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French language is growing.
Two-hundred million people speak French, according to researchers speaking on the 40th anniversary of the French-speakers’ commonwealth, l’Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). And, they say, the number is growing, despite the global reach of English.
http://www.english.rfi.fr/africa/20100319-french-language-growing-especially-africa
The education system in most ex-French colonies is turning more and more towards English, and in the case of Morocco, Spanish also. The majority of parents now will want their children to focus on English, not French.
Ultimately many may learn French also, as they feel it makes them more competative, but I think it's pretty certain that such people will be putting more effort into English and will ultimately speak English to a higher level. There may be quite a few French speakers now, but many of them only speak it to a basic level. Wikipedia claims there are 500 million first and second language speakers, but I suspect there are only 300 million that are actually fluent.
<< The education system in most ex-French colonies is turning more and more towards English, and in the case of Morocco, Spanish also. The majority of parents now will want their children to focus on English, not French.
Ultimately many may learn French also, as they feel it makes them more competative, but I think it's pretty certain that such people will be putting more effort into English and will ultimately speak English to a higher level. There may be quite a few French speakers now, but many of them only speak it to a basic level. Wikipedia claims there are 500 million first and second language speakers, but I suspect there are only 300 million that are actually fluent. >> Hey you stupid ignorant Hispanic, how many times you have to be told that French is winning in Africa. As a matter of fact ,French is now compulsary in high school level in ex-British colonies such as Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia, and even South Africa and Liberia. And for your information, Spanish in Morocco is as dead as in the Philippines in Morocco. THE ANGLOPHONE PROBLEM IN CAMEROON What has come to be known as the "Anglophone" problem is an assemblage of political, cultural, economic and social grievances expressed by the English-speaking minority in the predominantly French-speaking Republic of Cameroon (formerly called the United Republic of Cameroon). The question touches on the distribution of political and economic power, the institutional structures of the society, the educational system, and the relationship between the government and the governed. These grievances are expressed in terms of discrimination, second-class citizenship and "marginalization." In the 40 years since the reunification of English-speaking Southern Cameroons and French-speaking Republique du Cameroun, the resulting over-centralized government, run mostly by the French-speaking majority, and operating under what is essentially an Africanized version of the Napoleonic code, has attempted to eliminate the British-inspired educational, legal, agricultural, and administrative institutions which the Anglophones brought to the union. This has been accompanied by a concerted attempt to assimilate the English-speakers into the French-dominated system. Indeed, just months after the reunification of the English and French-speaking parts of Cameroon, the French government sponsored a massive "French by Radio" program in the English-speaking region of Cameroon. Using prepackaged interactive French lessons broadcast from a newly equipped AM and Shortwave broadcast station, Radio Buea, a large number of French and Francophone educators and language teachers were deployed to teach spoken and written French (in that order) in the major primary schools of the English-speaking region. At the same time, three Bilingual Grammar Schools, whose officials and teachers were mostly French-speaking Cameroonians or French citizens, were created in Buea, Mamfe and Yaounde to train young people to function in the over-centralized bureaucracy in Yaounde. To this day, when speaking of English-speaking Cameroonians, many French-speaking Cameroonians use the word "Anglo" as an epithet to mean "uncouth," "backward," "uncivilized," "inconsequential," and so on. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3821/is_200304/ai_n9173452/ Vanguard (Lagos) Nigeria:Rivers Govt Initiates Programmes for French, Arts Education Olubusuyi Adenipekun 16 April 2009 The Rivers State government has put in place programmes that will promote the study of French Language and Creative Arts in its primary and secondary schools. While students of two secondary schools in the state are undergoing a two-week holiday training programme on French, Arts works of primary school pupils were recently exhibited in Port Harcourt as a way of encouraging them to fully develop their creative talents. Prior to the French training programme, which is organised by the state Ministry of Education in partnership with Alliance Franciase under the Public Private arrangement, the state government had earlier donated a piece of land for the development of French Language Resource Centre. The state Commissioner of Education, Mrs Dame Alice Nemi explained that the French training programme is intended to expose them to the study of French for