Académie Française member Maurice
Druon, Paris Bar Association president Jean-Marie Burguburu and the
state prosecutor of France's highest court, Jean-François Burgelin —
calls for "all texts of legal or normative nature engaging the
members of the Union" to be written in French. "This is built
on a Napoleonic-era pretension that French is somehow more airtight than
other languages," sighs Jacques Bille, a professor of business
communication at the Sorbonne. "A lot of people in France just
can't accept that English is the working language of Europe."
The best defense of French may be a strong offense. Rather than using
laws and quotas to carve out a safe space for French, why not use the
language to thrill the world? Crowd-pleasing French films like the 2001
smash hit Amélie fight American cultural hegemony. (Amélie star Audrey
Tautou and director Jean-Pierre Jeunet are back with a World War I film,
A Very Long Engagement.) The foundation of internationally successful
writers like Amélie Nothomb and Bernard-Henri Lévy is, of course,
their command of French. Rapper MC Solaar makes crafty, creative use of
French lyrics. And Publicis ceo Maurice Lévy has assembled the globe's
fourth-largest advertising network without diluting the agency's French
flair. In all these cases, a willingness to use English hasn't meant
selling French short. "Once you demonstrate you can do that too, it
gives you more credibility when you want discussion to take place in
French," notes Bille. Wise words — but ones certain to provoke
cries of "J'accuse!"
Article
de B.CRUMLEY paru en octobre dans TIME EUROPE
mail@TIMEatlantic.com