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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (79655)	10/22/2004 6:23:36 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 794358

Talking 'Bout A Revolution By EURSOC Two 22 October, 2004 Recommendations that English language lessons should be compulsory for French schoolchildren have been met with an icy reception among France's elite. An enquiry found that English should be taught alongside French and mathematics to allow children to leave school with the skills necessary for "international communication." French, which used to dominate the European Union, is now declining in influence, particularly as most of the new members of the EU have chosen English as their preferred working language. This - and with it, declining French prestige - has been hard to take for many in France's political and intellectual classes. They are particularly touchy about the global rise of English. Last month, Jacques Chirac told Chinese officials that "nothing would be worse" for the world if it were taken over by a single language. France's teaching unions have echoed Chirac's concerns, though if their past actions are anything to go by they may be protesting at the possibility of the changed working conditions another compulsory lesson would demand rather than the decline of French as a world language. Despite the dearly held stereotypes of Brits and Americans, many French people enjoy speaking English. Of course some French people feel offended when visitors make no effort at all to learn even basic elements of their language - but this reaction is less despair at the decline of their beloved mother tongue and more a response to the bad manners of certain tourists. However, the elite and elements of the media have conspired to manufacture a prejudice against English. English, they warn, is inextricably linked to the horrors of American imperialism, Anglo-Saxon working practices, foul hamburgers and Hollywood blockbusters. But they could be fighting a losing battle. Many international French businesses now hold their meetings in English. Orders from Paris that all scientific papers should be first published in French were scrapped when scientists protested that no-one would read their work if this was the case. Some French politicans see hope in the rise of other languages: Jacques Myard (of Chirac's UMP party) argued that English will soon be in decline, challenged by the rise of Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. More telling his Myard's choice of another language of world domination which could be used to fight the spread of English: It suggests that some at least in France's political class have already decided who will rule the roost in the near future: "If we must make a language compulsory," he said, "it should be Arabic."