the purpose of inculcating in them the rudiments of French Language in a conducive environment, equipped with adequate facilities. Nemi disclosed that the best student in the training programme would be given an award, counselling the students to take advantage of the training to improve their knowledge of French Language. The need for the students to take the full advantage of the programme was reiterated by the President of Alliance Franciase, Chief O.J. Akiri, stressing that since Nigeria is surrounded by French speaking, its citizens should be able to communicate in French to enable them interact with their Franchophone neighbours. Chief Akiri, who was represented by Prof. Folorunso Ogunleke, explained that while English is classified as the language of science, French is known as the language of diplomacy, adding that Nigerians need to understand French as the world has become a global village. He expressed satisfaction that Rivers State has more French companies than any other state in Nigeria, arguing that Rivers people must understand French language before they can property fit into any of these French companies. On his part, the Deputy Managing Director of Total Explorations and Production Nigeria Ltd; Mr Rager Poirrier described the two-week training programme as a unique opportunity to study another language for effective communication in a fast changing world, advising the students to take the programme serious to enable them become fluent in it, given the fact that FRENCH LANGUAGE IS NOW NIGERIA'S SECOND NATIONAL LANGUAGE. http://allafrica.com/stories/200904160039.html In section 1 sub-section 10 the policy talks about the importance of language. It says "government appreciates the importance of language as a means of promoting social interaction and national cohesion and preserving cultures. Thus every child shall learn the language of the immediate environment. Furthermore, in the interest of national unity it is expedient that every child shall be required to learn one of the three Nigerian languages, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. FOR SMOOTH INTERACTION WITH OUR NEIGHBOURS IT IS DESIRABLE FOR EVERY NIGERIAN TO SPEAK FRENCH. ACCORDINGLY, FRENCH SHALL BE THE SECOND OFFICIAL LANGUAGE IN NIGERIA AND IT SHALL BE COMPULSORY IN SCHOOLS." http://allafrica.com/stories/200801030568.html SOLDIERS ORDERED TO SPEAK FRENCH The GAF is considering setting aside the first Friday of every month as a 'French Day', on which all military personnel would speak French. THE GHANA ARMED FORCES (GAF) IS CONSIDERING SETTING ASIDE THE FIRST FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH AS A 'FRENCH DAY', ON WHICH ALL MILITARY PERSONNEL WOULD SPEAK FRENCH, INSTEAD OF THE NORMAL ENGLISH. Major General Peter Augustine Blay, Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), disclosed this during the closing ceremony of the Ghana Armed Forces Annual Inter-Service Shooting competition held at Yawhima in Sunyani. He noted that as Ghana was surrounded by French-speaking countries, it would be prudent for personnel of the GAF to take the learning and speaking of French serious. Maj. General Blay urged personnel of the GAF to take up the challenge to learn and speak French, adding "it makes a lot of sense to be able to speak the French language for our own interest, and for an enhanced international cooperation.” According to him, the GAF fortunately, has fully-functioning French language centres in the 2 and 5 Garrisons, which all efforts would be exerted to replicate them in the remaining garrisons, to afford facilities for the learning of the French language. http://www.modernghana.com/print/250554/1/soldiers-ordered-to-speak-french.html GOV'T DIRECTS OFFICIALS TO LEARN FRENCH Last Updated: Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 8:38 GMT Previous Page Vice president Aliu Mahama The government has directed all government officials to compulsorily take French lessons. Vice-President Aliu Mahama said the directive was part of the government's plans to make French a common language for as many Ghanaians as possible to enhance economic, commercial and social activities between Ghana and its neighbours. Consequently, he asked those who were privileged to be studying the French language in schools to take the subject seriously because of the numerous advantages associated with knowing, understanding and speaking it. Alhaji Mahama said this when the French Minister for Overseas Development and Francophone Affairs, Madam Geraldine Brigitte, paid a courtesy call on him at his office at the Castle on Monday. The French minister was in the country to extend an invitation to the Presidency to attend the 12th summit of the International Organisation of the Francophone in Quebec, Canada, later in the year. He recounted a number of experiences with many government officials who attend high-level meetings in Francophone countries and were unable to communicate because of their inability to speak French. "Our French counterparts even do well to speak the English with us but those of us from the English speaking countries seldom speak any French at all and that is not the best," Alhaji Mahama said. The Vice-President had early on exchanged some greetings in French with his guest but was unable to continue when the conversations went deep. According to him, the President had directed all government officials to take compulsory French