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Native French Speakers in Africa
Salut! J'ai trouvé ce texte à http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language.
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A majority of the world's population of Francophones lives in Africa. Most Africans, however, do not speak French as their mother tongue (although the number of native French speakers on the continent is said to be increasing) but tens of millions can speak it as a second language. It is impossible to speak of a single form of African French, but rather of diverse forms of African French which have developed due to the contact with many indigenous African languages.[7] In the territories of the Indian Ocean, the French language is often spoken alongside French-derived creole languages, the major exception being Madagascar. There, a Malayo-Polynesian language (Malagasy) is spoken alongside French.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand due to the expansion of education and it is also there the language has evolved most in recent years[8][9] Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries[10] but written forms of the language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world.
French is an official language of many African countries, most of them former French or Belgian colonies:
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I didn't expect that there are native French speakers among Francophone Africans and is growing.
Well, que pensez-vous, mes amis?
It is a good point that French is growing in Africa (native and total speakers). But at the same time is a bad point the diverse forms of African French.
In this article, they say that some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers. For instance, a person from Haiti speak a creole very different from standard French. It is another language. I think it is beginning a division of French in very different languages, not only in Haiti, but in all French Africa.
Depending on countries, the proportion of people able to speak French really fluently in SubSaharan African varies from only 5% to only 25%. The others just use French-based pidgins to communicate from a tribe to another. They can be defined as potential speakers (since on the long term local dialects are no competition) but nothing more.
Therefore the frequently alleged figure of 300 million French speakers worldwide makes little sense. 200 million is more realistic.
But the written from of French in Africa is the same and with education they can easily switch to standardized form. It's stated here that education is the prime factor that speed the spread of French in this continent.
The total population of France is 60 million and the number of French speakers in Africa is 4 times greater than that figure.
This is remarkable considering that in other parts of Africa colonized by other European countries, native speakers of the language of their former colonial masters are hard to find.
Why Belgium too helped a lot in the spreading of French in Africa considering that 55% of its population are Dutch speakers and just 45% are French speakers.
Dutch has no official status in former Belgian colonies in Congo(Zaire), Rwanda, and Burundi.
"Why Belgium too helped a lot in the spreading of French in Africa considering that 55% of its population are Dutch speakers and just 45% are French speakers. "
Because in the beginning (in the 80's of the 19th century) Congo was a personal dominion of Belgian king Leopold II and was managed on behalf of the crown by financial and industrial companies. Government and Parliament had no control whatsoever over Congo, and at that time Belgian economic elites were overwhelmingly French speaking.
The sovereignty over Congo was officially handed over to the Belgian state in 1908.
French is mostly a second language in Africa, but in some areas it has become a first language, such as in the region of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire and in Libreville, Gabon. It is impossible to speak of a single form of African French, but rather of diverse forms of African French which have developed due to the contact with many indigenous African languages.
Latest from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language
Nigerian Army Considers French As Second Official Language
The Nigerian army has said it may adopt the French language in its training curriculum to enhance its operations in foreign missions.
The Commanding Officer of the Army Battalion in Badagry, south west Nigeria Colonel Farouk Gwandu said this when he paid a visit to the Nigeria-French Language Village in Badagry.
Colonel Gwandu said the Nigerian Army's involvement in foreign missions in various parts of the world had exposed it to the significance of adopting French as a second official language.
The Director of the French Language Village, Professor Sam Aje, said the inter-university centre was a creation of necessity, to assist in conserving foreign exchange.
He explained that the centre was now handling the compulsory one-year Language Immersion Programme required of students of tertiary institutions for the award of French language degrees and certificates.
He added that instead of travelling abroad for the programme, Nigerian students were now being exposed to the Village, which is a simulated French-speaking environment.
http://www.voiceofnigeria.org/nigeria-army.htm
From Awareness Times Newspaper in Freetown
Local News
4 Lecturers graduate in Linguistics in Sierra Leone
By Alhassan Deen Kamara
Mar 22, 2006, 10:13
Four lecturers selected from the Milton Margai College of Education and Technology (MMCE&T), the Northern Polytechnic and the Port Loko Teachers College last week received certificates following a six week training workshop in Linguistic conducted by the Besancom Applied Linguistic Centre in France.
The four are Messrs Koyie H. Mansaray, Senior Lecturer at the MMCET-Goderich campus, Mr. Aiah G. Souoie, Senior Lecturer at the MMCET-Brookfield campus, Amadu M. Sesay, Lecturer at the Northern Polytechnic and Abu Bakarr Samura, Lecturer at the Port Loko Teacher College. The course which took place in France between January 3rd and February 2nd 2006 was to capacitate, reorganize and boost the teaching of the French language in Sierra Leone. It was aimed at adopting new techniques and methods of teaching French so that the language, in the not too distant future, becomes a working tool, and also as a means to enhance commercial and cultural exchanges between Sierra Leoneans and citizens of French-speaking countries. The training programme came about upon request by the Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Alpha Tejan Wurie to the French Government to promote the teaching of French in the country.
During the training, participants were taught modern methods of teaching French as a foreign language, as well as the distance learning method through the XP computer application package, analysis of a school test and the systematic analysis of the training of trainers programme. The presentation of report from the training workshop was formally presented to the Minister by the head of delegation, Mr. Koyie H. Mansaray. The Minister Wurie in his response welcomed the Lecturers and congratulated them for coming back home after the successful completion of the course. Dr. Wurie went on to highlight a number of instances where Sierra Leoneans were sent to represent their country in various disciplines and did not return back to share their acquired experiences and knowledge. He also congratulated Mr. Koyie Mansaray on his special medal award as Leader of a foreign students’ delegation at the workshop. Dr. Wurie noted that it has always been his aim to adapt new techniques and methods of teaching French so that the language becomes a working tool for Sierra Leoneans at both the commercial and cultural levels especially within the West Africa sub region.
© Copyright 2005, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/printer_20051967.shtml
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