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The development of French in Africa | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6583 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 25 of 135 11 November 2011 at 7:17am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Ha! Guess I didn't read carefully enough. Apologies.
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| Haldor Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5616 days ago 103 posts - 122 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Swedish Studies: French, Spanish | Message 26 of 135 11 November 2011 at 3:23pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Exactly, it's the number of speakers, especially first language speakers that defines the importance of a language ( example: Chinese). French has only ten million speakers in Belgium, Switzerland and Québec together, not being the most important language of either of them 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5431 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 27 of 135 11 November 2011 at 3:55pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I don't think that it is solely the number of speakers that defines the importance of a language. Demographic weight yes. In that sense, Arabic, Bengali, Hindi-Urdu and other languages are much more important than French. But French is still one of the three most studied foreign languages in the world. In fact, size of population does not automatically determine the international significance of a language. French has always been a language of culture and prestige. It has lost much of its importance as a language of international communication, but France is still a very important country for science and technology. Even German, which is hardly spoken outside of Germany, is still an important and often studied language.
So, I don't think that it is a question of looking at the size of the French-speaking population of Africa. Keep in mind that all of these populations have other languages. The future of French likes more in the future of French technology and culture. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Haldor Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5616 days ago 103 posts - 122 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Swedish Studies: French, Spanish | Message 28 of 135 11 November 2011 at 4:16pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Of course, you make an excellent point here. However, German is not, nor will it ever be an important "Lingua Franca", as English, French or Spanish. Of course, other languages hold positions, like Italian, to the arts aficionado or gastronomist. It is widely studied as well. However, languages like English and Spanish remain more important, due to their widespread presence in the world. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| lecavaleur Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4778 days ago 146 posts - 295 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish | Message 29 of 135 11 November 2011 at 5:21pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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It's important not to discount French-speakers in Africa as second-language speakers only. It's not the same thing as an American studying a second langugae. For French-speaking Africans, it may not be their first language, but their first language is often a dialect that has no written form, limited vocabulary and which might not be spoken by many or even most of their neighbours.
French becomes the most important language for them because it is the public language, the language of education, work, business and culture. It becomes a second mother-tongue. These people are just as francophone as anyone in France. They often speak the language better than so-called native speakers even by French standards. Edited by lecavaleur on 11 November 2011 at 5:21pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| lecavaleur Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4778 days ago 146 posts - 295 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish | Message 30 of 135 11 November 2011 at 5:31pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
That still doesn't change the fact that French is spoken as a native language by millions of North Americans and that it is the national language of Québec, a nation with the world's 20th most important economy. French is spoken on 5 continents: Europe, North America, South America/Caribbean, Africa, Asia/Oceania Also, French has more economic importance than most of its competitors. That makes its significance much more important than its number of native speakers might indicate at first sight. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5416 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 31 of 135 11 November 2011 at 5:36pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
It ranks 44th, just behind Norway. It only ranks 21st amongst OECD countries...
If we're completely disregarding scale here, then just about ALL major languages are spoken on 5 continents. -.- 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| lecavaleur Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4778 days ago 146 posts - 295 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish | Message 32 of 135 11 November 2011 at 5:57pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
That's still excellent for a nation of only 8 million. It puts us in front of many highly developed independent countries that are considered 'rich'. Our GDP per capita is higher than Spain's, which has the highest of any Spanish-speaking country. And that's just Québec! If you add the economic importance of French-speaking Europe (France, Wallonie-Bruxelles, Suisse romande), French quickly becomes a seriously important economic language. As for 5 continents, French is an official language on 5 continents. I'm not talking about expat communities. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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