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Is French still important? | ||
Tags: Language Importance | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5957 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes  Studies: French | Message 9 of 44 29 June 2012 at 5:38am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Agreed. wikipedia article French language In addition to its distribution through the world, French remains the second most studied second language, after English, so the OP's assertion that no one is interested in learning French seems utterly unsupported. "French is the second-most studied foreign language in the world, after English" - from the Wiki article. Also of interest: " French remains one of the most important diplomatic languages,[7] with the language being one of the working languages of NATO, the International Olympic Committee, the UN Secretariat, the Council of Europe, the International Court of Justice, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Organization of American States, European Commission, the European Space Agency, World Trade Organisation and the North American Free Trade Agreement. It is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Médecins sans Frontières, or Médecins du Monde." EDIT: I see from Lichtrausch's subsequent post that it is agreed that French is an international language - I misunderstood when posting. Edited by Spanky on 29 June 2012 at 7:49am 2 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 10 of 44 29 June 2012 at 5:58am | IP Logged | ||||||||
This is so true! Why is Spanish so important, because of Spain? Hardly... France and the francophone territories of Canada, Belgium and Switzerland together have less than 80 millions inhabitants.. I don't know what the number is for Africa, but if English replaces French here as well, French will have lost its international status completely. Africa was colonized centuries after the Americas, and few Europeans settled here, so French has yet to become an first language, which leads me to believe that English will replace French, unless French becomes a native tongue, like in Côte d'Ivoire. Should French become a a first language in Africa, it would most definitely become an important one, augmented by France's role in world politics... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| lichtrausch Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5961 days ago 525 posts - 1072 votes Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin | Message 11 of 44 29 June 2012 at 7:37am | IP Logged | ||||||||
No doubt French is an international language. However it's clearly not the only other one besides English. Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian are "truly international" in every meaningful sense. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6035 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 12 of 44 29 June 2012 at 1:13pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
It is still an important language of culture, literature, art and film :). Only Japan and the US have greater cultural output, in my book this makes it very relevant. [Edit] I see most people here write about economical and political power. But the fact is, cultural output can be a source of "soft power"; It extends into political influence. Edited by Sennin on 29 June 2012 at 1:52pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| rivere123 Senior Member United States Joined 4831 days ago 129 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 13 of 44 29 June 2012 at 5:59pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I'd say any language with a native population in the mother country that is the equivalent of Texas and California is important in its own right. In addition, it has considerable footing in Switzerland and the Low Countries (it continues to grow in Brussels), not to mention Europe as a whole.
What a lot of people are perplexed by when it comes to France ("How can a language with a rather small native population be very important?"), is that its culture is legendary and closely intertwined with its allure. Stagnation in comparison to the rest of the world has been widespread through Europe since the end of the Trentes Glorieuses, but French has continued to be important despite- as a cultural language, with its hands in art, cinema, literature, and history. And in the end, aren't these disciplines, literature and history in particular, communications, and thus the main objective of a language? Outside of France, it is the second or third language of the Caribbean plus French Guiana, and Quebec and New Brunswick's francophone population aren't going anywhere. I hear it's used in Southeastern Asia, but I'm not sure to what extent. In addition, there are numerous minority regions (Pondicherry, Acadia, and Aosta Valley come to mind) across the world where French is spoken or has left some mark on the region's history and culture, so much so that French will not be forgotten in these areas any time soon. The real heavyweight here, as said, will soon be Africa. The Maghreb uses French as a business language, if that suggests some economic importance for you (elsewhere in the Middle East, 40% of Lebanese are deemed "francophone"). Meanwhile, arguably the fastest growing population on Earth in terms of percentage (that is, in terms of both population growth and economics) puts French to work as the unifying language. Said region extends from western coast of Africa to the reaches of the DRC and the non-contiguous country of Djibouti on the eastern coast. Some of the bordering anglophone countries (Egypt, Ghana) are even in the Francophonie. We could argue until we're blue in the face about the future of French in Africa, but luckily a group of daring, handsome geniuses (mostly me) have done that for you. http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=29962&PN=0&TPN=1 With that, I hope that you will continue Edited by rivere123 on 29 June 2012 at 6:00pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4689 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 14 of 44 29 June 2012 at 6:57pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
As someone who, according to your profile, studies Hebrew, I have to wonder why you are worrying about this issue in the first place. Clearly, there's more you care about than international linguistic dominance. Learn French (and Hebrew) and enjoy. Edited by geoffw on 29 June 2012 at 6:57pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| decamillisjacob Newbie Canada Joined 4733 days ago 38 posts - 63 votes | Message 15 of 44 29 June 2012 at 7:03pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
It's not me, I love all languages or else I wouldn't have entered university studying linguistic anthropology. It's public perception that perplexes me on the issue, that's all. If you live where I do, French and Canada's bilingualism laws clash with a very clear cut Asian linguistic reality. A lot of Anglophones follow the sentiment thus that French is useless internationally, but instead learn Chinese or Spanish. That cuts as a native French speaker. Ahh Hebrew, a beautiful example of why not to give up on dead languages! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| SaffronCicely Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4560 days ago 14 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 16 of 44 29 June 2012 at 8:04pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I've always felt that French and English are 'the' two big lingua francas in the world - I don't think it's all tied up with France's position in the world as it is a language that has become ingrained as one of 'the' second languages to learn. I.e. in the Middle East, Asia and Europe, nearly everyone learns either English or French at school. Spanish is a big player but over on this side of the Atlantic (Eurasian side) I'd say French is definitely still very important. At school, it was always drummed into me that we should know French to get on in the world at large, academically and for travel. Edited by SaffronCicely on 29 June 2012 at 8:07pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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