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France has done a turnaround | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Presidio Triglot Newbie United States Joined 4406 days ago 39 posts - 150 votes  Speaks: English*, Russian, German Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Gulf) | Message 1 of 34 18 February 2015 at 2:37am | IP Logged | ||
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http://www.pastagate.com/pastagate-blog/france-now-demanding -that-all-future-leaders-be-fluent-in-english
"FRANCE NOW DEMANDING THAT ALL FUTURE LEADERS BE FLUENT IN English" A recent article has caught the attention of many, France making it mandatory for their future leaders to speak English? Mme. Natalie Loiseau head of ENA École nationale d'administration, one of France’s Grandes Écoles entrusted with the selection and initial training of senior French officials, has recently demanded that France’s future leaders be English proficient. "The usual words such as 'sacrifice', 'vocation' and 'commitment' sound half religious, half military," said the career diplomat as she urges students to revise their vocabulary away from French words which she refers to as “stuffy and outdated”. Between last week’s En FRANCAIS SVP malaise in Rouyn-Noranda and Philip Couillard’s heavily criticized Shakespearian address in Iceland, our own local French purists continue to claim otherwise. Go figure or perhaps we should say, Imaginez donc! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6407 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 2 of 34 18 February 2015 at 9:54am | IP Logged | ||
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Alas! how the mighty have fallen.
4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| eyðimörk Triglot Senior Member France goo.gl/aT4FY7 Joined 3924 days ago 490 posts - 1158 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French Studies: Breton, Italian | Message 3 of 34 18 February 2015 at 11:11am | IP Logged | ||
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Wow! Could that article get more sensationalist?
"France making it mandatory for their future leaders to speak English?" we ask (although I'm not quite sure what that question means as it appears to have at least one word missing), after just linking an article explaining that a single graduate school is changing its entry requirements. Is it an important school? Yes. Is it France? Well, it's located in Strasbourg, which I suppose is in France even though the Alsatians will disagree, so I suppose that means they speak for the French government... or maybe not. They educate people with ambitions, often born into a privileged elite with ambitions for them already, who may end up running businesses, may end up in politics, or may end up writing long academic works on political science. I suppose that if Eton decided to teach all students French it'd be completely legit to say that "the UK has decided that all British leaders must speak fluent French". 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4464 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 4 of 34 18 February 2015 at 11:11am | IP Logged | ||
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Actually what ENA is doing is to sacrifice the knowledge of any language other than English. Up until now, in the "concours d'entrée" at ENA, aspiring students have to pass a test in one of the following languages: English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian or Chinese (Mandarin). From 2018, the only language admitted will be English. Not a step in the right direction if you ask me.
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| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4358 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 5 of 34 18 February 2015 at 12:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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The original article can be found here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/1141 4245/France-demands-that-its-future-leaders-must-speak-Engli sh.html.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4447 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 6 of 34 18 February 2015 at 4:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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It seems that English is slowly percolating through society in French-speaking countries. I think we are a long way from the average blue-collar guy in a small French town being able to hold a fluent conversation in English. That probably isn't even the case in Quebec, a French outpost surrounded by a sea of English-speaking territory. But we are definitely moving towards this situation.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5061 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 7 of 34 18 February 2015 at 6:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated.
:) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 3907 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 8 of 34 18 February 2015 at 7:42pm | IP Logged | ||
This drone adds: Your linguistic and cultural distinctiveness will be added to our own. Edited by Gemuse on 18 February 2015 at 7:59pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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