lessons, adding that "this is what has helped me and we are trying to ensure that the teaching of the French language becomes a major subject at all levels of the academic calendar". He encouraged business people who traded with their counterparts in the neighbouring countries to endeavour to learn the language to enable them to transact business without stress. Alhaji Mahama said there was a lot to benefit should Ghanaians begin to engage their neighbours in serious trading and economic activities. He assured the French minister of the government's commitment to make the teaching and learning of French much more widespread for many more people to benefit. Madam Brigitte for her part commended Ghana for the efforts she was putting in place to get more people to learn the French language. In spite of this, she said, Ghana needed to attach greater interest to making the teaching and learning of French more widespread for many more people to benefit. Madam Brigitte said France was committed to making more resources available to Ghana to enable it to create the necessary environment for people to learn the Language. She expressed the hope that the government would be able to attend the summit to further strengthen the relationship between Ghana and the Francophone countries. Source: Daily Graphic World: Africa New efforts to woo French interest in Liberia The Liberian leader Charles Taylor has said the French language will be treated as an equal with English in future, following his visit to France to strengthen ties with Liberia. Mr Taylor told reporters in Paris it was inevitable that French would be spoken in Liberia with the establishment of new cultural and trade links, and he confirmed he would be attending the Francophone African summit in November. Mr Taylor met French business leaders yesterday to discuss possible joint ventures to reconstruct Liberia after its seven-year civil war. He said he wanted to sell off state-owned companies, but needed help to restore water and power supplies, and repair roads, hospitals and the telephone system. No definite trade agreements have been announced so far. From the newsroom of the BBC World Service http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/183138.stm Equally eating into the fabric of the linguistic spectrum in Sierra Leone is French. Unlike English, French is not an official language, though it is a prestigious language taught in schools and colleges as a second language. Owing to the relatively low number of French instructors in the country, incentives such as higher salaries and better learning opportunities are offered to people in French pedagogy. Such facilities are not open to students studying indigenous languages. This situation puts indigenous languages at a disadvantage. One should not be surprised at the mass enrolment of students in French classes such as those organized by Alliance Française in Freetown. To sum up, French and English have overwhelming advantages over indigenous languages in Sierra Leone. The two languages are more prestigious than indigenous languages. In addition, they have snatched an enviable socio-economic position from indigenous languages. In his assessment of the socio-economic impact of ex-colonial languages on indigenous languages, Adegbija (2001:285) states: http://www.umes.edu/cms300uploadedFiles/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Languages%20at%20risk%20-%20A%20case%20study%20from%20Sierr%281%29.pdf "We took a close look at the picture in Senegal, a former French colony considered the cultural capital of West Africa. At the time, George W. Bush was sort of courting Senegalese president Wade to try to boost US influence in a part of the world where it doesn’t have much clout. The obvious way to do that is to push English. But most people we talked to thought the plan was pretty futile. As one university professor explained, since French is the language of Senegal’s education system, SENEGALESE CAN ONLY LEARN ENGLISH IF THEY ALREADY SPEAK FRENCH." http://www.nadeaubarlow.com/otherwritings/view/7 "Kourouma's book showed that French wasn't just the language of the former oppressors, that it was also possible to use it to serve our purpose and render our African experience. HE DEMONSTRATED THAT THE LANGUAGE BELONGED TO US, TOO, AND THAT WE WERE FREE TO USE IT HOW WE WANTED IN ORDER TO COMMUNICATE OUR REALITY." http://www.mg.co.za/article/2007-04-03-writing-africa-in-french
Almost half of French speakers live in Africa.
Bonne chance France! Good luck France, you will need it soon!
Perhaps France will change spelling rules of French language according to changes in African French,like Portugal will change Portuguese spelling rules according to Brazilian Portuguese?
They are changing a lot!
Half of them are muslims and arabics or blacks!
It's unlikely that french will really grow much stronger as many african languages are gaining importance, in west africa, and arabic in the north.
"Half of them are muslims and arabics or blacks! "
Among them, a lot of spanish immigrates...
JB : « Two-hundred million people speak French, according to researchers speaking on the 40th anniversary of the French-speakers’ commonwealth, l’Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). And, they say, the number is growing, despite the global reach of English. »
Oui, ça fait mille ans que ça dure. Tout peut s'arrêter demain, ou après-demain — ou jamais... |